Frank Pallone: “Thank you, Mr. Waxman. Unfortunately, today's bill is a ruse. It claims to make things better, but all it does is to…”

“Thank you, Mr. Waxman. Unfortunately, today's bill is a ruse. It claims to make things better, but all it does is to make things terribly worse. Republicans will hide behind a sound bite and nice-sounding title. But what this bill really does is to go back to the old, broken health insurance system. This is just another attempt for the GOP to repeal the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. They have made it their mission to push the ACA to failure, and the only consequence is just that: seriously damaging the insurance provisions of the Affordable Care Act and the millions of Americans who are expected to benefit from the improved coverage and premium and cost-sharing subsidies available through the new health insurance marketplace. The GOP claims the bill allows people to keep their health plans, but actually it allows old policies with fewer benefits and sometimes higher prices to be sold to new enrollees. One of the major goals of the ACA was to improve the quality of health insurance policies sold on the private market. Beginning in 2014, health insurance plans can no longer deny coverage for adults with preexisting conditions or charge those individuals more for coverage. And there are a lot of other discriminatory practices that are eliminated by the ACA. We need to be open to constructive changes to make this law work to the best of its ability, but that is not what the GOP is doing today.…”