On the recordJune 19, 2017
If I can ask the Senator from Connecticut one more question--that interrelatedness is a part of a larger system. We all benefit from these systems. My colleague mentioned hospitals, and whether it is my family who gets injured and is rushed to a hospital or a wealthy family or a poor family, those hospitals are a critical part of the healthcare system. I was mayor of a city, and I imagine my experience is similar to that of the Senator from Connecticut. Our hospitals before the Affordable Care Act were having a really difficult time because so many of those costs at the most expensive point--when a disease had become so much more acute--were being pushed into hospital emergency rooms. My State was having a very difficult time with the costs of that charity care. They literally had tough choices. They weren't going to close their doors when somebody went into diabetic shock or someone had an asthma attack or some of those diseases were not treated at an earlier stage. I am wondering if the Senator can help explain, in terms of Connecticut's perspective, why this has an impact on all of us in terms of the systemic healthcare systems that sustain our communities.
