You Can Stop Worrying
Floor Speech
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I am well aware of the fact that there are many Americans who think when they hear the word ``ObamaCare,'' that somehow it is a takeover by the government of our freedom and of our health care. I'm hoping that people will take another look now that the Supreme Court has declared this to be the law of the land and see what the advantages are for you, for individuals, what does it really mean.
For example, if you're a woman, did you know that being a woman is like being a preexisting condition? Over a lifetime, women pay about 48 percent more for their health insurance than men do. That is ended right now because of ObamaCare. Did you know that if you're a woman, you're now able to get lifesaving preventive services like a mammogram? You can go in now and get a mammogram at no cost because it's a preventive service under ObamaCare.
If you're a parent and you have a child with a disability, right now you are able to have that child insured. They cannot be excluded because they have a preexisting condition. Of course, that meant so much to the mother of Olivia. Let me just read the story of the mother of Olivia. Olivia suffered a stroke at birth, and now she's 11 years old. She has multiple health issues, including epilepsy and cognitive delays and cerebral palsy. ObamaCare means that Olivia can't be denied coverage based on her preexisting condition, and there is no lifetime limit. That's true of everyone now in America. There is no lifetime limit on her insurance coverage.
Both of Olivia's parents have switched jobs since having Olivia; and each time they switched, they had to fight to get the needed coverage for their daughter due to her preexisting condition. Imagine the relief that they don't have to do that, and no one with a child with a disability has to do that anymore.
This idea of government takeover is just not true. You will still be able to choose your providers. All the decisions you really want to make are not going to be taken away. You will even be able to choose your insurance company. If you can't afford it, you will be put into an exchange where you still get to choose a variety of insurance companies. If you can't afford the premiums, the government will help you do that.
By the way, all Members of Congress will be required to be in those health exchanges. You won't be able to say that the Members of Congress are taking care of themselves with their great health benefits. By the way, they are the same as all Federal workers. We pay our premiums, and we pay our copays. We're the only Americans that are going to be required to be in those health exchanges. So you can be assured that we're going to be making sure that we're taking care of ourselves, as well as all other Americans.
Because of ObamaCare, my adult son the other day on his birthday said, Thank you, Mom. He is a small business owner. He owns a tropical fish store in Chicago. He said, I just found out from my accountant that I received a pretty hefty tax credit, because that's what's given now to small
businesses under ObamaCare. So the idea that somehow small businesses are going to be hurt because of ObamaCare, the opposite is true. Right now this is helping small businesses with a tax cut.
Here are a couple of more examples. Jerry M., a constituent, said:
My 24-year-old daughter does not make enough money to pay for individual health care. She became very ill with a throat abscess and almost died. If it weren't for ObamaCare, she would not be covered under my husband's insurance plan then. If we had not been able to get her into an excellent hospital that saved her, she might have died.
That's no longer true. You don't have to worry about that. You can stop worrying about going bankrupt over health care costs.
Here's from a senior:
My drugs are over $4,000 a year or more, and I hit the doughnut hole--meaning a gap in coverage and the senior has to pay on her own--by July or August. But because of ObamaCare paying 50 percent, it's very helpful to me. It probably saves me $1,200 or more a year.
She's an example of someone who is saving money right now because of ObamaCare. Take another look. I think it's really going to alleviate your worry about health care costs for your family.
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