Political Quotes

“I am here to speak about a topic which, wherever I go, people speak about--the replacement of the Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare, as people call it. Clearly, we need action. I had a Facebook post maybe a week or two ago from Brian in Covington, LA. He said: My family plan is $1,700. The quote goes on to say how his family cannot afford that $1,700. Rates are going up, which I have said time and time again. My friend back in Baton Rouge, he and his wife are 60, 61. The quote for their insurance last year was $39,000--for 1 year. That is clearly not affordable. This is not just in Louisiana; it is in Washington, DC, it is in California, it is across our Nation where individual market quotes are going up that they cannot support. Most recently, Connecticut insurers--there are two--are proposing rate increases that are 15.2 percent and 33.8 percent, on average, respectively. They are quoting 22 percent over 2017. In Maryland, some insurers are going to raise rates as much as 59 percent for those individual plans. I am a physician. I learned a couple of things in my 20 or 30 years of practice. One, to lower costs, the patient must have the power; and, two, the insurance must be affordable; and, three, that the insurance they receive must be adequate. President Trump totally got this. On the campaign trail, President Trump said time and again--what I call his contract with the voter.…”