New Mexico seantors tell ACA stories on Senate floor, attack "Repeal & Run"
New Mexico Senators Udall and Heinrich told stories of the success of the Affordable Care Act and condemned Republican efforts to repeal instead of improve.
Some quotes:
Heinrich:
It's absolutely criminal for Republicans to strip millions of their health care without even a conceptual replacement plan in place.
To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I want to make it very clear that "We'll fix it later" simply doesn't cut it.
They promised "Repeal and Replace."
Now they are giving us "Repeal and Run."
And that will cause chaos in our health care system.
Let me be clear, we have the capacity to fix and improve our current health care system in a bipartisan way - without throwing it all into chaos. But Republicans have to make that choice before it's too late.
Karen from Santa Fe is a registered nurse and a breast cancer survivor. As a nurse, Karen has seen how health care reform and the reduction of uninsured and uncompensated care has helped community hospitals better serve their patients.
But the real impact of health care reform for Karen has been personal.
When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, Karen's insurance company dropped her coverage.
When she had to pay out of pocket for her coverage, her costs doubled.
As she went through several more recurrences of cancer, Karen went bankrupt and lost her house.
In a letter to me, she said: "Cancer is hard enough, but not to be able to afford my co-pays and appointments caused me so much stress it made me more vulnerable for complications."
Now, Karen is able to afford health care coverage even with her pre-existing condition.
But Republicans are threatening to take that all away from Karen and from hundreds of millions of other Americans.
Karen went on to say in her letter: "No one should go without health care because of income. Good health is not a privilege for the wealthy few, but a human right."
I couldn't say it any better.
[link:http://www.heinrich.senate.gov/|
Udall:
"Let me be loud and clear: what President-elect Trump and Republicans are doing now will throw health care into chaos. It is reckless. It will hurt thousands of New Mexicans and millions of Americans. And the worst part is that the Republicans have no plan to replace the care they will take away.
"The Affordable Care Act is not a perfect law. I have always said that we should work to improve it. But, M. President, it has helped thousands of people in my home state of New Mexico.
"Before we passed the ACA, New Mexico had a high rate of people without health insurance. Since 2010, that number has gone down 44 percent. Countless people have written me, called my office, and stopped me on the street to tell me how relieved they are to have health care.
"M. President, let me tell you about Pam and Mike. They are a husband and wife from Placitas. They own a small business. They signed up for an insurance plan under the ACA as soon as they could, because premiums before the ACA were too expensive,and Pam had a pre-existing condition.
"Using their new preventive care, they found out that Mike had an aggressive form of cancer. But thankfully, doctors caught the cancer at an early stage. Mike was treated at the University of New Mexico Cancer Center, and is now cured. Pam says there is 'no question' that the ACA saved her husband's life.
"Because of the ACA, private health plans must cover a range of free, preventive services, everything from cancer screening to flu shots. Over 730,000 New Mexicans now benefit. Catching a disease early saves lives, and reduces health care costs. But, preventive care is expensive if you're uninsured or poor. An overwhelming majority of Americans – 83% – support making preventive care free.
"But what will President-elect Trump and Republicans do to make sure Pam and Mike and millions of others can keep getting cancer screenings? Nothing. They have no plan.
You can find text and or video on their websites.
[link:http://www.heinrich.senate.gov/|
]http://www.tomudall.senate.gov/?p=home
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