Pelosi Remarks at Press Event Marking the 8th Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act
Contact: Ashley Etienne/Henry Connelly, 202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn, DPCC Co-Chair David Cicilline, House Democrats and health care advocates for a press event marking the eighth anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act. Below are the Leader's remarks:
Leader Pelosi. Good morning everyone, thank you all for being here. It is an honor for me to be here with the moms and families of our beautiful children, and to hear their statements, their stories. I am honored to be with Marta Conner, mother of Caroline, Elena Hung, Little Lobbyist Co-Founder and mother of Xiomara, and Dr. Sriram who is going to be with us. And, of course, Charlie. Charlie has probably been to more rallies, events, advocacies and all of the rest. She is truly the leader of the Little Lobbyists. Thank you, Charlie.
As we all have gathered here to recognize that tomorrow marks the eighth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act being signed into law. On that day, the Congress joined the ranks of those in the past who passed Social Security, and then later Medicare and Medicaid, bringing economic and health security to millions of Americans. Much has been said that on that day we enabled 20 million more Americans to have access to health care, but as important as that is, 125 million Americans had an increase in their benefits. So, it honored our commitment to improve benefits, to expand coverage and access, and to lower cost. When we talk about the expanded benefits, we took great pride in the fact that no longer being a women was a pre-existing medical condition, that we did not have pre-existing conditions as an obstacle to coverage, that until the age of 26 you can be on your parents' policy, if you all agreed, and the list goes on and on. No lifetime limits, no annual limits and the rest. Very important.
As we celebrate, we have to recognize the sabotage that the Republicans are concocting on this bill. What did the middle class ever do to the Republicans that they would take this action to over and over again try to repeal the Affordable Care Act?
And I want to thank our friends that are here today, because we tried very hard with our inside maneuvering to stop their actions, but we would not have been successful without the outside mobilization of the Little Lobbyists, or Protect Our Care, or HCAN. All the groups that worked very hard to bring their stories to the attention to the Members of Congress. And also to have millions of calls in proximity, showing up in offices and rallies across the country. So, I salute you for protecting the health care of millions, tens of millions of Americans.
But the fight continues and as you know in the tax bill they stripped the individual mandate which could possibly strip up to 13 million people off of coverage. It is just not right. The bigger the pool, the healthier the pool, the lower the cost. There is just an ideological opposition to any public role in providing health care, while the same people say to the government ‘keep your hands off of my Medicare.' So, in any event the Democrats are for a Better Deal, Better Jobs, Better Pay, Better Future, Better Medicare, better access to health care for all Americans. And that is the path we start to go down as we celebrate what was accomplished, stop their sabotage and then take it to a new and better place.
And with that, I am very pleased to yield the floor to Marta Conner with great appreciation for her advocacy. And as I introduce her I want to not only thank the moms and the families who have done so much, dads too, but the siblings. To see the siblings and the care and the love that they give to their sibling who may have a pre-existing condition, is one of the most beautiful, inspiring sites of all. Marta, thank you for being with us. Marta is the mother of Caroline.
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