Political Quotes

“I don't plan to use the entire time, but I come to the floor this evening basically to talk about the Affordable Care Act. Some call it the health care reform. This Friday will be the second anniversary of the President's signing of the Affordable Care Act, or health care reform, and I'd like to talk a little bit about how it's helping so many people with patient protections and added benefits, whether you're talking about seniors or young people or women or just the general public. The main thing that is heralded, if you will, by the Affordable Care Act is the opportunity over the next few years to expand health insurance to so many Americans who do not have health insurance now. We estimate there are variously between 40, maybe 45 million Americans that simply have no health insurance; and what that means is they either don't go to a doctor or they don't get any kind of health care unless they get very sick and end up going to the emergency room. The consequences of that is that they take no preventative care. They end up in the emergency room. Oftentimes, they can't afford to pay the cost of the emergency room, and that cost simply gets passed on to the hospital or, ultimately, to everyone else who is paying for health insurance.…”