Political Quotes

“first I want to thank Senator Durbin for his comments about the policy of repealing the Affordable Care Act and not knowing what comes next, the impact it is going to have on people from Illinois. I am going to talk about people in Maryland. I have received similar letters showing that people are going to be adversely impacted. I want to share with my colleagues the conversation I had with the secretary of health from Maryland. Maryland has Governor Hogan, a Republican Governor, and his secretary of health met with me several weeks ago to express his concerns about the impact on the people of my State of Maryland if the Affordable Care Act were repealed. What I heard from the secretary of health of Maryland was similar to what I heard from many of the health care stakeholders from the hospital association to physician groups, to health care advocates, to ordinary Marylanders who have contacted me about their concerns about what happens if we see a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Let me just give you some examples of how the Affordable Care Act is working in my State and, as Senator Durbin indicated, in his State. The uninsured rate in Maryland has dropped from 12.9 percent to 6.6 percent. That is about a 50-percent drop in the uninsured rate. That benefits all Marylanders--all Marylanders. Yes, 400,000 Marylanders now have health coverage who didn't have health coverage before, and for those 400,000, that is a big deal.…”