Post by bot on Jan 22, 2017 22:16:03 GMT -5
Hoyer Remarks at Press Conference on Republican Efforts to Make America Sick Again
WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined House Democrats at a press conference today to discuss how Americans across the country are speaking out against Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement and MakeAmericaSickAgain. Below is a transcript of his remarks:
“Let me join Leader Pelosi in thanking Barack Obama and Michelle Obama for bringing to the White House such vision, such commitment, such courage, such civility, such respect for others, such a sense of duty. We will indeed miss Mr. and Mrs. ‘Citizen’ Obama, the President and First Lady Obama.
“For seven years, Republicans have been trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, we all know that. Nothing, however, have they offered to replace it.
“At these town meetings, I talked about a shell game. You all know about a shell game. You have shells and you move the shells around—you start out and put the pea under the shell, right? Then you move the shells around and you try to follow it, and then at the end you say ok which shell. And you point at that one, and you pick up the shell, and there’s no pea. Well, maybe it’s that one. You pick that one up, no pea. So you know, of course, that it’s under the third shell, right? Republicans are picking up the third shell and there is no pea at all. That’s what’s happening with this bait-and-switch on the Affordable Care Act.
“The nonpartisan CBO has issued a report finding that if Republicans succeed in repealing the Affordable Care Act, premiums for consumers would go up at least 20% in the first year and double by 2026. It also found that 18 million Americans would lose their coverage in the first year – and a total of 32 million would lose it over the first ten years. Such would be the outcome of Republicans’ repealing the ACA without a real alternative.
“It’s no wonder people are starting to become outraged and speak up. We saw in Kentucky a lot of people voted for Trump, and said, ‘He’s really not going to repeal the Affordable Care Act. I rely on the Affordable Care Act, it saved my life.’ That’s what a woman in Kentucky said. It’s unbelievable.
“Over the past two weeks as Leader Pelosi has said, I participated in three events: one… at the University of Maryland Hospital Center, the second one at Bowie State University, at which we had over 2,000 people, and then at Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland. Both Bowie and Ennon are in my district, and we had some four hundred people there. Quiet, at the church in particularly, listening, ‘What is this going to do to me?’
“On Sunday, as I said, we had 2,000 people. One of the people that we met at Bowie State University is named Ola. She had a heart and kidney transplant as a child, and later developed cancer; if not for the ACA, she pointed out, she would not be able to get health insurance.
“Now, Republicans are working to take away coverage and Democrats will not sit idly by. The most enthusiastic response we got [at the events], whether it was Senator Cardin or Senator Van Hollen, Elijah Cummings, myself, John Sarbanes? We are going to fight to make sure that you keep your health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. That got the most response, and relieved response.
“Now, one of the things I made clear and I’ll end with this and then introduce my friend Jim Clyburn from South Carolina, one of the things I pointed out: if you’re not getting insurance through the Affordable Care Act on the exchanges in the market, don’t think you are not going to be adversely affected by the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Every American should know they will be adversely affected if the Affordable Care Act is repealed.
“Pre-existing conditions, they apply to everybody, that will be repealed. If you are on your insurance with your family until you are 26, that will be repealed. Your lifetime limits that are now precluded, that will be repealed. Your annual limits—this is for everybody, not just people in the exchange—will be repealed. Preventive care with no deductible, that will be repealed. Prescription drugs for seniors, that will be repealed. Twenty-two million will lose coverage as I said, but everybody will be adversely affected.
“That is why it is so important for us to take this fight on, to make sure that Americans continue to have health care security through the Affordable Care Act. Now I’m pleased to yield to the Assistant Leader, and my friend who has been a fighter for justice all of his life, Jim Clyburn.”
