Political Quotes

“I rise to speak briefly about the American Health Care Act that was passed last week in the House of Representatives. I thought a lot about this bill over the past few days and over the weekend. I talked to friends, I read about it, and I did as much analysis as I possibly could, given the fact that we don't have a Congressional Budget Office analysis of this complicated and important piece of legislation. I have concluded that it is the most ill-conceived, damaging, and downright cruel piece of legislation that I have ever seen a legislative body pass in my adult life. It drastically cuts support for Americans' ability to obtain health insurance. In Maine--again, as near as we can tell, because we don't have the final analysis--the preliminary numbers are this. Maine, under the Affordable Care Act, through the payments to individuals and other support, is receiving about $354 million a year coming via the Affordable Care Act. After this bill, it appears that the number is $80 million a year--$364 million to $80 million. That is almost an 80- percent cut. No one can tell me the people of Maine are going to have better healthcare with an 80-percent cut in the funds going to support their ability to do so. It just doesn't make sense. The way this bill works is, it is a tax on the elderly. Under the Affordable Care Act, there is a rule that policies for older people, 50, 55, 60, cannot exceed three times the rate of policies for younger people.…”