Opposition to Repealing the Affordable Care Act

Floor Speech

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, this is day 2 of the misguided Republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. We have been down this road 31 times with the same arguments and the same often misleading rhetoric that does not reflect the true benefits of the Affordable Care Act.

Those who argue against it are not speaking for my 167,000 uninsured constituents who for the first time will receive health insurance coverage when the law is fully implemented. They are not speaking for the 7,000 young adults who can now stay on their parents' insurance plans until they are aged 26, or for the 510 small businesses in my district that are receiving tax credits to help maintain or expand health care coverage for their employees.

Colleagues who support the repeal of the Affordable Care Act are also disregarding the needs of minority communities in which millions suffer from persistent and life-shortening health disparities. In my largely Latino district, for example, thousands more of my constituents will have access to health care through the expansion of Medicaid, the creation of health insurance exchanges, and through the law's expansion of community health centers.

Mr. Speaker, my constituents do not want the Affordable Care Act repealed nor do the millions of Americans across our country for which the ACA has brought lifesaving benefits. This is most certainly true for women, seniors and people with disabilities.

Under the Affordable Care Act, being female can no longer be considered a preexisting condition. Women will no longer have to pay higher premiums than men, and prenatal care will finally be covered for all women in this country.

Never again will our sisters, mothers and daughters have to choose between a mammogram or putting food on the table because these lifesaving preventative health services will no longer require copayments.

As for seniors, last year, as a result of health reform, over 32 million of them received free preventative health services, and over 5 million seniors are saving close to $4 billion on Medicare prescription drug costs as the doughnut hole closes.

Because Obama cares, our families and neighbors with disabilities will no longer live in fear of reaching lifetime limits on their insurance or of being excluded from coverage due to having preexisting conditions.

Mr. Speaker, the Affordable Care Act is already working for my constituents--for women, for minority communities, for seniors, and for people with disabilities. It is time for my Republican colleagues to listen to these Americans who do not want to lose their new health benefits. The Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act. Let's stop wasting time and taxpayers' money and find solutions to the other complex issues facing our country today.

Source