Health Care Exchanges Working

Floor Speech

Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, today marks day 7 since the rollout of the health care exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. Listening to the hysterical rhetoric from the majority party in the House, you would think that America's basic freedoms and economy would be in ruins after day 7. And in fact, there have been some problems in terms of some of the accessing through the database that was set up.

Part of the problem was the fact that millions of Americans, far more than anyone expected, even the most ardent supporters of the law, have swamped the system, which, if you think about it, I think speaks volumes about the fact that there is a tremendous need out there for this affordable care--which, again, the law I think made an historic step in terms of advancing it.

I am proud of the fact that coming from the State of Connecticut, which, again, is one of the States that did not stonewall the legislation, Governor Malloy moved forward as quickly as possible and set up a system that was actually ready last week to deal with the onslaught of emails and calls into the call centers. As of Friday, they tallied over 100,000 contacts that came into the system. Again, they enrolled actually over a thousand people even though, again, coverage doesn't even begin until January.

So for a lot of people, again, the need to enroll right away doesn't exist right now because you have to actually write a check if you are going to enroll this early. But nonetheless, still, a thousand people have already signed up. And as I said, 100,000 were able to contact the system and interacted with it with little or no problem.

First of all, I would just like to again congratulate Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, who has been sort of shepherding and quarterbacking this process over the last few months or so, again, to make sure that Connecticut's system was ready.

And I wanted to share, again, a couple of the stories of individuals who contacted the Connecticut Health Exchange over the last week or so to describe their experiences. There was 48-year-old Elly Baros, who said that she was pleased to be one step closer to enrolling in health insurance. The New Britain woman, who spent the entire afternoon at the health center going through her options, has been without coverage for a year and a half due to a layoff.

She said that she has been holding her breath, thanking God every day ``I don't get sick or get into a car accident.'' She was excited to learn that she could get good individual coverage for about $70 to $200 a month or possibly even qualify for expanded Medicaid coverage.

I had a conversation and an email with a woman from Norwich, who is a 50-year-old, self-employed individual, who said to me:

I currently pay $980 a month for coverage for myself. I have a rare preexisting condition known as trigeminal neuralgia, which is treated by medication in four annual visits to my doctor. For this, I am considered a ``heavy utilizer.'' My condition interferes with my ability to earn.

Right now, what she is paying is on par with her mortgage payment.

After speaking with my insurance agent, I found out that my premiums under the Affordable Care Act will be cut to $440 a month.

When I spoke to her on the phone the other day, she said when her agent called her and gave her this news she did a happy dance in her office, knowing that her health insurance premiums were going to be cut in half. Again, a 50-year-old, working individual who is now paying $980 a month is seeing her health insurance bill cut in half because of the health care exchange.

She is one of these people who has contacted the system, but she hasn't enrolled yet, but she will. Believe me. She cannot believe that we are at a point right now where there is a concerted, intentional effort to shut the government down in an effort to deny her--somebody who, again, has a preexisting condition--access to a smarter, more rational marketplace than the one that exists today.

The stories go on and on.

I have a letter from an individual who actually wrote to The New York Times, talking about the fact that on day 1 there were reports about how terrible the system is. She said:

I tried to sign up. I had absolutely no difficulty getting all the answers I needed and all the forms to fill out on the very first try. The entire process was simple, direct, and easy to follow. Please don't forget all of us who, while maybe not newsworthy, are a large part of the equation.

Her name is Hu Lindsay from Norwalk, Connecticut.

So, again, the folks at the health care exchange who have been planning and preparing for months have demonstrated that that demand can be met if you have the right planning in place and that, when people actually have a chance to get past all the nonsense that is thrown around out there about the end of American freedom and actually see that they can buy private health insurance plans--again, Connecticut offers three private health insurance plans, Anthem Blue Cross, ConnectiCare, and Healthy Connecticut--the system will work. That's why we must keep this government open and not buckle to the folks who want to repeal or defund the Affordable Care Act.

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