On the recordMay 4, 2017
This bill will be devastating to families all across America. The Republican bill rips coverage away from millions of Americans. The last projection was 24 million. They didn't wait for the new projection, which is going to be much higher. The Republican bill hurts Medicare, and it shortens the life of the Medicare trust fund just when we have more baby boomers retiring and calling on Medicare. It imposes a huge age tax because it makes affordable insurance much less affordable if you are about age 50 or older. A dirty little secret here that most people have not discussed is the harm it does to the Medicaid guarantee. For over 50 years in America, we have said that if you are disabled, if you have a family member with Alzheimer's, or if you have a child with a complex medical condition, you are not going to be destitute because your health care is so expensive. That is one of the fundamental guarantees of Medicaid for 50 years. They take that away and go to the heart of the medical care that is provided under Medicaid as well. It is shameful. But it got worse. As we approach this day, they didn't have the votes, so they made it worse by going to the heart of the Affordable Care Act which ended discrimination against our neighbors with a preexisting condition. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
