{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/on-senate-floor-king-discusses-sabotage-of-the-affordable-care-act", "On Senate Floor, King Discusses “Sabotage” of the Affordable Care Act", "2017-10-04", "2017", "2017-10", "Independent", "House", "ME", "Angus King", "K000383", "www.king.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "On Senate Floor, King Discusses \u201cSabotage\u201d of the Affordable Care Act\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\u201cWhy does anyone want to have fewer people with insurance?\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWednesday, October 4, 2017\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\r\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) today spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate to address threats to the Affordable Care Act\u2019s healthcare marketplace.\r\n\u201cI\u2019m rising today in sadness, but also in some anger because there\u2019s a lot of talk about the Affordable Care Act collapsing,\u201d said Senator King in his speech. \u201cMr. President, it is not collapsing \u2013 it\u2019s being mugged. It\u2019s being stabbed in the back. It\u2019s being sabotaged, deliberately and consciously by the actions of the Administration. And I want to emphasize \u2013 this isn\u2019t about ideology, it\u2019s not about politics\u2026 this is about people.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s about people in Maine. It\u2019s about people, many of whom got care for the first time under the Affordable Care Act. Lobstermen, small farmers, small business people, individuals, finally had a shot at reasonably healthcare. It\u2019s not perfect by any means \u2013 in fact, I\u2019ve been working on proposals since the day I got here on how to improve it\u2026but it is the law of the land, and the impacts on what we do here or don\u2019t do here fall on real people.\r\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t about ideology, this is about seeing that the laws are faithfully executed. That\u2019s why they call it the Administration \u2013 the Administration is supposed to administer the laws, not un-administer them. And we\u2019re talking about people \u2013 why does anyone want to have fewer people with insurance? I\u2019m just at a loss to understand the motivation\u2026 if you don\u2019t like the ACA, let\u2019s work together to find ways to improve it, change it \u2013 but figure out how to keep people with health insurance. The uninsured rate has fallen 50% since the Affordable Care Act. That\u2019s an enormous achievement. It\u2019s one that should be celebrated, not sabotaged.\u201d\r\nDuring his speech, Senator King listed several examples of ongoing efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act. These examples include:\r\n \r\nIn January, the administration cut previously planned advertising related to the final week of open enrollment. This played a role in the decrease in ACA enrollments in 2017 compared to the previous year.\r\nIn February, the IRS announced a decrease in enforcement for the ACA\u2019s individual mandate. With less enforcement, there is less incentive for individuals to participate in the market, in turn making the entire insurance market less viable.\r\nIn April, the Trump administration issued the first of seven threats to withhold or reduce the legally required Cost Sharing Reduction payments. These continued threats created a marketplace uncertainty, which is currently being felt in Maine. Just last week, Anthem announced they would not participate in the state\u2019s marketplace for 2018, citing this uncertainty as a factor in the decision.\r\nIn May, the Administration\u2019s budget included drastic decreases for the marketplace\u2019s call center, in-person assistance and marketing. Additionally, the budget reduces the open enrollment period by 50%, changing the period from 12 weeks to 6 weeks, making it more difficult for the American people to sign up for coverage.\r\nIn August, the Administration announced that marketplace outreach will be reduced by 90%, and navigator assistance programs to help individuals make their healthcare decisions will be reduced by 40%. Again, these cuts increase the level of difficulty to enroll in coverage through the ACA.\r\nIn September, the Department of Health and Human Services disclosed that they would be shutting down the open enrollment system for 12 hours per weekend, from midnight until noon on Sundays. This reduces available weekend hours for enrollment by 25%, adding an additional obstacle to working people who rely on days off to attend to personal matters like securing healthcare.\r\n \r\nSenator King has been a strong advocate for bipartisan solutions to stabilize the healthcare market in order to protect those who receive coverage under the Affordable Care Act.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/on-senate-floor-king-discusses-sabotage-of-the-affordable-care-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9652750343084335, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}