Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20131115

Can support their efforts. Our friends in the philippines will face a long, hard road ahead, but theyll continue to have a friend and partner in the United States of america. Now, switching gears, it has now been six weeks since the Affordable Care acts new marketplace has opened for business. I think its fair to say that the rollout has been rough so far. And i think everybody understands that im not happy bout the fact that the rollout has been wrought with a whole range of problems that ive been deeply concerned about. But today i want to talk about what we know after these first few weeks and what were doing to implement and improve the law. Yesterday, the white house announced that in the first month, more than 100,000 americans successfully enrolled in new Insurance Plans. Is that as high a number as wed like . Absolutely not. But it does mean that people want Affordable Health care. The problems of the website have prevented too Many Americans from completing the enrollment process. And thats on us, not on them. But there is no question that theres real demand for quality, Affordable Health insurance. In the first month, nearly a Million People successfully completed an application for themselves or their families. Those applications represent more than 1. 5 Million People. Of those 1. 5 Million People, 106,000 of them have successfully signed up to get covered. Another 396,000 have the ability to gain access to medicaid under the Affordable Care act. Thats been less reported on, but it shouldnt be. Americans who are having a difficult time, who are poor, many of them working, may have a disability; theyre americans like everybody else, and the fact that they are now able to get insurance is going to be critically important. Later today, ill be in ohio, where governor kasich, a republican, has expanded medicaid under the affordable are act. And as many as 275,000 ohioans will ultimately be better off because of it. And if every governor followed suit, another 5. 4 million americans could gain access to health care next year. So bottom line is, in just one month, despite all the problems that weve seen with the website, more than 500,000 americans could know the security of health care by january 1st many of them for the first time in their lives. And thats lifechanging and its significant. That still leaves about 1 million americans who successfully made it through the website, and now qualify to buy insurance, but havent picked a plan yet. And theres no question that if the website were working as its supposed to, that number would be much higher of people who have actually enrolled. So thats problem number one making sure that the website works the way its supposed to. Its gotten a lot better over the last few weeks than it was on the first day, but were working 24 7 to get it working for the vast majority of americans in a smooth, onsistent way. The other problem that has received a lot of attention concerns americans who have received letters from their insurers that they may be losing the plans they bought in the old individual market, often because they no longer meet the laws requirements to cover basic benefits like prescription drugs or doctors visits. Now, as i indicated earlier, i completely get how upsetting this can be for a lot of americans, particularly after assurances they heard from me that if they had a plan that they liked, they could keep it. And to those americans, i hear you loud and clear. I said that i would do everything we can to fix this problem. And today im offering an idea that will help do it. Already, people who have plans that predate the Affordable Care act can keep those plans if they havent changed. That was already in the law. Thats whats called a grandfather clause. It was included in the law. Today, were going to extend that principle both to people whose plans have changed since the law took effect, and to people who bought plans since the law took effect. So state Insurance Commissioners still have the power to decide what plans can and cant be sold in their states. But the bottom line is, insurers can extend current plans that would otherwise be canceled into 2014, and americans whose plans have been canceled can choose to reenroll in the same kind of plan. Were also requiring insurers to extend current plans to inform their customers about two things. One, that protections what protections these renewed plans dont include. And number two, that the marketplace offers new options with better coverage and tax credits that might help you bring down the cost. So if youve received one of these letters, id encourage you to take a look at the marketplace. Even if the website isnt working as smoothly as it should be for everybody yet, the plan comparison tool that lets you browse costs for new plans near you is working just fine. Now, this fix wont solve every problem for every person. But its going to help a lot of people. Doing more will require work with congress. And ive said from the beginning, im willing to work with democrats and republicans to fix problems as they arise. This is an example of what i was talking about. We can always make this law work etter. It is important to understand, though, that the old individual market was not working well. And its important that we dont pretend that somehow thats a place worth going back to. Too often, it works fine as long as you stay healthy; it doesnt work well when youre sick. So year after year, americans were routinely exposed to financial ruin, or denied coverage due to minor preexisting conditions, or dropped from coverage altogether even if they paid their premiums on time. Thats one of the reasons we pursued this reform in the first place. And thats why i will not accept proposals that are just another brazen attempt to undermine or repeal the overall law and drag us back into a broken system. We will continue to make the case, even to folks who choose to keep their own plans, that they should shop around in the new marketplace because theres a good chance that theyll be able to buy better insurance at lower cost. So were going to do everything we can to help the americans who have received these cancellation notices. But i also want everybody to remember there are still 40 million americans who dont have Health Insurance at all. Im not going to walk away from 40 Million People who have the chance to get Health Insurance for the first time. And im not going to walk away from something that has helped the cost of health care grow at its slowest rate in 50 years. So were at the opening weeks of the project to build a Better Health care system for everybody a system that will offer real Financial Security and peace of mind to millions of americans. It is a complex process. There are all kinds of challenges. Im sure there will be additional challenges that come up. And its important that were onest and straightforward in terms of when we come up with a problem with these reforms and these laws, that we address them. But weve got to move forward on this. It took 100 years for us to even get to the point where we could Start Talking about and implementing a law to make sure everybody has got Health Insurance. And my pledge to the American People is, is that were going to solve the problems that are there, were going to get it right, and the Affordable Care act is going to work for the American People. So with that, im going to take your questions, and im going to start with julie pace of ap. Thank you, mr. President. The combination of the website problems and the concerns over the policy cancellations has sparked a lot of worry within your own party, and polls also show that youre taking some hits with the public on both your overall job Approval Rating and also on factors like trust and honesty. Do you feel as though the flawed Health Care Rollout has led to a breach in the public trust and confidence in government . And if so, how do you plan to resolve that . There is no doubt that people are frustrated. We just came out of a shutdown and the possibility that for the first time in over 200 years, we wouldnt pay our bills. And people breathed a sigh of relief when that finally got done, and the next thing they know is, is that the president S Health Care reform cant get the website to work and that there are these other problems with respect to cancellation notices. And i understand why folks are frustrated. I would be, too. Because sometimes people look at whats taking place in washington and they say, not enough is getting done that helps me with my life. And regardless of what congress does, ultimately im the president of the United States and they expect me to do something about it. So in terms of how i intend to approach it, im just going to keep on working as hard as i can around the priorities that the American People care about. And i think its legitimate for them to expect me to have to win back some credibility on thiS Health Care law in particular, and on a whole range of these issues in general. And thats on me. I mean, we fumbled the rollout on thiS Health Care law. There are a whole bunch of things about it that are working really well which people didnt notice because they werent controversial so making sure kids could stay on their parents plans until they were through the age of 25, and making sure that seniors got more discounts on their prescription drugs. There were a whole bunch of stuff that we did well over the first three years. But we always knew that these marketplaces, creating a place where people can shop and through competition get a better deal for the Health Insurance that their families need, we always knew that that was going to be complicated and everybody was going to be paying a lot of attention to it. And we should have done a better job getting that right on day one not on day 28 or on day 40. I am confident that by the time we look back on this next year, that people are going to say this is working well, and its helping a lot of people. But my intention in terms of winning back the confidence of the American People is just to work as hard as i can; identify the problems that weve got, make sure that were fixing them. Whether its a website, whether it is making sure that folks who got these cancellation notices get help, were just going to keep on chipping away at this until the job is done. Major garrett. Thank you, mr. President. You said while the law was being debated, if you like your plan, you can keep it. You said after the law was implemented or signed, if you like your plan, you can keep it. Americans believed you, sir, when you said that to them over and over. Do you not believe, sir, the American People deserve a deeper, more transparent accountability from you as to why you said that over and over when your own statistic published in the federal register alerted your policy staff and i presume you to the fact that millions of americans would, in fact, probably fall into the very gap youre trying to administratively fix now . Thats one question. Second question. [laughter] you were informed, or several people in this building were informed two weeks before the launch of the website that it was failing the most basic tests internally, and yet a decision was made to launch the website on october 1st. Did you, sir, make that test . And if so, did you regret that . Okay, on the website, i was not informed directly that the website would not be working the way it was supposed to. Had i been informed, i wouldnt be going out saying, boy, this is going to be great. Im accused of a lot of things, but i dont think im stupid enough to go around saying, this is going to be like shopping on amazon or travelocity a week before the website opens if i thought that it wasnt going to work. So clearly, we and i did not have enough awareness about the problems in the website. Even a week into it, the thinking was that these were some glitches that would be fixed with patches, as opposed to some broader systemic problems that took much longer to fix and were still working on them. So that doesnt excuse the fact that they just dont work. But i think its fair to say that, no, garrett major, we would not have rolled out something knowing very well that it wasnt going to work the way it was supposed, given all the scrutiny that we knew was going to be on the website. With respect to the pledge i made that if you like your plan, you can keep it, i think and ve said in interviews that there is no doubt that the way i put that forward unequivocally ended up not being accurate. It was not because of my intention not to deliver on that commitment and that promise. We put a grandfather clause into the law, but it was insufficient. Keep in mind that the individual market accounts for 5 percent of the population. So when i said you can keep your health care, im looking at folks whove got employerbased health care; im looking at folks whove got medicare and medicaid and that accounts for the vast majority of americans. And then for people who dont have any Health Insurance at all, obviously that didnt apply. My commitment to them was, youre going to be able to get Affordable Health care for the first time. You have an individual market that accounts for about 5 percent of the population. And our working assumption was my working assumption was that the majority of those folks would find better policies at lower costs or the same costs in the marketplaces, and that the universe of folks who potentially would not find a better deal in the marketplaces, the grandfather clause would work sufficiently for them. And it didnt. And again, thats on us. Which is why were thats on me. And thats why im trying to fix it. And as i said earlier, i guess last week, and i will repeat, thats something i deeply regret because its scary getting a cancellation notice. Now, it is important to understand that out of that population, typically there is constant churn in that market. This market is not very stable and reliable for people. So people have a lot of complaints when theyre in that marketplace. As long as youre healthy, things seem to be going pretty good. And so a lot of people think, ive got pretty good insurance until they get sick and then suddenly they look at the fine print, and theyve got a 50,000 outofpocket expense that they cant pay. We know that on average over the last decade, each year, premiums in that individual market would go up an average of 15 percent a year. I know that because when we were talking about health care reform, one of the complaints was i bought health care in the individual market and i just got a notice from the insurer, they dropped me after i had an illness; or my premium skyrocketed by 20 or 30 percent, why arent we doing something about this . So part of what our goal has been is to make sure that that individual market is stable and fair, and has the kind of Consumer Protections that make sure that people dont get a rude surprise when they really need Health Insurance. But if you just got a cancellation notice, and so far youre thinking, my prices are pretty good, you havent been sick, and it fits your budget, and now you get this notice youre going to be worried about t. And if the insurer is saying the reason youre getting this notice is because of the Affordable Care act, then youre going to be understandably aggravated about it. Now, for a big portion of those people, the truth is they might have gotten a notice saying, were jacking up your rates by 30 percent. They might have said, from here on out, were not going to cover x, y and z illnesses, were changing the because these were all 12month policies. The Insurance Companies were under no obligation to renew the exact same policies that you had before. But, look, one of the things i understood when we decided to reform that Health Insurance market, part of the reason why it hasnt been done before and its very difficult to do, is that anything thats going on thats tough in the health care market, if you initiated a reform, can be attributed to your law. And so what we want to do is to be able to say to these folks, you know what, the Affordable Care act is not going to be the reason why insurers have to cancel your plan. Now, what folks may find is the Insurance Companies may still come back and say, we want to charge you 20 percent more than we did last year; or were not going to cover prescription drugs now. But thats in the nature of the market that existed earlier. Did you decide, sir, that the simple declaration was something the American People could handle, but this nuanced answer you just gave now was something that you couldnt handle and you didnt trust the American People with a fuller truth . No. I think, as i said earlier, major, my expectation was that for 98 percent of the American People, either it genuinely wouldnt change at all, or theyd be pleasantly surprised with the options in the marketplace, and that the grandfather clause would cover the rest. That proved not to be the case. And thats on me. And the American People those who got cancellation notices do deserve and have received an apology from me. But they dont want just words. What they want is whether we can make sure that they are in a better place, and that we meet that commitment. And, by the way, i think its very important for me to note that there are a whole bunch of folks up in congress and others who made this statement, and they were entirely sincere about it. And the fact that youve got this percentage of people who have had this impact i want them to know that their senator or congressman, they were making representations based on what i told them and what this white house and our administrative staff told them. And so its not on them. Its on us. But it is something that we intend to fix. Steve collinson. Do you have reason to believe that iran would walk away from Nuclear Talks if congress draws up new sanctions . And would a diplomatic breakdown at this stage leave you no ption but military action . And how do you respond to your critics on the hill who say that it was only tough sanctions that got iran to the table, but only tougher sanctions will make it capitulate . Well, let me make a couple of points. Number one, ive said before and i will repeat we do not want iran having Nuclear Weapons. And it would be not only dangerous to us and our allies, but it would be destabilizing to the entire region, and could trigger a Nuclear Arms Race that would make life much more dangerous for all of us. So our policy is iran cannot have Nuclear Weapons. And im leaving all options on the table to make sure that we meet that goal. Point number two the reason weve got such vigorous sanctions is because i and my administration put in place, when i came into office, the International Structure to have the most effective sanctions ver. And so i think its fair to say that i know a little bit about sanctions, since weve set them p, and made sure that we mobilize the entire International Community so that there werent a lot of loopholes and they really had bite. And the intention in setting up those sanctions always was to bring the iranians to the table so that we could resolve this issue peacefully, because that is my preference. Thats my preference because any Armed Conflict has cost to it, but its also my preference because the best way to assure that a country does not have Nuclear Weapons is that they are making a decision not to have Nuclear Weapons, and were in a position to verify that they ont have Nuclear Weapons. So as a consequence of the sanctions that we put in place and i appreciate all the help, bipartisan help, that we received from congress in making that happen irans economy has been crippled. They had a 5 percent growth rate last year. Their currency plummeted. Theyre having significant problems in just the daytoday economy on the ground in iran. And president rouhani made a decision that he was prepared to come and have a conversation with the International Community about what they could do to solve this problem with us. Weve now had a series of conversations, and it has never been realistic that we would resolve the entire problem all at once. What we have done is seen the possibility of an agreement in which iran would halt advances on its program; that it would ilute some of the highly enriched uranium that makes it easier for them to potentially produce a weapon; that they are subjecting themselves to much more vigorous inspections so that we know exactly what theyre doing at all their various facilities; and that that would then provide time and space for us to test, over a certain period of months, whether or not they are prepared to actually resolve this issue to the satisfaction of the International Community making us confident that, in fact, theyre not pursuing a Nuclear Weapons program. In return, the basic structure of whats been talked about, although not completed, is that we would provide very modest relief at the margins of the sanctions that weve set up. But importantly, we would leave in place the core sanctions that are most effective and have most impact on the iranian economy, specifically Oil Sanctions and sanctions with respect to banks and financing. And what that gives us is the opportunity to test how serious are they, but it also gives us an assurance that if it turns out six months from now that theyre not serious, we can crank we can dial those sanctions right back up. So my message to congress has been that, lets see if this shortterm, phaseone deal can be completed to our satisfaction where were absolutely certain that while were talking with the iranians, theyre not busy advancing their program. We can buy some additional months in terms of their breakout capacity. Lets test how willing they are to actually resolve this diplomatically and peacefully. We will have lost nothing if, at the end of the day, it turns out that they are not prepared to provide the International Community the hard proof and assurances necessary for us to know that theyre not pursuing a uclear weapon. And if that turns out to be the case, then not only is our entire sanctions infrastructure still in place, not only are they still losing money from the fact that they cant sell their oil and get revenue from their oil as easily, even throughout these talks, but other options remain. But what ive said to members of congress is that if, in fact, were serious about trying to resolve this diplomatically because no matter how good our military is, military options are always messy, theyre always difficult, always have unintended consequences, and in this situation are never complete in terms of making us certain that they dont then go out and pursue even more vigorously Nuclear Weapons in the future if were serious about pursuing diplomacy, then theres no need for us to add new sanctions on top of the sanctions that are already very effective and that brought them to the table in the first place. Now, if it turns out they cant deliver, they cant come to the table in a serious way and get this issue resolved, the sanctions can be ramped back up. And weve got that option. All right. Roger runningen. Roger, its his birthday, by the way. So thats not the reason you got a question, but i thought it was important to note that. Thank you, mr. President. Happy birthday. Back to health care. Can you guarantee for the American People that the Health Care Website is going to be fully operational for all people, not just the vast majority, by november 30 . And second, more broadly, this is your signature domestic piece f legislation. You hear criticism on the hill that you and your White House Team are too insular. Is that how this mess came to be . Well, i think there is going to be a lot of evaluation of how we got to this point. And i assure you that ive been asking a lot of questions about that. The truth is that this is, number one, very complicated. The website itself is doing a lot of stuff. There arent a lot of websites out there that have to help people compare their possible insurance options, verify income to find out what kind of tax credits they might get, communicate with those Insurance Companies so they can purchase, make sure that all of its verified. So theres just a bunch of pieces to it that made it challenging. And you combine that with the fact that the federal government does a lot of things really well. One of the things it does not do well is Information Technology procurement. This is kind of a systematic problem that we have across the board. And it is not surprising then that there were going to be some problems. Now, i think we have to ask ourselves some hard questions inside the white house as opposed to why we didnt see more of these problems coming earlier on a, so we could set expectations; b, so that we could look for different ways for people to end up pplying. So ultimately, youre right. This is something thats really important to me, and its really important to millions of americans who have been waiting for a really long time to try to get health care because they dont have it. And i am very frustrated, but im also somebody who, if i fumbled the ball, im going to wait until i get the next play, and then im going to try to run as hard as i can and do right by the team. So ultimately, im the head of this team. We did fumble the ball on it, and what im going to do is make sure that we get it fixed. In terms of what happens on november 30th or december 1st, i think its fair to say that the improvement will be marked and noticeable. The website will work much better on november 30th, december 1st than it worked certainly on october 1st. Thats a pretty low bar. It will be working a lot better han it is it was last week, and it will be working better than it was this week, which means that the majority of people who go to the website will see a website that is working the way its supposed to. I think it is not possible for me to guarantee that 100 percent of the people 100 percent of the time going on this website will have a perfectly seamless, smooth experience. Were going to have to continue to improve it even after november 30th, december 1st. But the majority of people who use it will be able to see it operate the way it was supposed to. One thing that weve discovered, though, that i think is worth noting a lot of focus has been on the website and the technology, and thats partly because thats how we initially identified it these are litches. What were discovering is that part of the problem has been Technology Hardware and software and thats being upgraded. But even if we get the hardware and software working exactly the way its supposed to with relatively minor glitches, what were also discovering is that insurance is complicated to buy. And another mistake that we made i think was underestimating the difficulties of people purchasing insurance online and shopping for a lot of options with a lot of costs and a lot of different benefits and plans, and somehow expecting that that would be very smooth. And then theyve also got to try apply for tax credits on the website. So what were doing even as were trying to solve the technical problems is also what can we do to make the application a little bit simpler; what can we do to make it in english as opposed to bureaucratese; are there steps that we can skip while still getting the core information that people need and part of what were realizing is that they are going to be a certain portion of people who are just going to need more help and more handholding in the application process. And so i guess part of the Continuous Improvement that im looking at is not just a technical issue. Its also, can we streamline the application process; what are we doing to give people more assistance in the application process; how do the call centers and the people who are helping folks inperson; how are they trained so that things can go more smoothly. Because the bottom line ultimately is, i just want people to know what their options are in a clear way. And buying Health Insurance is never going to be like buying a song on itunes. Its just a much more complicated transaction. But i think we can continue to make it better all of which is to say that on december 1st, november 30th, it will be a lot better, but there will still be some problems. Some of those will not be because of technological problems although im sure that there will still be some glitches that have to be moothed out. Some of its going to be how are we making this application process more userfriendly for folks. And one good example of this, by the way, just to use an analogy when we came into office, we heard a lot of complaints about the Financial Aid forms that families have to fill out to get federal Financial Aid. And i actually remember applying for some of that stuff and remember how difficult and confusing it was. And arne duncan over at education worked with a team to see what we could do to simplify it, and it made a big difference. And thats part of the process that weve got to go through. And in fact, if we can get some focus groups and we sit down with actual users and see how well is this working, what would improve it, what part of it didnt you understand that all i think is part of what were going to be working on in the weeks ahead. What about the insularity criticism that you hear on the ill . Ive got to say i meet with an awful lot of folks, and i talk to an awful lot of folks every day. And i have lunches with ceos and it venture capitalists and labor eaders and pretty much folks from all walks of life on a whole bunch of topics. And if you looked at my schedule on any given day, were interacting with a whole lot of people. And i think its fair to say that we have a pretty good track record of working with folks on technology and it from our campaign where, both in 2008 and 2012, we did a pretty darn good job on that. So its not the idea that somehow we didnt have access or were interested in peoples ideas, i think isnt accurate. What is true is that, as i said before, our it systems, how we Purchase Technology in the federal government is cumbersome, complicated, and outdated. And so this isnt a situation where on my campaign i could simply say, who are the best folks out there; lets get them around a table, lets figure out what were doing, and were just going to continue to improve it and refine it and work on our goals. If youre doing it at the federal government level, youre going through 40 pages of specs and this and that and the other, and there are all kinds of laws involved, and it makes it more difficult. Its part of the reason why, chronically, federal it programs are over budget, behind schedule. And one of the when i do some monday morning quarterbacking on myself, one of the things that i do recognize is since i know that the federal government has not been good at this stuff in the past two years ago, as we were thinking about this, we might have done more to make sure that we were breaking the mold on how we were going to be setting this up. But that doesnt help us now. Weve got to move forward. Jeff mason. Thank you, mr. President. Todays fix that you Just Announced leaves it up to state Insurance Commissioners and Insurance Companies to ultimately decide whether to allow old policies to be renewed for a year. How confident are you that they will do that . And secondly, how concerned are you that this flawed rollout may hurt democrats chances in next years midterm elections, and your ability to advance other priorities such as Immigration Reform . On the first question, traditionally, state Insurance Commissioners make decisions about what plans can be or cannot be sold, how they interact with insurers. What were essentially saying is the Affordable Care act is not going to be the factor in what happens with folks in the individual market. And my guess is right away youre going to see a number of state Insurance Commissioners exercise it. Part of the challenge is the individual markets are different in different states. There are some states that have individual Insurance Markets that already have almost all the Consumer Protections that the Affordable Care act does. They match up pretty good. Its not some big jump for folks to move into the marketplace. In others, theyre pretty low standards, so you can sell pretty substandard plans in those markets. And thats where people might see a bigger jump in their premiums. So i think theres going to be some statebystate evaluation on how this is handled. But the key point is, is that it allows us to be able to say to the folks who received these notices look, i, the president of the United States and the insurance that the insurance model, the Affordable Care act, s not going to be getting in the way of you shopping in the individual market that you used to have. As i said, there are still going to be some folks who over time, i think, are going to find that the marketplaces are better. One way i described this to i met with a group of senators when this issue first came up and its not a perfect analogy but we made a decision as a society that every car has to ave a seatbelt or airbags. And so you pass a regulation. And there are some additional costs, particularly at the start of increasing the safety and protections, but we make a decision as a society that the costs are outweighed by the benefits of all the lives that are saved. So what were saying now is if youre buying a new car, you got o have a seatbelt. Well, the problem with the grandfather clause that we put in place is its almost like we said to folks, you got to buy a new car, even if you cant afford it right now. And sooner or later, folks are going to start trading in their old cars. But we dont need if their life circumstance is such where, for now at least, they want to keep the old car, even if the new car is better, we should be able to give them that option. And thats what we want to do. And, by the way, thats what we should have been able to do in drafting the rules in the first place. So, again, these are two fumbles on something that on a big game, which but the game is not over. With respect to the politics of it, ill let you guys do a lot of the work on projecting what this means for various political scenarios. There is no doubt that our failure to roll out the aca smoothly has put a burden on democrats, whether theyre running or not, because they stood up and supported this effort through thick and hin. And i feel deeply responsible for making it harder for them rather than easier for them to continue to promote the core values that i think led them to support this thing in the first place which is, in this country, as wealthy as we are, everybody should be able to have the security of Affordable Health care. And thats why i feel so trongly about fixing it. My first and foremost obligation s the American People, to make sure that they can get whats there if we can just get the darn website working and smooth this thing out which is plans that are affordable, and allow them to take advantage of tax credits and give them a better deal. But i also do feel an obligation to everybody out there who supported this effort. When we dont do a good job on the rollout, were letting them down. And i dont like doing that. So my commitment to them is, were going to just keep on doing better every day until we get it done. And in terms of the impact on me i think to some extent i addressed it when i talked to julie there are going to be ups and downs during the course of my presidency. And i think i said early on when i was running i am not a perfect man, and i will not be a perfect president , but ill wake up every single day working as hard as i can on behalf of americans out there from every walk of life who are working hard, meeting their responsibilities, but sometimes are struggling because the way the system works isnt giving them a fair shot. And that pledge i havent broke. That commitment, that promise, continues to be continues to hold the promise that i wouldnt be perfect, number one, but also the promise that as long as ive got the honor of having this office, im just going to work as hard as i can to make things better for folks. And what that means specifically in thiS Health Care arena is we cant go back to the status quo. I mean, right now everybody is properly focused on us not doing a good job on the rollout, and thats legitimate and i get it. There have been times where i thought we were kind of slapped around a little bit unjustly. This one is deserved. Right . Ts on us. But we cant lose sight of the fact that the status quo before the Affordable Care act was not working at all. If the Health Care System had been working fine, and everybody had highquality Health Insurance at affordable prices, i wouldnt have made it a priority; we wouldnt have been fighting this hard to get it done which is why, when i see sometimes folks up on capitol hill, and republicans in particular, who have been suggesting repeal, repeal, lets get rid of this thing, i keep on asking what is it that you want to do . Are you suggesting that the status quo was working . Because it wasnt, and Everybody Knows it. It wasnt working in the individual market and it certainly wasnt working for the 41 Million People who didnt have Health Insurance. And so what we did was we chose a path that was the least disruptive, to try to finally ake sure that health care is treated in this country like it is in every other advanced country that its not some privilege that just a certain portion of people can have, but its something that everybody has some confidence about. And we didnt go far left and choose an approach that would have been much more disruptive. We didnt adopt some more conservative proposals that would have been much more disruptive. We tried to choose a way that built off the existing system. But it is complicated, it is hard, but i make no apologies for us taking this on because somebody sooner or later had to do it. I do make apologies for not having executed better over the last several months. And do you think that execution and the flaws in the rollout will affect your ability to do other things, like Immigration Reform and other policy priorities . Well, look, if it comes to Immigration Reform, there is no reason for us not to do Immigration Reform. And weve already got strong bipartisan support for Immigration Reform out of the senate. Youve got i met with a number of traditionally very conservative clergy who are deeply committed to Immigration Reform. Weve got the Business Community entirely behind Immigration Reform. So youve got a bunch of constituencies that are traditionally much more have leaned much more heavily towards the republicans who are behind this. So if people are looking for an excuse not to do the right thing on Immigration Reform, they can always find an excuse weve run out of time, or this is hard, or the list goes on and on. But my working assumption is people should want to do the right thing. And when youve got an issue that would strengthen borders, make sure that the Legal Immigration system works the way its supposed to, that would go after employers who have been doing the wrong thing when it comes to hiring undocumented workers, and would allow folks who are here illegally to get right with the law and pay a fine, and learn english and get to the back of the line, but ultimately join fully our American Community when youve got a law that makes sense, you shouldnt be looking for an excuse not to do it. And im going to keep on pushing to make sure it gets done. Am i going to have to do some work to rebuild confidence around some of our initiatives . Yes. But part of this job is the things that go right, you guys arent going to write about; the things that go wrong get prominent attention. Thats how it has always been. Thats not unique to me as president. And im up to the challenge. Were going to get this done. All right . Hank you, everybody. Senator Mary Landrieus legislation would allow consumers to keep their current Health Insurance plans permanently. Following meeting, she talked about her plans with reporters. Er remarks are 10 minutes. Thank you for coming today. I wanted to make a brief statement about the announcement of the president made earlier today. Regarding keeping the promise that we made to americans that have individual Health Insurance plans. That may not be comprehensive, may not be exactly what they need, but it is what they have. I believe they should be able to keep it. The president s action was welcomed. It is a First Step Towards making that possible. By his guidance, i hope we will be received with good will by our 50 states. The Insurance Commissioners, etc. Im going to continue to work with leadership. Im working with democrats and republicans if there is a legislative fix that is also necessary. It is very important to understand, this is very important step for our country. If this were easy to do, it would have been done 100 years ago. Our nation, the greatest on the planet, has been struggling for decades as to come up with a way that middleclass families and average hardworking americans, and the entrepreneurs that are in our country that were so proud of, we have been struggling and struggling with a way to provide for them Affordable Health insurance that they can depend on when they are sick. Not just when they are healthy. Insurance they can afford, that they can plan on having. The Affordable Care act does that. Do we have some things to fix . Absolutely. Is this one of them . Yes. The president s guidance is a step forward. I have a bill, there are others that have been filed. Not to repeal the Affordable Care act, not to defund the Affordable Care act, not to undermine the Affordable Care act, not to gut the Affordable Care act, but to fix it. Anybody that wants to work with me or anybody else to fix it, ill be willing. Now let me say these cancellation notices that went out tharkse went out to louisiana, california, north carolina, arkansas, lots of places, under the president s guidance, these letters now will have to explain to people that receive them, you know, what their policy did and what is available for them now on the exchange. Many people will find Better Options on the exchange, assuming we can get those exchanges up and running and assuming we can get the websites up and running, many people will find better plans. I want to end with this and then ill answer your questions. I do not want to lose site of the promise of the Affordable Care act. Im not going to read the whole part of it. This child, emily, who is now 22 years old, and her mother, susan, wrote me this letter to say, senator landrieu, i know youre struggling with the a. C. A. I want to tell you this is worth fighting for. She goes on to describe her daughter who recollects lost her a young child. She was partially deaf. Partially deaf. She then gets hit by a car. This is too much to believe. But it is true. Gets hit by a car and had she not been at the age of 22 in the Affordable Care act, she had have no insurance today. Dont lose sight of the promise of this bill, even though we have to get it fixed. O ahead. What the president is doing is encouraging. Is he going far enough and are you going to continue to push . As i said, the president s guidance was welcomed and well received. We still may have to fashion some legislation and were going to continue to work in that egard. What is the Democratic Leadership saying . Youll have to ask the Democratic Leadership. They are encouraging us to fix this. They ens since were the ones that helped build this bill, the leadership and our caucus how important it is, so ask them, but i am continuing to fight very hard for this promise to be ept. I couldnt hear the last part of your question. First of all, the president has come to the conclusion he doesnt have the authority to direct commissioners of insurance. So congress could do that. There is a bill in the house, as you know, there is a landrieu bill, several bills moving through congress. My view of the upton bill and my view of every republican bill that i have seen is it doesnt o to fix the Affordable Care act. It goes to gut it. There are bills like mine and others that really want to find a way to fix this and to keep the promise. It is an important promise that was made that, people could keep individuals that had insurance, even though it is expensive, even though deductibles were high, even though most of these plans didnt really cover much at all, but it was their plan and if they want to keep it, they should be able to. Im very hopeful that if the Affordable Care about works as it should, that one a year or less, they would be able to find even Better Options on the exchange. But we made a promise and we need to keep it. You said we may need legislation. No. No, youre not hearing correctly. Go get your ears i cede the president s announcement this morning was a great first step and we will probably need legislation to make it stick. However, do not underestimate the power of a president ial directive. Dont underestimate the willingness of Insurance Commissioners around this country, republican and democrat, who make this right for people. I mean, there are people in this country, contrary to what we might think in this capital that really want this legislation to work because they know promise that it has for people. Thats why im being strong, but careful, in how we approach this legislatively. We have six cosponsors now. Five cosponsors now. Were picking up support every day. Of course there is an important vote in the house that is going to take place and send some sort of signals. Were continuing to pick up support and again, i think we took a step, the president took a step in the right direction. Hes asking about the length of the bill. What im going to respond is one of the important come opponent of my bill was the importance of notification that the Insurance Company also have to make telling people, unlike this letter that says your plan is canceled basically with no explanation. Based on the president s guidance this morning, any new cancellation letters that go out will have to explain why your policy doesnt meet the threshold and what is now available to you, but it also will say even though it doesnt meet the new threshold, you can keep it. My bill is a permanent solution. Were going to be working to see how that can be shaped to make it real, hold the promise and support the Affordable Care act. Do you have any concerns about possibly republicans pushing amendments on this subject on the your home state colleague has a push on amendments. The only thing i am keeping my eye on are the 800,000 people in louisiana who do not have Health Insurance, the people whose premiums keep going up every year. We had an unsustainable, unAffordable Health care system in this country. That is what im going to do. I cannot control other amendments that come up from any other bills. Onis important to focus fixing the Affordable Care act when we see problems. Thank you all so much. House Democratic Leaders said the president s announcement the people who want their insurance can keep it for another year was positively received by members. Leaderoad leader pelosi and others spoke to reporters. This briefing is 25 minutes. Give us just a second. We are waiting for mr. Clyburn. Are we ready . Xavier becerra joined by nancy. Elosi, steny hoyer we just completed a very good meeting. A very very good meeting. Extremely well attended meeting discussing with the administration how we move forward to continue to improve our Health Security law. We were pleased to have several representatives from the administration further outline what the president announced to the American Public earlier today on how we will move forward to make sure people can hold on to their insurance and people can continue to secure good quality Health Insurance through the marketplaces as well. The good news, there are some 500,000 americans today who will have Health Insurance that gives them access to doctors and hospitals, that helps them have the relief of knowing their children can go visit a physician when they get sick, which they did not have before the Affordable Care act became law. 500,000 people. Among those, someone i would like to mention, andrew, who i hope i get to meet. I mention them all the time. He is from los angeles. Gentleman who was frustrated and spent some three hours trying to navigate the website him in california and was not pleased he had to wait three hours. After three hours, he ended up saving 6,000. While no one should have to wait three hours to find out if they will qualify for quality Affordable Health care, Everyone Wants to save 6,000 and that is why were here. We want americans to save money on Health Insurance and we want the millions of americans who could never say they could afford to buy Health Insurance let alone save money, have access to the doctors and hospitals, so important for their children and themselves. We are here to say we will do everything we can to make our Health Security law work and work well. When there is an opportunity to improve it, we will work with the president and our colleagues in congress to make that happen. We understand speaker banner today announced the bill the House Republican majority will put him a floor of the house tomorrow is not for the purpose of improving the new Health Security law, or the purpose of trying to help americans trying to steer Health Insurance through the new marketplaces, but it is for the purpose of moving towards once again repealing the Affordable Care act. This will be the 46 46th time republicans will try to repeal all or part of the law that americans now count on so they will not be discriminated against to make sure their children if theyre under 26 can stay on their Health Insurance policy, to make sure seniors continue to watch as the doughnut hole for payment of their prescription drugs it operates 20 so they do not have to pay outofpocket. We want to continue to see Health Insurance coverage improve for americans and that is why we are please we can join with the president to say we are ready to improve on the Affordable Care act and make it possible for more than 500,000 people to become insured americans. For all the millions of americans navigating the website, to have that chance as well. Let me now ask our leader, nancy pelosi, for her comments. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I am pleased to join you, as well as all of our members, in the very important meeting we have today. I commend you for how well you have channeled all of the Beautiful Energy into a spirit that is positive and unified that will take us to the floor tomorrow, but, more important to that, to take us on our way to full implementation of the Affordable Care act. It is really hard to resist when we are talking about quantifying the numbers signed up. Half a Million People now, as you said, have access. Those of the numbers released. There are more since the end of october, even in california, numbers have practically doubled from october to the first two weeks of november. Nonetheless, to also think in terms of the over 3 million young people who can stay on their parents policy until there are 26 years old. 100 of americans little children no longer have to be discriminated against because of a preexisting medical condition to the high risk pools that have given people the opportunity with an illness without resources to access to care, to the seniors who benefited from the wellness, no copay, no deductible, implementation is already in effect, as well as the cost of prescription drugs, and lengthening the stability of medicare. Where are we in terms of a bill passed, its constitutionality was upheld by the court, implementation was rolled out over a year to help American People in many ways already and now, despite the glitches, still half a Million People. 1,000,000. 1 1. 1 million more people eligible have logged in and are eligible to go to the next step. We expect, as was the experience of massachusetts, after the initial rollout, there was an acceleration to it. It is pretty exciting. I think i can almost unanimously say there are members very pleased with the president posses statement today, that he would do what he could do administratively on this, to have the delay, to encourage Insurance Companies to make sure people know what their rights are in terms of going to an exchange. You know his provision. I will not visit it except to say it was positively received in the process of putting together our motion to recommit our legislative opportunity as a minardi for tomorrow. You will hear more about it tomorrow. It is complementary to what the president has done. I think the administration for their availability in any and all occasions, to, and spell out specifically what the opportunities are and for some of our members, to spell out clearly what the problems are with the bill, the bill of the hour coming out tomorrow. For all the fuss and everybody said how the bill would protect, it does not mandate Insurance Companies must keep those people in their insurance policies. It is only a masquerade, a trojan horse, coming in to undermine the Affordable Care act by expanding. I am very pleased with the combination of meetings we have been having in the course of the past couple of days. It has brought us together and will take us forward for the full implementation of the Affordable Care act. I am pleased to yield to the distinguished House Democratic with. Whip, mr. Hoyer. Thank you. Jim, our assistant leader. Our let me say, the Democratic Caucus is almost unanimous on the belief the Affordable Care act is good for our country, good for our people, that it will make affordable, Quality Health care available to all americans. That is the substance of what we are talking about. It is the substance of what we are talking about and we have not changed the message, even from our partys perspective, when we think the Affordable Care act will make Health Care Available to all americans and have all americans participate to the extent they can in paying for that health care, which we think is fair to all americans. The message has not changed on our side. Repeal the Affordable Care act. This is just another in that effort to do so. We believe the president has taken positive steps to make it very clear people who had a policy cant continue in that policy for another year. While figuring out what alternatives are available to them. It also bears repeating that 83 of the people who are in the individual marketplace have changed their policies on a regular basis. This is not something that is unusual and not something caused by the Affordable Care act. To the extent policies were canceled because they did not meet the requirements of the Affordable Care act, the president has now said, we will give you another year to look at alternatives. We think that is a good step forward and we may well have an alternative of our own tomorrow. The bottom line is this. The Affordable Care act, passed by the congress of the United States and signed by the president of the United States, held to be constitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, is working for millions and millions of people right now. And it will work for millions and millions more people who will have the security of having insurance and the availability of Affordable Health care. We will continue this fight for the American People. I would now like to yield to my friend, the assistant leader, jim, south carolina. Thank you. I often think of two experiences i had with the Affordable Care act. One come in several days before march 21, 2010, when we passed the bill. The other came in several hours afterwards. Several days before we passed the bill, i was doing a call in Radio Program and while we were answering questions from call ins, the gentleman called in and chastised me pretty profusely for advocating before book air act. He said he had a policy like any did not want anybody messing with his policy. He liked his policy. He did not want us fooling with it. I assured the gentleman we had no intention of fooling with his policy. Well, a few minutes later, a young lady called in and says, congressman, i do not have a question, but i would like to Say Something to the german who gentleman who called in a few minutes ago. She says, and 48 years old. I went to work on the job is 22. I paid my premiums every week, every month, on time. But, several months ago, i was diagnosed with breast cancer. When i went for my second treatment, i got a letter from our Insurance Company, canceling my policy. She said, i want to say to that gentleman, i thought i liked what i had, until i tried to use it. What the president said today, allows people who think they like what they have, to keep it. It also says to Insurance Companies, you must inform these people of what they have. When you inform them of what they have, they may not like that policy they have. They may not know what they do not have. That is what this is all about. I will close with the lady who called me several hours after. She sent me an email. She said to me, i stayed up late last night. You remember we passed this bill late one sunday night. She said, i stayed up late and waited for this bill to pass. Because i have not been able to sleep. For several days, i had just gotten a letter from my Insurance Company telling me my policy was being canceled because i have an eightyearold daughter with cancer and we used up all of our benefits for a lifetime and i have been laying awake at night worrying about what would happen to me or my husband if one of us to sick or one of my other children. That is what this law is all about. This is about providing affordable and Quality Health care for all americans and doing so in such a way that they enter into these agreements with these Insurance Companies with their eyes wide open. I would hope we would come together as a country and begin to make this law work well for everybody. You do not do big things like this in one fell swoop. It is done incrementally. We have taken significant first steps. I would hope we Work Together to get the country where it ought to be and get Health Care Affordable for everybody. Thank you and i yield back. We think are democrats will be against the upton bill. The president has made it a [indiscernible] the president has made it a very important administrative proposal. That is what he can do administratively. We, in the minority, have very few parliamentary opportunities to put on the floor, further, proposals which would require legislative a legislative action. We will have a motion to recommit. We are in the process of voting consensus around it with our colleagues tomorrow and when you come to the floor, you will see what it is. The president had done something or nothing, we were going to use our congressional minority prerogative to make our voices heard on the floor about access to Quality Health care. The president has apologized [indiscernible] i have not apologized because i think all of us, when we were advocating for this legislation, we said time and time again we wanted to get rid of discrimination against people with preexisting conditions, we wanted to get rid of people having their policies canceled as soon as they got sick, we wanted to get rid of the annual limits, the lifetime limits, and all of us knew full well that our constituents had made a well aware of what is in the policies. We have determined that whether they liked what they wanted. Once they become aware, if they like it, keep it eerie when they when they become aware, of what they did not have, i do not think there is anything for us to apologize for. What we are doing is pressing issues most people and i am one of them. I have three daughters. For out ofo, i paid my pocket because i did not read the fine print. I changed jobs in the middle of my lifes pregnancies and they would not pay. Both of my jobs were state jobs. They had a little thing in the fine print that says, if you change jobs, you have to be on a new job 10 months before we paid for maternity leave. And i end up paying for it. Just having a College Degree will not help you much. Thank you. I have got a district that is extremely the average income in my district is probably in the low 30s. In a place like los angeles, that does not take you very far. If you look at census data, you will find folks in my district probably hold down more jobs, work longer hours, then most people in america. They have to because they do not learn very much. Earn very much. The congressional districts in the nation, the secondmost uninsured when it comes to health care in the nation. What do i hear from folks back home . I am getting a lot of thank yous. As i mentioned, andrew waited three hours to get his policy, but he will save 6,000 now. The same or Better Healthcare coverage 6000 extra dollars in his pocket. I think all of us are hoping that is the story. We have got to get past the glitches. The administration has heard from us many times. They said themselves, we did not want to see the glitches with the bumps in the road with the website. The important thing is not to repeal it because you had glitches. Is to improve it so you can have more stories about getting great Health Insurance and saving 6,000. I just wanted to say, first of all, you understand if you had a policy, on the day this bill was adopted, you got to keep it. You did not get to keep it if Insurance Companies did not want to offer it to you. We did not say they had to give you the policy. We said if you like it or keep it. Nobody had in mind that the Insurance Companies would be forced to offer People Insurance. They are not forced to offer People Insurance right now. So the statement, if it was limited to the bill itself, was absolutely accurate ear the now, the problem is, people interpreted that and frankly, we said it expansively. As you may have heard me say in my press conference, we were not as precise as we needed to be on the issue. What the president has done is set, we made the representation and we will try to keep that for the next year. So you can have some time to figure out what is in your best interest and your familys best interest. As it related to the time being made when we were presenting the bill, that statement was accurate. After the bill, of course, the bill said, you needed to you can have your policy, but the end of this year, it had to comply with requirements of the Affordable Care act. Why . So we could share the risk and not have someone who has a policy who was at such low incidence of payment for health care that it would be passed along to the rest of us. That is the premise of insurance. You want to share the risk. The president was very gracious in taking responsibility and making an apology. But i agree with mr. Hoyer. What the president said in regard to the Affordable Care act is absolutely so. There is nothing in the herbal Affordable Care act that said, that your Insurance Company should cancel you. That is not with the Affordable Care act is about. It simply did not happen. Did i ever tell my constituents if they like their plan, they could keep it . I would have if id ever met anybody who like his or her plan. That was not my experience. That was not my experience and it was not my experience, as a mother of five who occasionally has a bad back and the rest of that. I was considered a risk even though i had some resources. The Insurance Company did not see it that way. I did not run into many people whose said i love my insurance policy. If it is that they do because it is such a low premium and high deductible predicated on no incidence of accident, illness, diagnosis, or anything within their own family you know that something is down the road for them. The fact of insurance is to spread the risk for those families as well. As far as the Affordable Care concerned, what the president said is completely accurate. I commend him for taking responsibility. Let me tell you. When members said there is nothing in this that mandates any Large Corporation which ensures most people in america would stop the policy nothing, zero, not a nada. It was our expectation or hope that if general motors, microsoft, General Electric had an insurance policy there is nothing in this bill that says they need to cancel it or stop it. Period. That is certainly what all of us expected. I had people come up to me who did like the policy. Who were working for a corporation or a large media more small. And they liked it. I was absolutely accurate in saying that nothing in this bill is going to take your insurance away from you. [indiscernible] it is president ial prerogative in terms of enforcement is not unprecedented. In fact, it is precedented. Jack . [indiscernible] what happened today . Did they hand out early Christmas Gifts . What changed the chocolate. I point you to the headline about where the republicans want to take us. Every member who came yesterday to caucus to listen to the administration was anxious to know how do we move forward and make this better and how do we continue to have a Health Security law that is working for everyone . Yesterday we hadnt heard how the president was going to try to address the concerns being expressed by lots of americans. Today people got a further explanation with detail from the president s own representatives. So when they walked out today they got the answer to the question they had asked yesterday. And, once again, their question is not will we repeal these new protections and rights that americans have to ensure that they will never go bankrupt if they have to take their child to the doctor, it is how do we make it better so folks like andrew striker in los angeles, the gentleman i just mentioned can continue to move forward and make sure he saves 6,000 on his Health Insurance. A lot of members are pleased that we have a way to move forward to improve on the Health Security law to make it better and know that americans will continue to have or get Affordable Health insurance. Thank you. Thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] following the end of legislative business, in anicans took part extended series of one minute speeches on the health care law. Members spoke about letters and spoke about the upcoming vote in the house to allow people to keep their plans. We hear from House Majority leader cantor at the top. It is 30 minutes. Millions of americans are coming home and opening their mailboxes to find shocking news. Their Health Care Plans are being taken away from them. The president broke a promise he knew he could not keep and now millions of americans feel betrayed, wondering why their Health Care Plans are being speaker, the speaker of the house is not in order. The house will be in order. This letter was sent to me by a constituent. His name is bruno. His a constituent of mine in richmond virginia. He is a selfemployed individual who purchases Health Insurance through Anthem Blue Cross blue shield. He was stunned to receive this letter in the mail and it clearly reads, to meet the requirements of the new law, your current plan can no longer be offered. Cost this manould thousands of dollars more. Why should he or anyone else be forced to by different insurance policy if they are happy with the one they have . With every new day that passes, we continue to learn more and more about people in the same situation. This represents millions of obama care of it ends across the country who are having their Health Insurance ripped away from them. Result, we House Republicans will put you keep your plan act on the floor tomorrow for a vote. The only way to stop every cancellation letter is by full repeal of this law. However, this bill will hopefully begin to ease some of the pain that working families are feeling because of president obamaS Health Care law. See who willwill put their constituents before politics and vote for a bill that could allow americans to keep their plans. I sincerely hope that my colleagues will act as a united voice and take the first of many steps to provide relief for the American People from the many burdens brought about by obamacare. I yield back. Gentleman yield back. Without objection. And two may be put this way down. Day ieaker, on veterans had the honor of speaking at a veterans ceremony in albuquerque where i was reminded of our solemn responsibility that we have is lawmakers to do everything we can do to stand up for those who stand up for us. Month iwhy last introduced the veterans independent living enhancement act. Bipartisan legislation that will help disabled veterans live independently and participate in community life. Currently only 2700 veterans in the entire country can and role in the v. A. s highly successful independent Living Program each year. The 2. 6 compare that to million veterans of the iraq and afghanistan wars alone, it is clear that this number is far too low, preventing veterans from getting the services and support they need. Is democratic and republican cosponsors along with the support of a dozen different veterans and Health Organizations would remove this arbitrary cap so that every veteran would benefit from the independent Living Program who can participate it. Mr. Speaker, i urge the house to fulfill its responsibility to our nations veterans and take up this common sense, bipartisan legislation. For what purpose does the gentleman from california rise . [indiscernible] mr. Speaker, the president announcement today does little to change the need for the congress to act. If you like your plan you can keep it is an empty promise. One million californians are now finding out firsthand in the form of a letter that the current plan has been canceled. One of those one million californians happens to be a constituent for mine from bakersfield, california. To tell howrecently obamacare has felt. He writes, our youngest son was born with a rare genetic in severethat results mental retardation. A need to be tube fed into a surgically implanted port in his are longtime insurance carrier, kaiser permanente, has been great about caring for our son. He requires for the four hour care and special medication and formulas. We just learned today that our previous coverage, with a premium of nearly 1000 per. Onth is no longer available for a far inferior plan, it will cost 626 more per month. With the added outofpocket expenses, we anticipate for his care to pay about 24,000 more for the care of next year than this year, all thanks to aca. That is why we must take up and pass keep your health care bill. We ask the democrats to join with us to keep the pledge and keep a promise. I yield back. I rise to tell the story of one of my constituents experiences with the Affordable Care act. Alan from santa barbara. Paying 20,000 per year in insurance premiums prior to the act. She has a preexisting condition so even though it cost so much, she was thankful to have any coverage at all. When covered california, our online marketplace opened, she made a call, looked at her options, and found a plan that works for her. This plan saved them 8,000 per year and it was a much better plan. We know that the rollout nationally has been sloppy. The law is not perfect. There are real issues we must fix. Problems. X this now is the time to Work Together to ensure that all americans have access to quality, Affordable Health care. Minnesotatleman from michigan. The great state of michigan. Address the house for one minute. Mr. Speaker, for the last three years the president personally promised that if they liked their Current Health care plan they could keep it, no matter what period. Cancellation notices are arriving in millions. Some 220 5000 folks in michigan will see their plans terminated because of this law. 225,000 folks in michigan will see their plans terminated because of this law. People took the president that their word. They are upset. How are they going to make ends meet . A great step forward. A selfemployed family purchased their own insurance for years. To replace it, the premium is going to nearly double to over 1300. They told us they have been thrown under the bus. Sadly, they are not alone. Tomorrow we will vote on the keep your Health Care Plan act, a straightforward onepage bill that says if you like your coverage am a you ought be able to keep it. Lets keep that promise. I yield back. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise . I rise to share with you the story of a couple from pennsylvania. In a oneonone session last bob set aserly and the navigator worked online through their application with them. This time, although they had had a prior bad experience, the online connection worked like a finished,once it is they will get a plan that will be more than 500 per month less expensive than the cobra coverage they had been purchasing for 1200 even without subsidies. At 62 years old, bob is hoping that with some adjustment to his income and his wifes medicare he could qualify for hundreds more a month in subsidies. I take that from the allentown morning call. The gentlewoman from indiana. Thank you. I am pleased to cosponsor the keep your Health Care Plan act to make sure that individuals can keep their Health Care Plan that they like and need. I will ask hoosiers to share their stories. The stories are shocking. Kathryn got this letter from her Insurance Company. Beting that her plan will canceled. Her Monthly Payments will increase from 186 per month to 329 per month, nearly double. Another woman is a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy. Under obamacare, she now has to pay over 400 per month just for her own coverage. Barton, a Small Business owner, said his group rims will increase 80 this year. Premiums will increase 80 this year. Together, we can get it done. I yield back. Illinois. Tleman from this woman beat the system. The 67yearold became one of the first enrollees for Health Insurance at the glitchstricken online marketplace operated by the federal government. I just kept trying, she said. Tell people to just keep trying and they will get in eventually. Theyfederal tax credits, will pay about 260 per month in premiums, less than what they paid before. They will be able to retain their Family Doctor and dentist and their annual deductible will from 5,000. Just keep trying. The gentleman from texas. The house of representatives has voted numerous times to repeal obamacare. The president finally admitted today that obamacare is just not working. Flawed legislation he has decided to selectively enforce the law. Ideandividual mandate, the that you can keep your own insurance, he said he will not enforce the fine for not coming in compliance for one year. His message is unconstitutional. The constitution requires congress to write, rewrite, and amend the laws. No president can just use Administrative Discretion to enforce laws or change the law. Notnistrative discretion is mentioned in the constitution. Selective enforcement violates the constitution the 14th amendment. Is he going to raise taxes by administrative order . The president must enforce the law. Congress writes the law. Congress will address this issue tomorrow by bringing up legislation that the president now seems to support. I assume the former constitutional law professor will sign on this excellent plan to keep your insurance if you like it. And that is just the way it is. The gentleman from pennsylvania. Thank you mr. Speaker. Over 200,000 pennsylvania and have been notified that they will lose their plans because of president obamaS Health Care law. With these numbers dont tell you are the stories of hard working western pennsylvanians, like don and karen. Don is a marine corps veteran and a former coal miner. Run as wife one ministry that helps people in developing countries. He will lose his plan. He said, i specifically bought a health plan that met my needs. I like my plan very much and it was something i could afford. When don and karen were able to get onto the website, the plan he was offered had a deductible of more than 6,000. In dons words this is ridiculous and unaffordable. Unfortunately, their story is not unique. Care plan thath works for don and karen and the American People. I think the speaker and i yield back. The gentleman from oklahoma. I rise today to say enough is enough. Enough of the rhetoric, enough of the dishonesty. Policies have been broken, we take face Critical Situations that need to be made right. Countless of americans in oklahoma are going to the mailboxes to learn that their Health Insurance is being canceled. Individuals can actually keep the plan they like with the keep your health plan act. We can clean up the damage done by this administrations failures. Business owners like me also face mounting regulations and penalties as a result of obamacare. The stability of the small has obamacare. Dized by i will not sit back and watch americans be subject to empty promises with no solution in sight. I encourage my colleagues to say enough is enough and vote in support of keep your health plan act. I yield back. The gentleman from colorado. Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues today have already pointed out, the president made this promise to the American People, if you like your Health Care Plan you will be able to keep your Health Care Plan period. I have in my hand a letter sent to my office from noel. I am a 37yearold Automotive Mechanic take mechanic, my old teacher. Year her third child is due in march. I recently received a letter from Rocky Mountain health plan that my existing policy is canceled as of january 1. Coloradans have lost their insurance that is more people than have signed up across this country, nationwide, for obamacare. You are not alone. I join you, because i too lost my Health Insurance when i chose to opt out of the congressional coverage. President tor this uphold his promise to the American People. I yield back. Indiana. Ntleman from mr. Speaker, as a physician, my goal is to make certain that every american has access to quality, Affordable Health care. The president and Congressional Democrats promised you can keep your Health Insurance if you like it. We learned yesterday that in my home state of indiana only 701 hoosiers have signed up successfully for the Affordable Care act well over 108,000 hoosiers have had their current plans canceled. I think the people of indiana no this promise has not been kept. Mary from evansville wrote to me about this very thing. She said our insurance is excellent, i had a heart attack a year ago, we met our deductible this year, but insurance is paid for everything recommended. Two months of cardiac rehab, prescriptions, and even more surgery. My insurance and my doctor saved my life and now i am at risk of losing both. Andrea wrote that she was able to extend her plan for her and her son until next december and then it would be canceled. That whatn to say happened to if you want to keep your health care you can . Allen said, i will not have insurance beginning january 1 end of story. These are real stories that affect real people, hardworking families that are just trying to get by. Hold the president and Congressional Democrats to their promise. The gentlewoman from kansas. Across kansas, folks are struggling from the effects of obamacare. This cancellation letter is from greg and linda in osage city who wrote to tell me their son was losing hiS Health Care plan. Linda spent hours each night for weeks trying to signup for a new plan on the website. The online chat, calling the number no one could answer her questions. They were forced to add their son to gregs more expensive employer plan and another sons Health Insurance plan is going up 50 each month. After years of knowing about these problems, today the president try to make good on his promise if you like your plan you can keep it, but for greg and linda it is too late. The deadline to switch to gregs employer plan is just past. They had no good options. We must continue to work for hardworking American Families who are continuing to pay the price for this law. Nevada. Entleman from thank you. If you like your Health Care Plan, you can keep it period. If you like your doctor, you can keep them period. We all remember when we heard those words. Nevadans lose Insurance Plans under Obamacare Esch 27 of the individual market in that state. On of those individuals is janet. She is battling recurrent cancer. She has had the same insurance policy for 11 years. That policy has taken care of her and kept her alive. She is currently battling a recurrence with chemotherapy. We will like to take this opportunity to thank you for allowing us to be your Health Insurance carrier. We are writing to advise you that due to the passage of the , yourable care act standard of basic individual health plan will be discontinued in terminated. You will no longer be able to continue coverage under this benefit plan as of this date. As she valiantly battles the disease, the last thing she needs is the added stress of wondering about her insurance coverage. Mr. President , it is time that americans are allowed to keep their health plans period. The gentleman from texas. Peter is a 24yearold from texas who has done everything he is supposed to do. He began working in the oil fields at 18. He eventually worked his way up to Field Operations manager. Four years ago he married a beautiful young lady and they started a family. He now has three small boys with a fourth on the way. He is now in a bad position because of bad calls made by those who voted for the Affordable Care act and the president who signed it into law. Thanks to obamacare, his company has switched their Health Insurance plan. The kicker is that peters wife to suffer through the pregnancy with her fourth child. Not a partdoctor is of the new Insurance Plan and they are going to have to spend and next to 18,000 outof pocket to stay with the doctor they liked. This is become a nightmare. He said, i am 24 years old, at this point in my career this is not something i should have to worry about. This is not an intellectual exercise. Obamacare is causing major problems. His wife is in tears over this issue. The American Dream that he was working so hard to provide for his family has turned into a nightmare because of a bad lot. This is unacceptable and inexcusable. Heil. Gentleman from all ohio. 3. 5 million americans have seen their Health Care Plans theeled on the under Affordable Care act. I personally heard from many constituents in my district or sing their Health Care Plans canceled. Anthony got these letters from his Insurance Plan saying that his plan would be canceled as a result of that there is a new plan that is available, but his monthly cost goes up by a little over 80 . That is low compared to some. He is in the process of building a business. He just tired his first employee. He told me he is scared to death to hire another employee. It is just another story of how this law is hurting people and stifling job creation. I would like to ask all of my to supportto join me the keep your Health Care Plan act. I yield back. The gentleman from kentucky. For the last four years, president obama repeatedly promised the American People but if you like your Health Care Plan, you can keep it. Melodyty, that is for , that is not true. Her Healthcare Plan was no longer good enough under obamacare and when she looked at options for new insurance, like so many other americans, she found out that her familys insurance costs would go up to 250 and the deductible would increase by 2000. She told me they do not qualify for any premium assistance even though we are a family of three living on a single income. We are more likely to go without Health Care Coverage because our premiums will cost more per year than we would wind up spending on medical expenses without insurance. Mr. Speaker, this is not about politics. This is about real people in our districts that are being harmed by obamacare. Needmerican people dont apologies. They dont need temporary administrative waivers. They need Permanent Solutions that will protect hardworking americans from the coverage cancellations among loss of access to. Airs, and rhenium spikes. Spikes. Pe premium i yield back. The gentleman from montana. Mr. Speaker, president obama promised if you like your Health Care Plan, you can keep your Health Care Plan. But for tens of thousands of those in montana, his words or a broken promise. I have already heard from hundreds who are looking for relief from obamacare. Recentsidents announcement is not a longterm fix nor does it address the core problems. This is called the peoples house. I want to share the story of the people of montana. This couple has an autistic son and a dotted with muscular dystrophy. They were notified that their rates are going up 4500 dollars per year because of obamacare. Will need to cut employee hours to avoid them playing paying obamacare finds. Or this woman who is paying an additional 3000 per year due to increased premiums. A woman questioning the viability of her private practice. We deserve a permanent solution not a politically driven patch. We need to work toward real solutions. The gentlewoman from michigan. Mr. Speaker, president obama misled the American People about obamacare and now he has admitted it. Here is a letter to me from a Small Business owner in my district. My husband and i have a small medical education business and ever since obamacare passed our business has been cut in half, doctors are not spending money on education, so for the last four years our business is really suffered. And we were told we could keep our insurance. We had good insurance, not junk. We currently pay 514 per month with a 2000 deductible. We were canceled as of december 31. We will need to pay 1900 per month, which we cannot afford. So much for Affordable Health care. This is the first time in 30 years that we might not be able to have Health Insurance. We have always run our life, not depending on the government for handouts, and now we are losing our insurance. I ask you, what are we to do . Americans are suffering. Yes, something was wrong and i believe that something needed to be done, but not this. It is time to keep a promise to the American People. I yield back. The department of homeland securitys Financial Management is being reviewed today. You can see this hearing live at 9 30 a. M. Eastern on cspan 3. The 2012 safety and prescriptiont drug review process and the review process for medical devices. The House Energy Subcommittee examines the law. You can see it live starting at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan 2. Cspan, we bring Public Affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings, and conferences and offering complete gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. House all as a Public Service of private industry. Cspan, created by the cable tv industry 34 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. You can i watch is an hd. Today, washington journal is coming up with your phone calls and tweets. The house returns to work on a bill to allow consumers to work to keep their Health Care Plans. Minutes, a look at president obamas announcement to allow americans to keep their current Health Insurance policies and the upcoming vote on the gop Health Insurance bill. Our guest is congressman andy harris of maryland. Levin is herender to talk about pending changes to federal unemployment insurance. Is an addon 00 a. M. This morning. A. M. This morning and a. Hour washington journal you