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

I thank the gentleman for his courtesy. This is what we lived in preceding the Affordable Care Act: 18 percent of the underinsured postponed getting care or treatment. and some of those people died. 15 percent of the uninsured had problems paying their medical bills. hounded. hounded. hounded because they didnt have the resources and even went bankrupt. 10 percent of the uninsured needed prescription drugs but they could not afford them. 8 percent were hounded by collection agencies because they had to pay for their mortgage or their food. 6 percent did not seek treatment at all. Do you know what that equals to? One hundred percent of those individuals suffering bad health care. Let us vote down the Upton bill. vote against the underlying rule. and lets promote the Affordable Care Act and fix it like the President has done. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to the rule and the underlying bill. H.R. 3350. the socalled "Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013." I oppose the rule and the underlying bill for two reasons. First. the bill will not save lives. Second. the legislation is unnecessary in light of the action taken yesterday by President Obama. which should satisfy the proponents of this legislation while at the same time minimizing the risk to the health and safety of underinsured Americans. who are persons who have insurance but spend more than 10% of their income on outofpocket medical expenses. Were it to become law. H.R. 3350 would jeopardize the life and health of those underinsured who purchase these plans it protects. even though health insurance plans are available that would in nearly every case provide more health coverage for less. Mr. Speaker. researchers have found the following disturbing facts regarding the underinsured: Eighteen percent of the underinsured postpone getting care or treatment. Fifteen percent of the underinsured had problems paying medical bills. Ten percent of the underinsured needed prescription drugs but could not afford them. Eight percent were hounded by collection agencies for nonpayment of medical bills. and Six percent did not seek treatment even though they needed it. Mr. Speaker. this is the cost of underinsurance in Americaand this is what we can expect more of should H.R. 3350 become law. The express purpose of this bill is to allow underinsured persons to retain an inadequate "health insurance" plan on the ground that supposedly it is the plan the person "wants to keep." Unfortunately. there is nothing in this bill that would provide consumer education on the inadequacies of the plan and that something much better is available. For example. there is no requirement in this bill for the insurer to notify the insured that health insurance provided through the exchange that provides more and better coverage for less money. This means that under H.R. 3350 people will still have problems paying their medical bills. they will have high bills. and they will not be able to afford prescription medication or be hounded by medical bill collectors. The second reason for opposing this rule and bill is that it is unnecessary in view of the actions taken yesterday by President Obama. As the President announced. insurers will be permitted to offer consumers the option to renew their 2013 health plans in 2014. without change. allowing them to keep their plans. This should satisfy the proponents of the bill. But the President went further than that because he recognizes that inadequate insurance is really no insurance at all. That is why the President conditioned the ability of insurers to offer plan renewals upon the following: 1. That insurers notify enrollees that they can purchase coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace where they can potentially qualify for premium tax credits. and 2. Those insurers must inform consumers of the protections they are giving up to keep the plan they have. Taken together. President Obamas actions are a tempered and measured response to the alleged problem that this bill seeks to remedy. I fully applaud what the President has done and I offered an amendment that would achieve precisely the same results but the Rules Committee did not make my amendment in order. The text of Jackson Lee Amendment #1 provides: