Transcripts For CSPAN Democrats Hold Hearing On Impact Of Ho

Transcripts For CSPAN Democrats Hold Hearing On Impact Of House-Passed Health Care Bill 20170511

Affected by chronic illnesses. Sen. Stabenow good afternoon. We know that we have many more colleagues coming to join us, but we will get started in the interest of time. Sen. Stabenow we know that we have many more colleagues coming to join us, but we will get started in the interest of time. We want to think our wonderful guests and witnesses who have come here today to share their stories. As we look at the panel, it looks like the great lake states. I did not plan this on purpose, but we have indiana, michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin. We are glad to have the great lakes represented here today. We thank everyone for tuning in to the livestream. We hope you will share your story. Please go to americaspeaksout. Or trumpcare. This is an ongoing conversation that we want to have, not just today. We know that there are other Critical Issues that have come up, but we feel it is so important that we remain focused on one of the most important issues to all of us as americans and our families. The ability to see a doctor, take our child to the doctor and have a for double medical care when you need it. Your voices are needed now more than ever. Last week, republicans passed a bill that is a triple whammy for families. In my state of michigan and across the country. Higher costs, Less Health Care, all to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. Unless you are a very wealthy person, trumpcare is a bad deal. 24 Million People will lose insurance. Medicaid will be cut by 880 billion to pay for the tax cuts for the very wealthy, leaving millions of seniors and nursing homes, children, people with disabilities and working families with Less Health Care or no coverage at all. Seniors get hit with a huge tax, paying five times more for health care than younger people. Employer coverage is at risk for tens of millions of americans, and no preexisting conditions are not really covered. As democrats, we know that we need to Work Together to continue to make Health Care Better for americans, including outofpocket drug costs. That is not what the Republican Administration is doing. The Trump Administration is working overtime to administratively unravel our Health Care System. They limiting payments to companies that guarantee preexisting conditions and other things are covered. No longer doing strong outreach so younger and healthier people are part of the insurance pool. The new secretary of health and Human Services has cut enrollment time to sign up, in half. Why . So Insurance Companies will stop participating in the marketplace, and the republicans can say, its a mess. People cannot get affordable insurance. Obamacare is failing. We know that health care is personal to all of us and our families. We continue to hear your voices. Republicans held no hearings, no public discussion. They didnt wait for the analysis by the Budget Office of the cost and impact on people. That is not how democracy is supposed to work. That is why we are so grateful. You have traveled here today to share your stories with us. I would now turn to the Ranking Member of our leader and the finance committee. Sen. Wyden thank you for what you are doing. Im happy to be here with my partner, senator murray. [inaudible] good to be with all of you. Friends must not filibuster friends. I will be short and make a couple of points. The reason it is so important to have all of you here is that political change is not top down. It doesnt start in government buildings or trickles down to the grass roots. It bottoms up. As all of you, with your terrific organization, go out and mobilize, go to community meetings. Go to marches. Rally for the agenda today, it will make a huge difference. People are paying attention. I will touch on that. I want to come back to the point that senator stabenow has made. The hundreds of billions of dollars in medicaid cuts and the hundreds of billions of dollars in terms of tax breaks for the fortunate few for the wealthy are two sides of the same point. If you cut medicaid dramatically, people will suffer. This idea of giving thousands of dollars of tax relief annually to the most fortunate and most wealthy defies common sense. It does not past the smell test. You are hearing talk about how maybe the Senate Republicans will rewrite the bill. As of this afternoon, there is no evidence that they are moving away from this hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts and medicaid. The last point that i would like to mention is that when i was home, and i describe this as a tsunami of suffering, a plague that will produce that and anguish for thousands of people in my home state. We went generation by generation. It would be very helpful if all of you might consider that. No one knows more about this than senator hassan. We have 40 of the School Districts getting help. That is an area where the medicaid cuts will hurt. On to high school, if youre 17 or 18 and you have a brush with cancer and are cured, these folks are able to redefine preexisting conditions, those High School Students may carry that cancer condition like a Scarlet Letter through their whole life. Then i went on and talked about workers. The far right are trying to say that you guys are home free. The house will lift the cap on outofpocket costs that people can pay. What this will mean is that the cap which limits how much you can pay, it will be busted. You get a cancer condition, and you will bust that cap in a hurry. Then there is the age tax for people 50 to 64. Finally, the indignity, with respect to nursing homes. Medicaid pays for two out three of the nursing home beds in america. This is pain and suffering that spans generations. I am really glad you are here. Senator murray, senator stabenow, and i, between us, are on the committees that will deal with it. Were lucky to have our colleagues with us. Chair stabenow, senator murray, thank you for all of our cooperation and i look forward to hearing from our colleagues. Sen. Stabenow senator patty murray, our ranking democrat, our leader on the Health Education the health, labor, and pensions committee. Sen. Murry thank you for your leadership in putting this together today. Im grateful to all of our witnesses, especially those of you sharing your personal stories. It is so important that your voices are heard. Im hearing from people like you whose lives will be at risk. As a result of these harmful policies that republicans are pushing under trumpcare. One thing that i hear especially often is worry about people who could withstand the skyrocketing premium, and higher outofpocket costs would pass. Here is what we already know. Trumpcare would end the guarantee of the essential Health Benefits and decrease the availability of tax credits. What that means is that families at risk of losing access to Maternity Care or Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorder Services or Prescription Drugs would be in trouble. In the first few years, trumpcare would increase premiums by as much as 20 . Average costs will go up on middleclass, and trumpcare would be especially devastating for Older Americans by allowing plans to charge higher premiums, effectively raising what is known as the age tax. There is a lot in here. What is clear is that trumpcare is not about helping patients or families, but is about President Trump getting his way and delivering massive tax cuts to Insurance Companies and the very wealthy. That might be a good way to score political points with their base, but it is not good for patients or families. My hope is that todays hearing will help bring more discussions that will allow Senate Republicans to get them the message that they should once and for all drop their damaging, politically motivated effort to undermine our Health Care System in ways that raise costs. I hope it will work with us to continue fixing the Health Care System so that it works for patients and families. I am confident that millions of people who have been speaking up and making themselves heard will continue to do so and are prepared to hold republicans accountable. I know the democrats here, and i thank all of my colleagues who are coming, and are here now. This is one of the most important things to families that we should be talking about. Sen. Stabenow we are grateful for all of our colleagues who have joined us. We really stand completely united in our concern and our determination to make sure that people in this country, that we all have the health care that we need. That we can afford and that we are working together to better, not take health care away. We are now pleased to hear from our witnesses. I will introduce everyone. We will start with mrs. Johnson. Cindy johnson is from bloomington, indiana. Cindy will share her familys story of fighting for health care for her daughter. We are very grateful you are here. Gina washington. She will share her story with Preventative Health and family planning. Excuse me, planned parenthood. And then Carol Hardaway. Think lets see if we have senator cardin or senator helen. Both of them are champions for health care. In their absence, i will introduce carol. She will tell us her story about gaining Health Care Coverage and what it has meant to her. And then michael dunkley. I will turn to senator kaine for this introduction. Sen. Kaine michael has a very powerful story. He shared it with me because i put an aca story feature on my Senate Website and i asked people to share what would happen to them if the aca were repealed as the house did and as we fear the Senate Republicans are trying to do as well. He will tell you a story and it is a powerful one because he is a fulltime caregiver for his wife, who has ms. At age 64, he was diagnosed with cancer. And so dealing with both being a health care caregiver for a wife with a serious physical condition and dealing with a cancer diagnosis, that is more than anybody should have to bear. Having to bear with it in a system that has a humane Health Care System versus one with no Health Care Safety net is dramatically different. We will hear from mr. Dunkley about that story. Thank you very, very much. We have Teresa Miller who is the pennsylvania insurance commissioner. Commissioner miller will speak about the Health Care Markets in pennsylvania and how trumpcare will affect her state. I have indicated to you that senator casey was singing your praises and so grateful for your being here today. Finally, rod nelson. President and ceo of mackinac state in michigan. It is wonderful to see you. I want to thank you for being here. Congratulations on your recognition as rural hospital leader of the year. We are privileged to have you with us today. Rod is here to talk about the challenges for rural families in accessing quality Affordable Care. Lets start with mrs. Johnson. Ms. Johnson thank you so much. Honorable members of congress it , is my great privilege to be with you this afternoon. I want to thank senator stabenow for this invitation to share my familys story today. I come from a background of generational poverty in southern indiana. My parents were among working poor and we had food stamps so we could eat. We could not afford Health Insurance. It was a good thing i was a healthy kid. I worked diligently and became the first person in my family to go to college. I worked as a math teacher for a number of years. I went on to earn a masters degree. But later when i have a family and discovered prenatally i would have a baby girl with down syndrome, my life changed dramatically. It became very clear after her birth that toward may to coordinate her health care, i would need to be a stayathome mom. Virtually overnight we went from being a twoincome family with no medical expenses, to a singleincome family with astronomical medical expenses. I remember standing at a mailbox cradling her in my arms and opening an envelope with an invoice inside from the hospital with a bill for 64,000, just to rent the equipment in the surgical round at the hospital the month before. I stood there fighting back tears because i began to realize this was our new reality, because more bills would soon be showing up. It felt like the hardearned middleclass lifestyle that i had worked so hard to attain was slipping away. Over the next several years, the bills added up. Besides deductibles and copays there were many expenses that insurance did not cover. Medical equipment, high tier medication outofnetwork , specialist, therapies, specialized feeding supplies, and more. Medical testing led to more testing but few answers. Our outofpocket costs are insight ith no and no end in sight and my daughters condition was deteriorating. We took out a home equity line of credit because the cost of my daughters care was fast approaching the lifetime cap. Then came the Affordable Care act and i gained peace of mind knowing that lifetime cap had been eliminated. After eight years on a waiting list for the waiver program, my daughter became eligible for medicaid disability. That covered much of what private insurance did not. That has meant a much brighter financial future for my family. I have reentered the workforce and have made progress paying down our debt and even saving for college for my other children. Im grateful for the protections of the aca. That is an understatement and , the safety net that medicaid affords not only my family but others across the country who i know and love and whose stories i share with their consent. For my sons fifth grade classmate who has epilepsy and lives in the same district as senator young. For my former colleague, whose daughter required a tracheotomy. To breathe due to tumors in her throat that just keeping back coming back. For my friend in indiana whose quadruplets sons, two of whom are on the autism spectrum and one of whom has Cerebral Palsy has been able to seek employment and live more independently in their Community Thanks to the medicare waiver. For a friend in louisiana whom i only know through facebook has many medical struggles. His son has a mental condition due to a rare disease he contracted at three months of age. For my friend right here who literally and figuratively who has my back. The mother of this beautiful 11yearold who was born blind and has Cerebral Palsy and microcephaly. Right here in virginia. For my own precious daughter with down syndrome who had Successful Surgery last year and for the First Time Ever is attending school fulltime and speaks with pure joy but the about the friends she is making there may. As a parent, nothing else matters when your child is sick. World, strength, and Everything Else just falls away. I wouldve sold my house, my car, i would have done anything to make sure my daughter had access to the care she needed. No parent should ever need to have that worry and wonder if they will have the lifesaving provisions and care that their child needs. The Affordable Care act meant the difference between life and death for my daughter and also Financial Stability for my family. It is given us a chance to seek a financially secure life that we would have been hard to achieve otherwise. Senators i urge you to do , whatever is necessary to preserve the aca, includinghe the elimination of lifetime caps for those with preexisting conditions of coverage for essential Health Benefits. I urge you to reject anything to funding including the per capita models would reduce access for people with disabilities, low income households, seniors, and expectant mothers. I also urge you to encourage health care for americans because we do must everything we can to keep it comprehensive. The stakes are too high. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. We apologize for the microphone going on and off. Im not sure what that is about. Thank you so much for your testimony. Mrs. Washington. Thank you for inviting me to be here today. I am honored that i get to share my story with all of you. My name is Gina Walkington and i live in bristol, wisconsin. I am a mother to three rambunctious, energetic, amazing boys. I am here today because i know that if i did not have access to planned parenthood in my 20s, i would not be a mother today. In 2006 when i was 20, my best friend and i made appointments at planned parenthood. We went for a few reasons. At 20, i was under insured. Though i was insured through my parents the topic of sexual and Reproductive Health is not something we ever discussed. The sliding scale of privacy at planned parenthood was essential to me as a 20yearold woman. A week after my appointment where i had a pap test and got a supply of Birth Control, planned parenthood called to explain th

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