Political Quotes

“Exactly 7 years after the Affordable Care Act became law, we now anticipate a vote this week on a Republican plan to gut it. Mr. Speaker, the ACA expanded health coverage to 20 million people and expanded Medicaid to help our most vulnerable populations, changes that resulted in coverage for more than 100,000 Rhode Islanders. Last week, I joined Democratic colleagues at a hearing to discuss the Republican plan, a hearing Republicans should have organized to assess the impact of their bill, which CBO estimates will result in 14 million additional uninsured by 2018 and 24 million people losing their health insurance by 2026. Mr. Speaker, the Republican plan is not the solution to strengthen our health system. It ignores the sick, the poor, the disabled, and the elderly. Mr. Speaker, Americans cannot benefit from the systemic changes in care delivery, the breakthrough treatments of tomorrow, or improved access to today's therapies if the Republican plan is passed. Mr. Speaker, we should be working in a bipartisan way to improve the Affordable Care Act, not gutting it. ____________________”