Political Quotes

“Mr. President and colleagues, thank you for your courtesy. During the TrumpCare debate, it was clear that unraveling the consumer protections that Americans count on today causes the whole system to come apart at the expense of those who need healthcare the most. I have heard the authors of this bill argue that the States will be able to keep the Affordable Care Act or do it their own way, but this bill asks each State to do a whole lot more with a whole lot less. That does not sound like a prescription for State innovation; it sounds like more of the same failed, partisan approach that the public witnessed earlier this year. I know a bit about State innovation and have enjoyed talking with the distinguished President of the Senate about it. I wrote the provision that is currently in law that says that States have a chance to do better, not worse. What the States have been most interested in up until now is something called reinsurance, and the States that have been making headway in terms of their getting the green light from the Federal Government have used the existing law that I wrote. Yet the idea of letting States do worse is a different story, and it sure looks to me as if we will be seeing benefits cut and insurance plans being worth little more than the paper on which they are written. On top of that, Americans in red States should not be subjected to worse healthcare than those in blue States simply on the basis of their ZIP Codes.…”