State Health Care Premium Reduction Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I have only been on the floor a short time, but I am sure there have been the repeated opposition statements that: ``Oh, if only we could get agreement.'' ``If only we could do this, we would have a wonderful healthcare program.''

Madam Speaker, frankly, my friends on the other side of the aisle have had 12, 14 years, at least, to come up with a program.

Madam Speaker, they did come up with a program, and they passed it through the House--they were in charge--and it went to the Senate. The Republicans were in charge of the Senate.

When they passed it through the House, they all went down to the White House, and they had a big party. ``What a wonderful deal this is.'' Lo and behold, within 2 weeks, the President, who was extolling that bill, called it a ``mean'' bill.

That is not me. That is the President of the United States about the bill that he was celebrating with his Republican colleagues.

The Republicans talk a good game, but they don't play a game. It is not that they don't play a good game. They don't play a game. There is no bill coming from the President of the United States.

Madam Speaker, last week, in the middle of the worst pandemic in our lifetimes, the Trump administration submitted briefs to the Supreme Court in support of a lawsuit by Republican-led States seeking to overturn the law that provides millions of Americans with access to affordable healthcare. They offer no substitute. They said they were going to, but they have never done it.

In spite of a decade of Republican efforts--a decade, 10 years--they have had to work on this and come up with a plan that all of them are talking about--``Oh, we want to protect preexisting conditions.'' ``We don't want to have lifetime limits''--you know, all these things.

Where is the bill? Where is the meat? It is not here. It hasn't been offered. The one bill that was offered and passed in this House was called by the President of the United States a ``mean'' bill.

Not our President, their President--I mean, he is the President of all of us, but he is a member of the Republican Party, just like Obama was a member of the Democratic Party.

We passed an alternative. It was signed, and the majority of the American people supported it. As a matter of fact, 53 percent of independents supported it.

Madam Speaker, when the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the Republican lawsuit this autumn--in the Republicans' lawsuit; these are Republican AGs--it will hear their arguments for taking away protections for those with preexisting conditions, those most vulnerable to COVID-19, at the very moment healthcare experts predict another wave of infections and the start of the flu season. And where do we see the spike? Along the southern border: Texas, Florida, Arizona.

Madam Speaker, taking away Americans' coverage and throwing our healthcare system into chaos is not what the American people want or need during this global public health and economic crisis. When President Trump ran for office--this was before he called the bill that the House passed a ``mean'' bill, under Republican leadership-- President Trump falsely promised that he would offer an alternative to the Affordable Care Act that was far less expensive and better quality.

Madam Speaker, I ask any of my colleagues if they have seen that bill, either side of the aisle, have they seen that bill. This President has been President for 3.5 years. There is no Republican bill to make sure that Americans have affordable quality healthcare and have them able to get insurance irrespective of preexisting conditions. There is no such legislation.

Now, having failed to produce an alternative, the President and his Republican allies are determined simply to repeal it entirely. That has been their position for the last 12 years.

I am proud that one of the first acts of our Democrat House majority was to defend the ACA in the Republican lawsuit. Indeed, Americans don't want to scrap the law. They want to strengthen and expand it.

They understand that it is not an option, having healthcare coverage. Protecting your health is not an option.

When Democrats won the majority in the House, we did so promising to work to expand coverage, lower out-of-pocket costs, and provide greater stability for health insurance marketplaces. That is what we promised, and we picked up 40 net seats. This bill is part of that promise.

Now, we passed another one. It sits untouched in the Senate, as some of my Republican colleagues predict for this one. I understand that. The Republicans are not for healthcare being affordable, being quality, being accessible for people. At least, they haven't offered a bill to accomplish that objective, notwithstanding what the President said.

Importantly, among the other provisions that you have heard about from my colleagues this morning, this legislation addresses the racial disparities in healthcare that have become so starkly evident during this pandemic. Expanding Medicaid will help close those disparities, and the bill's provision to require Medicaid coverage of maternal healthcare for 12 months postpartum will help reduce disparities that make African-American women as much as four times as likely to die as a result of a birth or pregnancy complication than White women.

Those disparities aren't acceptable, and our House majority is taking action to address them.

Madam Speaker, I congratulate Mr. Scott. I congratulate Mr. Pallone. I congratulate Mr. Neal. And I congratulate Speaker Pelosi.

Moreover, this bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate over the most expensive prescription drugs that do not have marketplace competition, that do not have market competition. That is what keeps prices down, consumers having choices. If they don't have choices, they have to take the drug, no matter what it costs, which is a key component to lowering prices.

That said, I want to be clear that, while we use international measures, we will continue to work with the patient and disability community to ensure that our efforts to reduce out-of-pocket costs do not have the unintended result of rationing lifesaving and life- sustaining treatments or discriminate against our most vulnerable communities.

Madam Speaker, I thank all the chairs and their committees that came together to produce this bill. I have mentioned Chairman Pallone, Chairman Scott, Chairman Neal, and others, and I thank all the Members who were instrumental in bringing these policies together, including the many freshman Members who ran on strengthening the ACA.

I see Ms. Underwood on the floor, but there are many others in the freshman class who have worked very hard. Why? Because they campaigned on For the People, bringing costs down.

I urge every Member of the House to join in supporting this bill. Now is the time, Madam Speaker, to strengthen access to high-quality, affordable healthcare, to bring costs down, and to address the stark racial disparities in our healthcare system that have come into full view with COVID-19.

I urge all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, if your rhetoric is about bringing costs down, if your rhetoric is about accessibility, if your rhetoric is about equality, walk the walk; don't just talk the talk. Vote for this bill, because it does what you say you want to do.

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