she hopes this repeal of the a.c.a. will be once and for all , the end of the a.c.a. act. once and for all. if they've done it once they've done it 56 times. it's not one time, it's 56 times you wanted to repeal the affordable care act. 56 times. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are probably pretty proud of themselves. after all, joe dimaggio, he had a 56-game hitting streak. something people say will never be equated again. but unlike joe this one isn't a streak of hits. it's a streak of losses, a streak of strikeouts for the american people. it's a streak of being willing to sacrifice the health and well-being of your constituents just to make a cheap political point. this majority is apparently ready and eager to actually take away health coverage, and as my friend from new jersey, mr. pascrell said try explaining this to your constituents back at home. take away health coverage people have purchased and have been using for over a year. they would make people particularly seniors, pay back the tax credits that helped them afford the coverage in the first plac

if the a.c.a. is repealed, many employers could again be charged health-related premiums, so if they have a few sick employees they'll see their premiums skyrocket. the vast majority of large employers who provide health insurance to their employees may suffer an increase in premiums due to the return of the hidden tax the cost shifting of uncompensated care. and when employees leave a job, they're on their own. to get the insurance if they can because there was a prohibition. they could deny people with pre-existing conditions. so if you have a pre-existing condition and leave your job, then who knows what's going to happen? in addition, small employers would suffer. since all small -- since all small group market reforms, including rating reforms, would disappear. small employers used to pay 18% more in premiums than large businesses on average. at c.a. leveled the playing field so now they're paying the rates like everybody else. if you repeal the affordable care act they're up another 18% where

if the a.c.a. is repealed, many employers could again be charged health-related premiums, so if they have a few sick employees they'll see their premiums skyrocket. the vast majority of large employers who provide health insurance to their employees may suffer an increase in premiums due to the return of the hidden tax the cost shifting of uncompensated care. and when employees leave a job, they're on their own. to get the insurance if they can because there was a prohibition. they could deny people with pre-existing conditions. so if you have a pre-existing condition and leave your job, then who knows what's going to happen? in addition, small employers would suffer. since all small -- since all small group market reforms, including rating reforms, would disappear. small employers used to pay 18% more in premiums than large businesses on average. at c.a. leveled the playing field so now they're paying the rates like everybody else. if you repeal the affordable care act they're up another 18% where

we need to work and enact reforms that improve and build on the a.c.a. for the good of the american people. i return the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. pitts: mr. speaker, a lot of those people are on medicaid and can't even see a doctor. i'm pleased now to yield two minutes to an outstanding member from pennsylvania, mr. rothfus. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. rothfus: thank you, mr. speaker. i stand here today listening both to the rule of debate and debate we are having right now to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who ridicule our relief efforts and joke about the number of votes that we have taken to repeal obamacare. well, mr. speaker my friends across the aisle may think this is funny, but it's no joke to the folks i represent back in pennsylvania. it's not a joke to the mother who walked into the pharmacy and found out her drug cost -- that cost $40 under her old plan, the one that the president promised she could keep now costs $700 because o

president obama's immigration actions undermine the a.c.a. itself by undermining its goal of providing insurance via the workplace. so it's no small irony here that by granting work permits to daca and dapa recipients president obama is in fact undermining his own signature legislative achievement. second, daca and dapa recipients are eligible to apply for something called advance parole and that means they can get advanced permission to leave the country and come back relatively quickly. without advanced parole, if you enter this country illegally and you leave you have to then stay out for a long period of time, usually about three to 10 years before you're allowed to re-enter. so once a daca or dapa recipient re-enters this country after being advanced paroled, they're considered to be paroled back into the country and paroled individuals under the statute are eligible to adjust their legal status. and they can do this as long as they qualify for a visa, such as, let's say, an employer-sponsored visa. so what does this mean? it means at lea

one of the places a.c.a. didn't really do the job in terms of filling the gap of new physicians that we need. and it sort of adds insult to injury to now cut the payments to teaching hospitals. they're just not going to teach as many medical students and make them become doctors if you're going to cut this. i believe the current funding levels are critically important to maintaining a state-of-the-art environment not only training doctors but training the best doctors. we don't need a majority of our doctors would being trained overseas but that would be a direction in which you're headed. and so it seems to me counterproductive to attempt to train more physicians by cutting teaching hospitals that train them. how do you reconcile that? >> with regard to the issue of making sure we have enough care in the country and the specific g.m.e. area what we're trying to do is make sure we balance the needs and we are -- our proposal also targets funding and additional funding for those that go into primary care and sp

tania, who shortly after signing up for the a.c.a. had a checkup, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, would not have even discovered it had it not been for the affordable care act. and certainly would not have been able to afford treatments. the same is true for don who as a consequence of regular checkups and a cloneoscopy that was part of the prevention of the prevention regiment in the affordable care act was able to catch a tumor early and is now cancer-free. we also have people who were able to benefit from medicaid expansion under the affordable care act. and in connecticut derek -- anne in connecticut, derek in california both were able to get on a plan that they could afford. even as they're working, even as they're taking care of families. and as a consequence are healthier for it and was able to catch breast cancer early. we have small business people likely net over here and darlene who -- like lynette over here and darlene who because they weren't work for a company, had a tough time affording the premiums and lynette saved h

that was printed in the "new york times" in november that people are in the plan that buy it on the a.c.ae can look for an increase of 20% this year versus back when he was out campaigning for it. let's stick to the numbers. back then he toll the "new york times," quote, make no mistake, premiums will go down. you could see as much as $2,500 in savings. now they're admitting they're going up this year. this is a tough one for republicans to win. where do they go from here? >> he's using the same malarkey on the deficit. and it's the same thing with obamacare. all these things the president promises economically, they evaporate. he's so bad with economics, heartless when it comes to health care. he's made -- he dropped a turd bomb in the middle of the health care system in the country that's exploded and people are covering in something they cannot get away from. i'm surprised he found 10 people. i think he paid them. >> i think there are -- the one group this has helped is the group of the population that was not covered. if they had been honest and said we're going to charge everyone mor

never mind that repealing the a.c.a. in this house would take away insurance for millions of individuals or raise insurance premiums on working families or allow insurance companies to once again discriminate against those who have pre-existing medical conditions. this extreme bill, we know, will never see the light of day or become law, however. similar bills were dead on arrival the first time that the speaker brought it up, and it's not going anywhere this time. but this vote pandering to the most extreme voices of the -- at the expense of a jobs bill or the first vote on a national manufacturing plant, or the first vote on a vote to repair our crumbling roads and bridges takes away the time to deal with those important issues and continues this house on a road to another repeal of the a.c.a. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? seek recognition. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, request unanimous consent to address the

. >> reproductive rights activist erin matsen says while the a.c.a. was supposed to make birth control coverage easy in some cases, it's made things worse for women. >> it's because insurance companies are exploiting the law and trying to see what they can get away with right now. >> the law clearly states that women should get access to the full range of f.d.a. approved contraception including nuva ring but the language allows companies to offer generic drugs to control costs. in stephanie cameron's case she says her insurance company offered to cover the pill as an alternative to nuva ring. >> pill doesn't work for me. >> it's wrong to believe that they are interchangeable. >> although the feds made the law, it's up to states to police. advocates say you can file a complaint with your state's insurance commission. something stephanie did. >> i'm really angry about it. they shouldn't decide what they should cover. my doctor wrote a prescription for a reason and they should cover it. >> stephanie's insurance company united healthcare asked us to get he

this legislation would undermine fundamental guarantees under the a.c.a. that you can no longer lose or be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition. this latest proposal would put coverage for things like maternity care up to the whim of the states, and it would include a tax hike on working families and would leave millions uninsured without any coverage at all. mr. speaker, this is not a serious proposal, and more than 2,000 days after president obama signed the affordable care act republicans still lack a serious alternative. thanks to the a.c.a. uninsured rates are a record low, hardworking families can afford health care. the republicans continue their obsession with stripping protections from affordable coverage. this is the wrong direction for our country. we should be working and putting america back to work. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? >> i rise today to address the house for one minute mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you,

you've already paid through the a.c.a. taxes. that's done. they're going to emergency rooms and places like that and totally tying up the whole health care delivery system. i don't blame them. they have noo -- no other option but if you're a mother were a sick child you're going to do everything you humanly possibly can to make sure your child gets health care the the 400,000, these are working folks. i mean if you don't have any income, you're already on the medicaid, you've got that. we're talking about the gap here. they make too much to get medicaid here but don't make enough to have a high deductible or high premium. they're in the gap. they're working the when i talked about the folks having taking care of an invalid in someone's home drive drive driving, they don't get to see their kids at all. to provide them with health care will be life-changing for them. it will be better for their health, better for their outlook and we should be doing this. as i said, we already paid for, in west virginia, they're now getting that care paid for so

kevin lewis and robert hillman two of the founders, saw an opportunity in the a.c.a. to develop this idea that they knew was needed to address the challenges of health care coverage for maine citizens. working with a group of people in maine who shared their concerns about health care they built maine community health options built on this vision of meeting maine people's health insurance needs in a direct and hands-on way. would it work? nobody knew. when the enrollment opened last year their goal, their hope, their vision was for 15,000 signups. by the time the dust settled at the deadline last spring, they had 40,000 signups 83% of the marketplace signups in maine had signed up with this fledgling company. and this year i'm told as of today they have over 60,000 signups. i did a tour of their offices recently in in lewiston, maine and we talked about this phenomenon of the signups that came unexpectedly and it reminded me of a tv commercial a few years ago where these young people start an internet start-up and they see sales orders coming in and they're happy and t

the state. it's no longer a guarantee. dismantles a.c.a.'s bedrock guarantee you no longer lose or be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions. it increases the deficit. it adds -- it takes away the medicare cost reductions for seniors, it eliminates those. seriously undermines -- it's not a repeal, but it is a repeal of all the things they profess, we don't want to repeal denying coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, all the rest of that. to judge by the priorities brought to the floor by this congress republicans have little regard for the security of america's families. their economic security, health security and their homeland security. republicans have passed -- have not passed a serious homeland security funding bill. there are only 23 days left until the department of homeland security shuts down, on february 28. one of their spokespersons mr. king, has said i'm really not worried about the 27th coming and going. he's not worried about shutting down the department of homeland security. which protects americans. 23 days

don't forget, in case you were forgetting, what is it, this sunday, the last day to sign up for a.c.asunday is the last day for open enrollment. enrollment has been extremely successful and exceeded expectations. so go to healthcare.gov for life -- healthier life liberty, the freedom to pursue your happiness. we're very proud of the affordable care act. thank you very much. oh, by the way don't forget, evaluate's day coming up. -- valentine's day coming up. as a nice valentine's day, you can sign up for health care. thank you, bye-bye. >> and just a bit here we will have live coverage of house speaker john boehner scheduled to speak to reporters at 11:30. the house is coming back at noon eastern taking up a bill today permanently renewing tax credits for charitable contributions. also, debate rules for a bill that will take up tomorrow one that permanently extends the credit allowing small businesses to write off certain expenses. the white house issuing a veto threat against both those bills. house legislative work at noon. live here on c-span. the senate is in today and on one of th

newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: the deadline looms in the final push for health insurance sign-ups before sunday, we take a look at a.c.a's second season. miles o'brien reports on how breakthroughs in sensory perception are helping amputees feel again. >> for a long time people have been trying to build robots that try to emulate humans. now there's a way we can directly impact someone's quality of life by building a robot that becomes part of someone's body.

newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: the deadline looms in the final push for health insurance sign-ups before sunday, we take a look at a.c.a.'s second season. miles o'brien reports on how breakthroughs in sensory perception are helping amputees feel again. >> for a long time people have been trying to build robots that try to emulate humans. now there's a way we can directly impact someone's quality of life by building a robot that becomes part of someone's body. >> woodruff: then, an intimate look at edward snowden. with the journalists behind the oscar nominated documentary "citizen four," which takes viewers inside the first days of one of the biggest intelligence leaks in u.s. history. >> we didn't manufacture the kind of thriller aspects to it. that actually came with the story. i started receiving anonymous e-mails from a stranger making claims of mass government surveillance, you know and then we met in congress hong. -- hong kong. >> woodruff: and it's friday mark shields and david brooks are here, to analyze the week's news. those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding