Tom Harkin: “Again, Mr. President, tomorrow we celebrate the second anniversary of the signing of the affordable care act into law.…”

“Again, Mr. President, tomorrow we celebrate the second anniversary of the signing of the affordable care act into law. Our Democratic leader, Senator Reid, in his opening remarks today, outlined the tremendous progress we have made. I listened to the comments made by our distinguished Republican leader, and all I heard was: Repeal ObamaCare, repeal ObamaCare. But I never heard what they want to replace it with. They just want to go back to the old system where the insurance companies ran everything before, where people were thrown off their policies because they had an illness, where because of preexisting conditions people could not get health care coverage, where we had this big doughnut hole which we are now closing for the elderly? The one aspect I want to focus on this morning in my brief time is an extraordinary element of the affordable care act that is not being talked about a lot but which members of the committee I now am privileged to chair, the HELP Committee, worked so hard to include in the affordable care act; that is, the array of provisions that promote wellness, disease prevention, and public health. Taken together, these provisions have begun to jump-start America's transformation into a genuine wellness society. They are transforming our current sick care system into a true health care system. I have said this many times: We do not have a health care system in America. We have a sick care system. If people get sick, they get care--one way or the other.…”