Health care repeal will hurt the middle class (Rep. Rosa DeLauro)

If repeal of this law passed, young people could no longer stay on their parents’ plans up to age 26. Children with pre-existing conditions will once again be denied coverage. So too will adults with pre-existing conditions, and that includes 129 million Americans under the age of 65, as well as myself as an ovarian cancer survivor. Seniors will have to pay more for their prescription drugs. And many might well have to pay back the $250 rebate checks they received last year to help pay for these life-saving drugs.

Women will no longer receive coverage for maternity care or pediatric care for their children. And they will be forced once again to pay more for the same plans, just because they are women. Women who have had a C-section, or who have been victims of domestic violence, may also be denied coverage once again. Small businesses all across the country will lose access to the health care exchanges, and end up paying higher taxes and more to cover their customers. Families too will lose their affordability credits, and end up paying more for health care.

This is not the direction we should be moving towards. We should be working to further strengthen our health care system, not rolling back all the hard-won progress we have already made. We should not be putting families at risk in the name of political gamesmanship. Health care repeal is a mistake, and it is one that I, and every Democrat in this room, will fight to prevent.