Floor Statement of Sen. Chuck Grassley
Iowans' Sticker Shock Under the Affordable Care Act
Delivered Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013
Mr. President, I come to the floor again to share the voice of one many Iowans who have contacted me over the sticker shock they're experiencing under the Affordable Care Act.
A constituent in Sioux County writes:
QUOTE: I am a pastor in rural Iowa and early this past summer, trusting naively in the integrity of our President's repeated promise that "If you like your health insurance you can keep it. Period[,]" I made a change to my policy, moving to a higher deductible to save the church money.
Now I have been informed that because of that change, my policy is no longer grandfathered and therefore I will be forced out of it in a year and compelled to purchase a MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE (Un)Affordable Care Act compliant policy.
I am young, male, healthy -- and will not qualify for any subsidy.
In effect, because of legislation Democrats supported -- my government is kicking me off from health coverage that I carefully researched, chose, and like a lot -- and forcing me to buy coverage that I do not need at a price I scarcely can afford.
And [the government] has the audacity to resort to Orwellian doublespeak and call such a draconian policy the "Affordable Care Act."
Please convey to your Democratic colleagues that I grew up on a dairy farm and now pastor a church of farmers. I am the epitome of middle class America that they claim to champion.
This bill is unjust. It is based on lies to Americans like myself. It hurts real people -- including the church I serve. END OF QUOTE.
I have done my job, Mr. President. I have shared this constituent's message with my colleagues. I hope they were listening. I yield the floor.
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