Political Quotes

“I rise to talk a little bit today about the Affordable Care Act and its benefit to America's women. I want to thank Senators Murphy, Boxer, and Whitehouse who have organized a few of us to come to the floor today. They will be on the floor later this afternoon. But with so much discussion in the news about the recent completion of the March enrollment period--over 7 million people enrolled in the Affordable Care Act through the exchanges--I feel it is a good time to look at some of the benefits of the ACA, but also where there is more work to do. I know the Presiding Officer has been very focused on ``where there is more work to do.'' I applaud the Presiding Officer for that. I will talk about some of those issues as well. But first, let me start with a couple of Virginia stories because we hear stories from our constituents about the Affordable Care Act. There is a 27-year-old woman in Charlottesville who was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Before the ACA, her previous insurance plan refused to cover her surgery because cancer was a preexisting condition. She is now enrolled in a health plan under the ACA, and her doctor and hospital where she is planning the surgery were confirmed to be in the provider network. In Alexandria, VA, there is a woman by the name of Aqualyn Laury. She is 43 years old. She suffered a stroke and a heart attack at a young age and had been on a preexisting condition insurance plan that was extremely expensive for some time.…”