Reid Speaks On Senate Floor About Health Care Reform Anniversary

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor Thursday to mark the second anniversary of the Affordable Care Act on Friday. Reid said the law is helping Americans across the country and in his home state of Nevada. He also noted that Republicans who want to repeal the law would take away those benefits. He ended by tying the law to a larger tradition of Medicare and caring for all Americans. An excerpt: 

But when Democrats undertook health care reform, it wasn’t just about saving money – it was about saving lives.

 

And while the numbers I’ve just discussed are very important, there is one number that matters more than all the others: 45,000.

 

That is the number of Americans who die every year because they lack health insurance.

 

That doesn’t include the tens of thousands more who are sick or dying because they have health insurance, but still can’t afford the care they need.

 

After the rest of the Affordable Care Act has taken effect over the next two years, no American will have to bear what President Lyndon Johnson called “the injustice which denies the miracle of healing to the old and to the poor.”

 

President Johnson knew that living in a country with the best medical care in the world doesn’t matter if you can’t access that care.

 

That’s why, almost 47 years ago, he signed Medicare into law.

 

 

I am pleased to say the Affordable Care Act continues that tradition.

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