Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, the States that didn't expand their Medicaid enrollment, you saw that there continued to be a disparity of patients between those States and States that expanded their Medicaid in their ability to seek treatment. So when we attempt to cut Medicaid in order to pay for the tax breaks we gave millionaires and billionaires, when we continue down that terrible path--or, I should say, government continues down that terrible path--to repeal the Medicaid expansion, which we must protect, then we are hurting patients. We are not providing them with tools that they need to get access to treatment. The other big picture here is that mental health and emergency care payments are part of the essential health benefits. We have just passed experiences where we had to defend keeping these essential health benefits within the Affordable Care Act from being repealed. We know that those patients who go to the emergency department at their last wits' end or that are suffering from overdose or severe side effects from misuse of the opioid medication, then they won't be covered if we repeal those essential health benefits. And then, finally, having an addiction is a chronic condition. It is a mental health disorder with addiction characteristics, and this can be considered a preexisting illness. We have States that are trying to repeal this through litigation.…”