Date: 2013-11-15
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the distinguished gentleman. Today. Mr. Speaker. I rise to save lives and to ensure that the Affordable Care Act does what it was intended to do and what it is already doing: lifting the lifetime caps. providing preventative care. taking away the discrimination against women and other ethnic minorities by eliminating health disparities. This is a bill that has seen eons of hearings not only in the underlying committee. but also in the Judiciary Committee and other committees and ad hoc hearings and briefings over and over again. I remember sitting and hearing the painful stories of families whose children had died because they could not get access to health care. But the Upton bill comes today disguised as a sheep in wolfs clothing. It discriminates against people with preexisting conditions. it restores annual caps on the amount of care you can receive. and it forces women to pay more than men for the same coverage. This bill is not a fix. It is a dissolver of a good bill. By the way. Mr. Speaker. let me inform my colleagues that there was nothing in the Affordable Care Act that dictated to insurance companies that they had to send cancelation letters. Why dont we hold a hearing and call the CEOs of the insurance companies and ask them why they didnt send the normal letter indicating that you have the opportunity to have a modified policy that will comply with the Affordable Care Act and that your policies are not canceled because those individuals did not pay their premium? Ask that question. I will tell you that there are health professionals and organizations that believe this particular bill will not work. such as the American Cancer Society and the American Diabetes Society. I agree with my colleague that there should have been an open rule. And the reason that there should have been an open rule is because I had an amendment that indicated that the conditions specified in the subsection for health insurance insurer. they must notify enrollees eligible for such continued coverage. I am glad that the President yesterday put that language in and also said that you can opt in to your old policy. We have answered the call and concern of the American people. but we have not taken away from them the right to have consumer protections and insurance coverage that will make their lives better. I would also suggest that my amendment indicated health insurance companies are making decisions based on their bottom line. their selfinterests. and have decided to terminate insurance plans that are not profitable in the new. highly competitive marketplace for health insurance or want to end insurance for those who are ill and thereby increase their profit margin by keeping only the healthy and margin ally healthy while discarding the ill. and the amendment should have been included. because we need to speak to our friends in the health insurance industry that we are here working together and that those letters were not necessary. Mr. Speaker. I want to save lives. I want consumer protections. I want women not to be discriminated against. Tomorrow. in Houston. we are opening the doors for enrollment in a health fair that we hope thousands will come to. My friends. the Upton bill does not answer the question. Let us save lives today.