Rich Neal: “Mr. Speaker, it is too bad that we had to play this out to the anxiety and consternation of the American people. Think…”

“Mr. Speaker, it is too bad that we had to play this out to the anxiety and consternation of the American people. Think of what this might be like if you didn't know a month ago whether or not your children were going to have health insurance. Think of the anguish that you might feel proceeding into the holidays while not knowing whether or not that child would be able to complete the doctor's appointment that you had made for them because you didn't have health insurance. I didn't hear the other side complaining about keeping 26-year-olds on their parents' health insurance. How about the idea that, in the ACA, we were able to abolish preexisting conditions being routinely used to deny the opportunity to access even primary care for millions and millions of Americans. Mr. Speaker, I call attention to this because I have watched over these years how the ACA has not only become more popular, but the American people have come to expect the benefits of the ACA. This argument for those of us who were here and participated at the time was not really complex at all. The argument was that we would proceed on the basis of the notion of universal access and that you wouldn't have to worry that if you went to the emergency room, you somehow might be turned away because you had not been able to pay another bill. We don't get a chance on this Earth to predict when we are going to get sick.”