Today, families from across the country joined me at the White House to share their health care journeys and discuss the urgent need to repeal and replace Obamacare. Their stories aren’t unlike the lives of so many Americans suffering under this failed law.
Stories like that of Christine Chalkey and her son Jacob, who has a very rare condition and receives treatment through Medicaid in Illinois. The state’s expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare means that the people who need care the most—like Jacob—have seen shrinking services. Christine called Obamacare’s impact “an injustice happening to the truly most vulnerable.”
David Moody, from Nevada, is a retired police officer who couldn’t afford an expensive Obamacare plan for both his wife and himself, so he went uninsured so his wife could have the care she needs. He shared simply, “I have no health care because I just can’t afford it.”
And Amy and Robert Dean, foster parents from Texas with six children, have been forced to change doctors every year under Obamacare—a hardship especially for their child with a chronic liver disease. At the White House today, Robert urged, “America can and should do better. Our Congress needs to listen to these people and how it’s real Americans that this is affecting.”
As I’ve traveled across America, I’ve heard countless stories like these that show Obamacare is an unbearable burden for American families. This failed law is harming the very people it was supposed to help—including children and the most vulnerable in our society.
The average Obamacare premium has more than doubled in the past four years, and in some states, premiums have more than tripled.
While premiums are soaring, choices are plummeting. A third of American counties, including five whole states, only have one choice of Obamacare coverage—no choice at all. And insurers continue to abandon Obamacare. Virtually every day, there’s news of another major insurance company leaving the Obamacare exchange in another state around the country.
But the story of Obamacare’s failure is not a story of statistics. It’s the story of real people and the real hardship placed on the American family. The truth is that Obamacare has failed, and Obamacare must go.
At this very moment, the United States Senate is working on a bill to give us an opportunity to turn the page on the failed policies of Obamacare. This measure builds on the progress made by the House earlier this year.
We’re grateful to Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker Paul Ryan and Republicans in Congress for their work.
President Trump and I strongly support this bill. Our administration is working with the Senate around the clock to get it passed. This is the moment—now is the time. Working with Congress, President Trump will keep our promise to rescue the American people from the nightmare of Obamacare.
As the families who gathered at the White House can attest, like so many Americans across this country, America can’t afford Obamacare any longer. And President Donald Trump will keep fighting every day to give the American people the world-class health care they deserve. {eoa}
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