Obamacare Deadline: April Fools

Floor Speech

Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, today marks the legal deadline of registration for the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as ObamaCare.

On March 12, 2014, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified before a House Ways and Means Committee. When asked, are you going to delay enrollment beyond March 31, she definitively answered, no, sir.

Well, Madam Speaker, April Fools.

Millions of Americans are finding ObamaCare today to be a very expensive and harmful April Fools' prank. One of those individuals is Sondra, a constituent from Clinton County, located in the Fifth District of Pennsylvania.

Sondra emailed the following on Friday:

I was just on the marketplace, and I can't believe the prices. I also am wrong about ObamaCare including eye and dental. I see that it does not. I thought this was supposed to be better than what I would find privately. Not to my surprise.

Even with the tax credits, it is going to cost us just as much. It seems they doubled the price on there to eat up the tax credits. This whole thing has us so upset.

We only make between $30,000-$40,000 a year, and our health insurance is going to go from $320 a month for both of us to doubling, at the least. We will pay more and get less coverage and pay way more out of pocket.

How does our President think this is helping us, the working poor? This is a class we never hear anyone talk about. We hear about the poor, middle class, and the wealthy, but not the working poor. We are the ones who make too much to get a handout, not that we want one, but not enough to really make ends meet due to our poor economy and rapidly rising inflation.

Honestly, it would pay me to quit my job because we would get all the help we need because our income would be so low, and with my chronic health issues of diabetes, thyroid disease, and arthritis, I would get Pennsylvania medical assistance.

How sad is it that our President has put the working poor in that option? I could honestly just cry not knowing how we will be able to pay for this health care penalty. We had what we needed and could afford.

Now, we can't afford it even with the government help, and we have less coverage for higher premiums. How does this make any sense? Ugh. Sorry for the rant.

Madam Speaker, Americans deserve solutions to assure access to affordable, quality health care that they determine that they need. As for ObamaCare, there are far too many winners and mostly losers like Sondra and her family, so it is fitting and accurate on this April 1 day to say: ObamaCare? April fools.

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