Date: 2015-10-22
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I stand here today a little disheartened. disheartened because my colleagues across the aisle seem to have forgotten about the priorities and the needs of the American people. For an unprecedented 61st time. the majority has introduced a measure that would cripple the landmark Affordable Care Act. The consequences of such a budget measure would be terrible. Millions of Americans would lose their healthcare insurance. and premiums for others would skyrocket. The majority claims that the ACA somehow is ineffective. costly. or illegal. They claim that it doesnt work. Well. they are just wrong. Mr. Speaker. the Affordable Care Act is working. It has been working. It has been working in my hometown. It has been working in Orange County. California. under the Affordable Care Act. the CHIP. and Medicaid. We have expanded insurance to over 12.3 million individuals. 2.6 million of those individuals are Latinos. Costs under the ACA have been greatly reduced. and the ACA is projected to save the United States $200 billion in the next decade and over $1 trillion in the second decade. I would say that those statistics speak to the success of the Affordable Care Act. The ACA has had great success back home in my home district. In Orange County. we had the highest number of new people enroll into the healthcare benefit exchange that we have in California. Currently. there are more than 1.3 million Californians that now have health insurance that didnt have it before. See. Mr. Speaker. before the enactment of the ACA. the folks in my districtwell. they considered it a luxury. They chose between buying clothes for their kids to go to school or putting food on the table. Or worse. they used home remedies. I know because I grew up on home remedies. I grew up not going to the doctor. I grew up trying all these crazy things at home. having a simple flu. and being out of school for 10 days because we couldnt afford to go to the doctor. It is pretty unacceptable in todays time. Mr. Speaker. in the greatest country in the world. Health care should be a right. not a privilege. We need to continue moving forward. We need to continue moving our communities from a culture of coping to a culture of coverage. No longer do people have to worry about being denied for their existing health conditions. Quality health insurance is now available to all who seek it. Because nearly 4 out of every 10 people in my district are Medicare recipients. I understand how important this legislation is for working families. so I will continue to work to join with my communitybased organizations to ensure that our people are covered. So tomorrow. when my colleagues across the aisle once again votenumber 61to defund the Affordable Care Act. I would like for them to think about all the families in America that will suffer when that is passed. think of all the families. think about all the kids and their home remedies. My colleagues in the minority and I have stood up. We have tried to explain to the other side the importance of the Affordable Care Act. only to have our passionate voices fall on deaf ears. Despite these continuous attacks against an existing law which has improved the lives of millions of Americans. I will continue to fight for quality health care for the folks back home in my district.