commissioner gerhart, thanks to be the today.i enjoyed your testimony only because it's the same thing that i've heard over and over again as i'm traveling across iowa. what i don't enjoy about that is the fact that the stories that are being shared by our wonderful families are stories of hardship and what the aca has done to their families. we all have very serious concerns about how our families will be able to continue to afford the affordable care act, the insurance policy. i hate to say i agree with you that i wins and folks across the country been placed in a situation where they're attempting to decide, to pay for my mortgage or the purchase health insurance? and die for the time and again. it's either a mortgage payment because insurance costs that are so much more than they were previously. is a car payment? a truck payment? is an attractive payment? there are some considerations families are now making that they didn't have to make a number of years ago. a family of three in iowa reached at the office to show that they

is my honor to introduce i went insurance commissioner nick gerhart. he has served our great state of commissioner since february february 2013. we appreciate your service, commissioner. he also serves on the national association of insurance commissioners executive committee. the commissioners legal and health administration credentials and professional background make him an excellent witness for us today to talk about this important topic. thank you commissioner for traveling to washington d.c., to share your expertise with this committee and the audience members and your perspective on iowa's health insurance market. thank you commissioner. >> thank you, it's an honor to be here to share our views from the state of iowa. i really want to focus on a couple of things in my short time. i want to focus on the duty of the insurance commissioner, the rates of what's happening at the kitchen table to members of our state and really a couple highlights to fix some of these issues and i did submit written testimony to outline some of those potential fixes.

. >> it is my honor to introduce nick gerhart. nick has served our great state as commissioner since february 2013. and we appreciate your service, commissioner. and he also serves on the national association of insurance commissioners executive committee. it makes him an excellent witness for us to today to talk about this important topic. thank you, commissioner, for traveling to washington, d.c. to share your expertise with this committee and the audience members. thank you, commissioner. thank you, mr. chair. >> good morning, chairman johnson and ranking member carper and the esteemed members of the committee. it is an honor to be here. i want to focus on the duty of an insurance commissioner, the rates and what's happening at the kitchen table to the members of our state, and the highlights to fix some of these issues. i did submit written testimony which is a much longer outline of those potential fixes. as an insurance commissioner in the state of iowa, we're a state of 3 million people. we know the folks these are impactin