Pelosi Remarks at Bicameral Press Conference on Republicans’ Plan to Make America Sick Again
"Thank you very much, Leader Schumer. I associate myself with your remarks. You covered a lot of territory there. I want to join you in commending the President for his presentation this morning to us. It was one of confidence. It was one of values. The Affordable Care Act was transformative in terms what it meant with the lives of the American people and that health care in our country is a right, not a privilege.
"If there had been no other reason for us to pass the Affordable Care Act, one compelling reason was cost. The cost to the individual, to families, to businesses, small or corporate, and to the public sector was totally unsustainable. So, we had three goals: one, was to lower cost, other, to improve benefit, and three, to increase access. In all three of those arenas, the Affordable Care Act has been a big success.
"When we talk about rolling back the Affordable Care Act, we're also having an impact on Medicare. The Affordable Care Act prolongs the life, extended the solvency of Medicare had expanded Medicaid. This is very important to America's families. Our former Speaker once said, ‘All politics is local.' Well in this case, all politics is personal.
"So Leader Schumer talks about 75 percent of people [excluding seniors and children] who get their benefit in the workplace, and that is so. They are affected by the Affordable Care Act and the increase in premiums is the lowest it's been in the 57-something years they have been tracking that. So it has contained the cost. It has increased the benefits package, as the Leader said, in terms of no discrimination for pre-existing conditions, no lifetime limits, no annual limits, you can stay on your parents' [plan], and being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition.
"So the package is better. The rate of growth of cost decreased, and the fact of many more people being insured – by the 20 million people who are now insured – who did not have access before. The most privileged person in America has better health if everyone has health, if everyone is in the loop.
"Now, the Republicans say ‘repeal and replace.' The only thing that it has going for it is alliteration. They have no replacement plan. They have no replacement plan because they can't agree – they don't have the votes for a replacement plan. So, to repeal and then delay is an act of cowardice. That means we don't really know what we're doing, and it recognizes the consequences to them of just straight out repeal without some replacement. So we have a values debate on our hands. It's very personal in the lives of the American people.
"A friend of mine just told me his grandson was diagnosed with Leukemia. That child will have a pre-existing condition for the rest of his life. Repeal the Affordable Care Act, that's a problem. Lifetime limits – that's a problem. If you're a senior, you know, Medicaid – almost half of Medicaid is about long-term healthcare. You want grandma living in the guest room? You repeal the Affordable Care Act. You go along with – this is part of an initiative that is part of the Ryan Budget that says, ‘We are going to voucherize Medicare. We're going to block grant Medicaid.'
"So this has a tremendous assault on the health, health security and the financial security that goes with what the Affordable Care Act has done for the American people. Make America sick again? Is that what the Republicans want to do? I certainly hope not. Hopefully we can work together to find a path to address some of the concerns they may have but not to undermine this pillar of economic and health security to the American people. It stands right there with Social Security, which they want to undermine, Medicare and Medicaid, which they want to undermine – the Affordable Care Act.
"So the President asked us, ‘Are you ready? Do you have the fight in you?' He didn't need to ask us that question, I don't think. With that, I'm pleased to yield to a leader in the fight, Bernie Sanders. Oh, Patty Murray. Another fighter."