Bobby Scott

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record an article in Consumer Reports dated May 2, 2017, entitled: ``How the Affordable Care Act Drove Down Personal Bankruptcy.'' How the Affordable Care Act Drove Down Personal Bankruptcy Expanded health insurance helped cut the number of filings by half (By Allen St. John) As legislators and the executive branch renew their efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act this week, they might want to keep in mind a little-known financial consequence of the ACA: Since its adoption, far fewer Americans have taken the extreme step of filing for personal bankruptcy. Filings have dropped about 50 percent, from 1,536,799 in 2010 to 770,846 in 2016 (see chart, below). Those years also represent the time frame when the ACA took effect. Although courts never ask people to declare why they're filing, many bankruptcy and legal experts agree that medical bills had been a leading cause of personal bankruptcy before public healthcare coverage expanded under the ACA. Unlike other causes of debt, medical bills are often unexpected, involuntary, and large. ``If you're uninsured or underinsured, you can run up a huge debt in a short period of time,'' says Lois Lupica, a bankruptcy expert and Maine Law Foundation Professor of Law at the University of Maine School of Law. So did the rise of the ACA--which helped some 20 million more Americans get health insurance--cause the decline in bankruptcies? The many experts we interviewed also pointed to two other contributing factors: an improving economy and changes to bankruptcy laws in 2005 that made it more difficult and costly to file. However, they almost all agreed that expanded health coverage played a major role in the marked, recent decline. Some of the most important financial protections of the ACA apply to all consumers, whether they get their coverage through ACA exchanges or the private insurance marketplace. These provisions include mandated coverage for pre-existing conditions and, on most covered benefits, an end to annual and lifetime coverage caps. Aspects of the law, including provisions for young people to be covered by a family policy until age 26, went into effect in 2010 and 2011, before the full rollout of the ACA in 2014. ``It's absolutely remarkable,'' says Jim Molleur, a Maine- based bankruptcy attorney with 20 years of experience. ``We're not getting people with big medical bills, chronically sick people who would hit those lifetime caps or be denied because of pre-existing conditions. They seemed to disappear almost overnight once ACA kicked in.'' The first attempt to repeal and replace the ACA, in March, failed to gain enough Congressional support and never came to a vote. Then in April, details of a new replacement plan were released. Although President Donald Trump has said that this new version, like the first bill that was pulled from consideration, will cover pre-existing conditions, the revised law gives states broad latitude to allow insurance companies to increase rates for consumers with an existing illness. A Rare and Costly Diagnosis Since the start of the year, more than 2,000 consumers have answered an online questionnaire from Consumer Reports' advocacy and mobilization team, sharing their experiences with the ACA. Katie Weber of Seattle was one of them. In 2011, she had just landed her first job out of college, as a teacher with AmeriCorps, she explains in a phone interview. That's when the unusual numbness in her hand began, which she--and her doctor--at first mistook for a pinched nerve. Then came debilitating headaches and nausea and, ultimately, a diagnosis of medulloblastoma, a fast-growing cancerous brain tumor. The treatment for her tumor was straightforward: surgery, radiation, then chemotherapy. Figuring out how to pay for it was much less clear. She worried that the insurance she had through AmeriCorps wouldn't cover enough of her bills. ``My dad said to me, `Your health is the most important thing. If you have to declare bankruptcy at age 23, it's no big deal,' '' Weber says. Because of the ACA, she says, it never came to that. After her year with AmeriCorps, the new healthcare law enabled her to get coverage under her parents' insurance plan. The ACA provisions required that the family's insurance company cover her even though she had already been diagnosed with cancer. That would not have been the case before the ACA, which mandates the coverage of pre-existing conditions for all consumers. Later, when she aged out of her parents' insurance, Weber was able to enroll in Apple Health, Washington state's version of Medicaid, a program that was expanded once the ACA was passed. That coverage, she says, has been crucial to her financial and medical well-being, especially once the cancer returned last fall. Weber says she now spends more time discussing treatment options and less time worrying how she'll pay for MRIs and drugs. These are covered in full under her Apple Health policy. ``Cancer is really expensive,'' she says. ``My insurance saved my life.'' Numbers Plummet If you want further testimony about how much personal bankruptcies have dropped over the past decade, talk to Susan Grossberg, a Springfield, Mass., attorney. For more than 20 years she has helped consumers push the financial reset button when debt triggered by divorce, unemployment, or a costly illness or medical episode became too much to handle. ``Medical debt can get really big really quickly,'' Grossberg says. ``When you're in the emergency room they're not checking your credit score while they're caring for you.'' With the advent of the ACA--and before that, expanded state healthcare in Massachusetts--she says fewer clients with large medical debts walked through her door. Grossberg adds that her bankruptcy business has slowed so much that she has been forced to take on other kinds of legal work--landlord-tenant and housing discrimination cases--to cover her own bills. The American Bankruptcy Institute suggested that veteran Chicago bankruptcy attorney and trustee David Leibowitz could also help parse the reasons for the decadelong decline. First, he says, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 made it more difficult for consumers to file for bankruptcy. The law required credit counseling and income verification and forced many consumers to seek protection under Chapter 13, which restructures, but does not eliminate, most debt. The piles of paperwork also meant most filers needed a lawyer, which made bankruptcy more costly and therefore not an option for many poor consumers. Then there was the economy. After a slow and steady recovery following the housing crisis of 2008, Leibowitz explains that American consumers generally had fewer problems with their mortgages, better employment prospects, and greater access to credit, which made them less likely to file. The final factor, according to Leibowitz, has been the ACA, which afforded health coverage to many more consumers and expanded protections for all. Of course, not everyone sees such a direct connection between the decline in bankruptcies and the emergence of the

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Norcross).

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that his vote for this bill can take away protections for over 800,000 people with preexisting conditions in Louisiana. For example, those with breast cancer could see their premiums go up by over $34,000. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Delaware (Ms. Blunt Rochester). (Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Krishnamoorthi). (Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat). (Mr. ESPAILLAT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request. (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Maxine Waters). (Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers).

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz), the highest ranking enlisted soldier ever elected to Congress. (Mr. WALZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Hanabusa). (Ms. HANABUSA asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, could you advise us how much time is remaining on both sides?

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Bustos). (Mrs. BUSTOS asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New Hampshire (Ms. Shea-Porter). (Ms. SHEA-PORTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleague that his vote for this bill could take away protections for preexisting conditions from almost 6 million people in California who would have access to coverage. Those with diabetes could see their premiums go up by $5,000 a year. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crist) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request. (Mr. CRIST asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. No. Just for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Would the Speaker advise how much time is remaining?

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request. (Mr. ENGEL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. David Scott) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, would the Speaker advise again how much time is remaining?

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/4\ minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn).

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Democratic leader, for our closing statement.

Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Bobby Scott

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