Political Quotes

“I also rise to speak about the nomination of Congressman Price as HHS Secretary. I will oppose his nomination, principally because he has been an opponent of virtually every program that provides health care access to people with modest means in this country: Medicare, Medicaid, the S-CHIP program--which he called socialism--Planned Parenthood, which is the primary health care provider of choice for millions of women, and the Affordable Care Act. There is much to talk about, but I am going to focus my comments today on his repeated promises to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Repeal of the Affordable Care Act would be very unwise. It would be heartless, and it would be economically foolish. The Virginia stats are instructive. In Virginia, 179,000 Virginians have been able to enroll in Medicaid since the ACA was passed--an additional 179,000--and nearly 380,000 Virginians have been able to get coverage through the marketplace. We have not done the Medicaid expansion program. If we did, another 400,000 could receive care through the ACA. Nearly 4 million Virginians have protection against discrimination on the grounds of preexisting health conditions. They have such conditions, and they could be turned away from insurance companies, as they have been in the past, as my own family has been. Before the ACA, only those with employer coverage got tax benefits to help pay for health insurance.…”