-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, for the past 6 or so months, I have been crisscrossing the State of Wisconsin, listening to families, small business owners, parents, caregivers, doctors, nurses, and neighbors about what good, affordable healthcare means to them. And the overwhelming consensus, as you might expect, was that having healthcare you can rely on and afford means everything.

I know this exact feeling. When I was just 9 years old, I had a very serious childhood illness, similar to spinal meningitis. That wasn't the exact diagnosis. But I was in the hospital for 3 months, and even though I was able to make a full recovery, my family was then not able to find any health insurance to cover me, not at any price, because I had been labeled as a child with a preexisting health condition.

You see, back then, insurance companies were under no obligation to cover people who had been sick or were sick. So people with preexisting health conditions, like diabetes or a cancer diagnosis, so often went uninsured. That kind of experience, being hospitalized for months and then not being able to get health insurance, it is not an experience that one forgets.

So when we have these debates about healthcare policy, I know that it is not just a high-minded conceptual idea. It is real. The consequences are real, and the people behind the stories are real.

And over the past few months, I have been able to hear those real stories. I heard stories from families who were sometimes unable to put into words what it would mean if their Medicaid were stripped away.

I heard from Evan in Madison, WI. Evan is on Medicaid. We call it Badger Care in the State of Wisconsin. Evan has undergone two brain surgeries and subsequent radiation over the past 10 years to treat brain tumors. Thankfully, he has Medicaid to help cover this care, but his ability to stay healthy means that he needs medication. He wrote to me and said that without Medicaid, ``I won't be able to afford my medication that literally gives me the ability to go out and be a part of my community.''

I also heard from Ashley from De Pere, WI. She told me how Medicaid was essential for her 15-year-old daughter with disabilities. Medicaid has allowed her to modify her home so her daughter can safely get around and also allowed the family to get a wheelchair-accessible van so her daughter can get to school and get to the doctor and just be a kid and experience the world.

These are the Americans who are now living in fear that their Medicaid is on track to be terminated because my Republican colleagues jammed through a partisan bill that cuts Medicaid to the bone and will kick more than 10 million Americans off their healthcare. As always, I would be remiss if I did not say that was all in service to giving huge tax breaks to big, profitable corporations and the ultrawealthy.

This is the damage that I am hearing about from the people I work for, and, sadly, the stories from folks who are worried their healthcare is on the line don't end there. Twenty-four million Americans get their healthcare from the Affordable Care Act, and they are waiting right now for that dreaded letter in the mail letting them know that their premium costs are about to skyrocket. For the 22 million who receive enhanced premium tax credits, their costs will go up on average by 75 percent. Four million of these Americans are going to get that letter and realize that they cannot afford healthcare at all anymore.

This, of course, is because my Republican colleagues refuse to pass our bill to extend the enhanced premium tax credits and make them permanent, which allow millions of Americans to get affordable healthcare through the ACA.

I heard from some of those families and small business owners last week. They are just dreading what they are about to find out and what the future holds for them.

Take Kim, who owns a bakery in the Fox Valley. Last week, she laid out how if Republicans refuse to extend these tax breaks, she is not only worried about how she will be able to afford her healthcare but also that increased costs on the exchange will mean that employees may quit working for her to go work for a big company that offers insurance. And, of course, she is worried that her customers will inevitably be left with less in their pockets to come by and patronize her store.

I also heard from Keith in Marathon County, who runs his own insurance business. He knows this issue inside out, and Keith laid out some staggering figures for me of what he is staring down. If Republicans don't join me in extending these premium tax credits and making them permanent, Keith's premiums will go from less than $740 per month to more than $2,300 per month just to get insurance for his family. That is a staggering increase.

It is no exaggeration to say that the American people are staring down a healthcare crisis. We have a healthcare system in crisis. And I want to be clear that it is 100 percent manufactured by my Republican colleagues.

But do you know what? This is still avoidable. It is still avoidable. I am hearing my constituents sounding the alarm, so I am here to do the same. I got the memo that they don't want to have Medicaid gutted, they don't want to have their Affordable Care Act tax credits taken away, and they don't want their costs to skyrocket.

The people I work for have been crystal clear about what they expect and demand of Congress: Work together to lower costs and give them the opportunity for their hard work to let them save and to let them get ahead.

So that is my position. We need to lower the costs of healthcare, not take it away from families. I simply refuse to just go along to get along because the people I represent are truly struggling, and the solution is right in front of us.

That brings us to today. The path to keep the government open and stop healthcare costs from rising for millions is on the table. The whole idea of a shutdown is totally avoidable. If Republicans refuse to see what is right in front of them, then a shutdown is on them. And Wisconsinites will know exactly who to thank when they get that dreaded letter and their healthcare costs skyrocket or they see it simply stripped away.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source