Rep. Pelosi Issues Remarks on Health Care
* * *
Below are the Leader's remarks:
Leader Pelosi. Hello everyone. Thank you all for being here to hear the most eloquent statements of why we have to have great public policy to address the health needs of the American people. It's a great honor to return to
[Laughter]
You go first.
* * *
Thank you very much Brenda for your hospitality but more importantly the great work that you do to meet the needs of the families in our community here. Community health centers - I always say that if we started from scratch and had no health care system in our country, we would first carpet the country with
As Brenda said, 50 years ago, actually 53 years ago this past Monday, our government under the leadership of
This is a pillar,
Two years after
Yet today, our nation's bedrock guarantee of dignity and security, as the President said at the time, for all, is under direct attack.
But when they passed the tax bill, they put in there a provision that they interpret to be, no longer will the benefit of pre-existing condition exist, and that's in the courts now. Imagine that - over 130 million people, meaning 130 million families probably, depend on that access and they want to strike that benefit.
They did this handing a massive tax cut to the wealthiest families. 83 percent of the benefits went to the top 1 percent, couple trillion dollars added to the national debt. And then they said, 'How are we going to be pay for that? We're going to cut Medicare and we're going to cut
And in doing so they also gave massive tax cuts to pharma, the pharmaceutical industry, massive tax cuts to the CEOs of those companies and the cost of prescription drugs is just a debilitating factor in the health and financial security of America's working families. Give them a gift of a tax cut, make the American people pay more for pharmaceutical growth.
Shattering the guarantee of Medicare and Medicaid - for a long time now,
Families are already feeling the pain from the
So,
We are offering A Better Deal For The People,
When Brenda was telling us about how many people depend on Medicare and Medicaid, Medicare is -- yes for our children, but a large of the amount of the money that is spent on our seniors comes from Medicaid. So assault on Medicaid is not an assault on children, which would be bad enough, but on families, because of the assault that is on seniors.
A big part of our Better Deal is lowering the cost of prescription drugs. Tough enforcement of price gouging, allowing Medicare Part D to negotiate for better prices, transparency of excessive drug price increases. But we can't do our inside maneuvering - it won't count for much without inside mobilization. Outside organizing. We don't agonize, we organize.
We're so honored to be joined by courageous advocates who are telling their stories about the
We're very pleased to be here with of course,
Leader Pelosi. What do you think, Dad? We'll see. Jonah will let us know. He is a very independent boy and we are honored he is here.
Let me just yield right now to
***
Leader Pelosi. Thank you, Christina for sharing your story and thank you, Sage. When I first met him at one of our events, he was a baby, now he is a big boy. Darling. It's about family. A really important message about Medicaid, people don't realize that it's a benefit across the board for middle-income families as well as for children because it is, as you heard from Christina's story and I've heard it over and over again, across the country, in the
This is a middle-income benefit as well as addressing the needs of our children in our country. The disability rights community has been the most important force in trying to stop the sabotage of access to health care, whether it's through Medicare, Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act. So thank you, Christina, for your courage and your generosity of spirit to share your story. Hopefully, as these stories are told across the country,
To
Apparently negotiating 'like crazy' means not negotiating at all. When he made his presentation, he didn't mention it at all. It was such a disappointment. He pulled his punch. He did not keep his promise. Don't take it from me, take it from the stock market. That day, prescription drug companies, Big Pharma's stock prices soared through the roof because they knew they were off the hook and could charge whatever they wanted to charge. So sad.
And then the issue, of course, of Jonah telling us his story about his pre-existing conditions and how having a pre-existing condition has always been, long before Jonah was born, a barrier to affordable, quality care until the Affordable Care Act. That was a major provision of the Affordable Care Act - no longer will having a pre-existing condition be a barrier to access to care.
When they passed the tax bill, as I mentioned earlier, and took out the individual mandate, they said that justified no longer honoring the benefit of pre-existing conditions. Three ways it is important for the American people to know how they are affected: by Medicare withering on the vine,
What we are promising are that
I want to thank
[Applause]
Jonah will be happy to take any questions you may have.
[Laughter]
Any questions?
Q: Your compatriots in the
Leader Pelosi. For everyone, you can describe?
Q: Basically, it would rescind the rule on the pre-existing and they would need a majority in the
Leader Pelosi. There is something in the
Any other questions?
Okay, with that, thank you very much for joining us to see the great work that
South Hill apartment complex catches fire
Dems Will Try Forcing Senate Vote Against Trump Health Plan
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News