Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I am embarking on completing my fourth year here in the United States House of Representatives. Four years ago I ran for the Congress, in part, to support the Affordable Care Act. There is a group of beneficiaries of the ACA that is often not discussed, and it is hospitals. I come from a part of northeastern Pennsylvania where the hospitals bore the brunt--and this is true all over America--bore the brunt of having to treat uninsured patients. People would show up on the doorsteps of the hospital and have to be treated. Well, the hospital has to absorb that when they treat uninsured patients. So what we saw over and over in my district in northeastern Pennsylvania was hospitals were closing. I know why. I sat on the board of directors of a small hospital. When you absorb it and you absorb it and you absorb the uninsured care year after year, eventually they start cutting back on nurses, start cutting back on essential services. Finally, there is nothing left to cut and they close the hospital. That is a terrible detriment to your health care when your hospital is no longer 10 minutes away and it is 40 minutes away. That can be the difference between life and death. That is why the Affordable Care Act is something that I supported. We should not dismantle it. I urge Members to vote against this bill.”