Health Care

Floor Speech

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I want to take just a little bit of time to say a few things about the health care bill. The shrill cries from the other side have lessened in recent weeks, and obviously for good reason. The New York Times reports today--I won't read the whole column but I will read quite a bit.

It says less than ``15 percent of adults younger than 65 now lack health insurance, down from 20 percent before the Affordable Care Act rolled out in January.''

In fact, we have information from the Gallup organization today that came out after this New York Times article that the rate is down to 13.4 percent. It is the lowest quarterly average recorded since Gallup began tracking the percentage of uninsured Americans. That is pretty good.

The Gallup poll says:

The uninsured rate has decreased sharply since the Affordable Care Act's requirement for most Americans to have health insurance went into effect beginning 2014.

So in the fourth quarter of 2013 the average was 17.1 percent, and now it is down to 13.4. This is remarkable.

Carrying on with the information from the New York Times, people who got new coverage--we heard all the cries about how upset people were with the new health insurance, but they are very happy with the new product; 73 percent of the people who bought health care plans and 80 percent of those who signed up for Medicaid said they were either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied. That is 73 percent with their new health insurance; 74 percent of newly insured Republicans like their plans; 77 percent of people who had insurance before, including members of the much-publicized group whose plans got cancelled last year, were happy with their new coverage.

A survey also said that a majority of people are using their new insurance. They like it. They are glad they have it.

People who have the insurance are going to a doctor, they are going to the hospital, and most people seeking new primary care doctors found the process easy and had to wait less than 2 weeks for an appointment. Sixty percent said they wouldn't have been able to afford the care without the new coverage.

These statistics are really staggering.

The article closes by saying:

There is a reason to think that the good feelings may linger....... An Associated Press poll in January found that 73 percent of all Americans with insurance before the rollout of the law were satisfied.

So we are doing overall very well. My Republican colleagues come to the floor and say: Oh, this is just awful, people are so upset.

It simply is not true.

This is not my opinion. It is statistics and facts.

Source