Health Care

Floor Speech

Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, 2 years ago President Obama signed into law what I believe was the most forward-thinking and humane reform of our health care system since Medicare. Just like the Republicans opposed Medicare when it came in, they still want to get rid of it. If we look at the Ryan budget that came out, what do they want to do? They want to privatize Medicare. They have been at it ever since. They do not want this humane reform we passed 2 years ago.

When the affordable care act became law, I said we have made America a more compassionate and a more just society. I believe this with even greater conviction now. In listening to my colleagues, my friends on the other side of the aisle, one would think this is all just about little nuts and bolts and this and that, but it is about humaneness. It is about compassion and about justice and, yes, it is about making the system work better for patients, not just for insurance companies and the insurance industry.

Now that we have moved ahead to implement the law, the results have been striking. Every American now is protected against the abusive insurance company practices of the past. Let me put it another way. Because of the health care reform law, Americans now have protections that every Senator in this Chamber has enjoyed for years under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. We now have extended that to all Americans. Listening to my friends on the other side of the aisle, they want to take it away from Americans but keep it for themselves. Oh, no; they do not want to give it up. I think what is good for Senators ought to be good for the American people.

The young lady shown on this chart is Emily Schlichting. She testified before my committee last year, and this is what she said:

Young people are the future of this country and we are the most affected by reform--we're the generation that is most uninsured. We need the Affordable Care Act because it is literally an investment in the future of this country.

Why does she say that? Because she suffers from a rare autoimmune condition which insurance companies would not even cover. But because we have said they cannot now discriminate if someone has a preexisting condition, Emily gets insurance coverage. Plus, she can stay on her parents' health insurance program.

So far, the law has extended coverage to more than 2 1/2 million young people such as Emily. Yet the Republicans want to take it away. They want to take away Emily Schlichting's insurance coverage. That is what this is all about. They want to repeal the affordable care act--ObamaCare. What that will mean is that 2 1/2 million people similar to Emily will lose their insurance. But they do not talk about that. They do not talk about that.

Here is the coverage Americans have right now. We have banned lifetime limits. Let me tell everyone about Ross Daniels and Amy Ward from West Des Moines, IA. After developing a rare lung infection on a summer trip, Amy needed intensive treatment, including a course of medication costing--get this--$1,600 a dose--$1,600 a dose. Her insurance policy had a $1 million lifetime limit. Without our health care reform's ban on lifetime limits, this couple would have had to declare bankruptcy. After this experience, Ross said he can't understand why opponents of the law want to repeal it. He said:

It is hard for us to believe that so many of the GOP candidates would have us go back in time where an illness like this would have forced us, or any other family for that matter, into bankruptcy.

Listen to what Republicans are saying. They want to take this protection away from Amy Ward and Ross Daniels and millions of other Americans. There are 100 million people being helped by the ban on lifetime limits.

We have also covered vital preventive services free of charge. That has benefited more than 80 million people who now get free preventive care. It allows young people to remain on their parents' insurance plans until they are age 26. I can't tell you how many families I have talked to in my State of Iowa who have said this has been a godsend to them and to their kids.

Here is the preventive portion. We all know prevention is the best thing we can do to change our sick care system into a health care system. Here is what we did. Here is what the affordable care act does on prevention. Before health care reform, colorectal cancer screening was covered only 68 percent by insurance companies, cholesterol screening was only covered by 57 percent, tobacco cessation only 4 percent. Under the affordable care act, colorectal cancer screening, cholesterol, and tobacco cessation all are covered at 100 percent by every insurance company. Madam President, 100 hundred percent, not 57 percent or 68 percent but 100 percent. We all know that early screening means people live longer and it cuts down on health care costs.

So millions now receive free preventive care, and 86 million Americans had at least one free preventive service in 2011. Almost 1 million Iowans, in my State, received at least one free preventive service in 2011. Yet Republicans want to take this away. That is what this is about.

But Americans now have preventive care. They now are able to keep their kids on their policies until they are age 26. They now have a ban on lifetime limits. We now have a ban for children up to age 19 on preexisting conditions. That is all they want to do; they want to take this away. I say, don't let them take this away from the American people.

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