Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, there is no better fighter than the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline) in the representation that he gives to the people of Rhode Island and beyond. The gentleman couldn't be more accurate about all that he said. I was listening carefully to the story the gentleman from Rhode Island told of the individual who wrote him an email. I, too, have received many, many emails. I was thinking, as he was describing the situation, of a woman who runs her own small farm near Marysville, California, in my district. For years, she could not afford insurance. She had a small orchard farm. She couldn't afford insurance. When she got sick, she went to the emergency room. She was able to get along. But she knew that, as she approached 50 years of age, she would be facing a bad medical situation, and she did. She had cancer. She couldn't get a policy prior to the Affordable Care Act because she had a preexisting condition: she had cancer. Emergency rooms are not treating that. She wasn't able to get on a program, and she was going to die. About that time, we established, in California, a covered California program that is an exchange based upon the Affordable Care Act. She, because of her income, was able to get a comprehensive insurance policy and a subsidy for her premium. She then had quality insurance, and she was able to get the cancer treatment because her insurance had no preexisting conditions and she was able to afford it.…”