Video of Bennet’s Full Remarks Available HERE
Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet delivered a speech on the Senate floor after Senate Republicans and President Donald Trump failed to extend critical Affordable Care Act tax credits that thousands of Coloradans rely on to afford their health care premiums.
“Families all over my state, all over Colorado, are fighting to get their kids the mental health care that they need, are fighting to get their parents the prescriptions that they have been prescribed, are fighting to hold on to their own health insurance, because that also has become less and less affordable over the years,” said Bennet.
“That is a fight that no one else in the industrialized world has to have. I think it’s important to point out that almost all the people I’m talking about are working for a living in this country and still can’t afford health care.
“Because health care should be a right. It is a right, and whether you get it or not shouldn’t be determined on how wealthy you are or where you live, Mr. President.”
Bennet continued:
“I just want to say again, Mr. President, that the current system is in dire need of help. The American people are hanging on [by] their fingertips when it comes to the cost and availability of health care.
“There is no rich country in the world that doesn’t routinely supply access to doctors and primary care, access to mental health care for families and for kids, and prescription drugs that don’t cost an arm and a leg.
“So, apparently, President Trump is going to get his way, and those tax credits are not going to be extended by the majority here, and the cost of health insurance in Colorado is going to increase by 200% for some people, 300% for some people, 400% for people that are living in rural areas in my state. That’s thousands and thousands of dollars to a typical family that just doesn’t have that kind of money, Mr. President.
“I just want to remind everybody in this chamber that when this debate is done, we still have a very important project that we need to be engaged with, with the American people, and that is to be able to provide a health care system like other wealthy and industrialized countries have provided, where people can count on their health care, where they know it’s not going to cost them an arm and a leg, where they know that in the course of their lifetime, there are other things they can worry about, like the cost of their rent and the cost of food.
“But one thing we’re going to do is take care of this problem, just as countries all over the world have taken care of it for their citizens.
“I wish I could say that the politics around health care have gotten better over the years that I’ve been here. They really haven’t, Mr. President, but I think that the debate that we have had in this moment is going to serve to clarify who’s fighting to try to make this system better for the American people, and who is not.”