Remarks by President Trump on Expanding Health Coverage Options for Small Businesses and Workers | Eastern North Carolina Now

    MR. KUNKEL: Three years ago, I actually spoke to the U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee about reinstating the Health Reimbursement Benefit Program that had existed previously. This was after the Obama administration had made it illegal for our business to help employees with their health insurance costs.

    At the time, we had been helping our employees, some who had very serious medical conditions, including cancer. And after the Obama ruling we had to stop all reimbursements, and -which caused a great bit of hardship for our employees. And several of them I actually ended up losing because they had to leave us and go to other companies that offered a little better health benefits.

    So I want to thank the President and the administration for supporting this new measure and all of his pro-small-business policies. We very much appreciate it in the small-business community.

    So this new rule really allows small businesses to offer a benefit to our employees that will help our employees with healthcare costs, provide more and better options for them and also for employers.

    So, again, thank you very much, Mr. President. (Applause.)

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.

    Also, we're joined right now - Andrea Burns, a small business owner from Pennsylvania. Please come up. Andrea, please. (Applause.)

    MS. BURNS: Hello.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. How are you doing? Nice to see you.

    MS. BURNS: Happy birthday

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.

    MS. BURNS: Nice to see you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Have a good time.

    MS. BURNS: Hello, my name is Andrea Burns, and I'm a director at Richard S. Burns and Company, a family-owned and operated construction waste material recovery and processing facility in Philadelphia. We employ approximately 100 people.


    And, right now, my brother and I - Allen - choose the healthcare plan for all of those employees. They don't have the opportunity to choose the provider, the coverage, or the premium. This plan - HRAs - would allow us to give them the opportunity to choose the plan that's best for them. Thank you. Thank you for making (inaudible).

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, darling. Use it well. Use it well, Andrea. That's - you will. Thank you very much.

    And it's going to be a great - it'll be a great difference. I've repeatedly called on Congress to work with us to bring down the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs. It's all happening.

    Instead, more than 120 Democrats in Congress have signed up for the Bernie Sanders massive government takeover of healthcare. That's going to hurt a lot of people. It's going to hurt our country. Socialist healthcare would crush American workers with higher taxes, long wait times, and far worse care. Their plan would eliminate Medicare as we know it and terminate the private health insurance of 180 million Americans and even more than that now.

    On my watch, we will never let that happen. We will never be a socialist country. (Applause.)

    We have to reject the socialist model that rations care, restricts access, slashes quality, and forces patients onto endless waitlists. Instead, we believe in freedom. We believe in choice. We believe in the highest standard of care in the world - anywhere in the world.

    And we believe that American families must always have the right and the power to choose the very best treatments, plans, doctors for themselves and for their loved ones. They need that freedom. They have to have that freedom. And that's exactly what today's action is all about. We are putting the people back in charge with more choice, for better care, at a far lower cost.

    And other people will not be paying for their healthcare. We won't be raising taxes. We won't be taxing you into oblivion. We won't be raising the tax rates to 90 percent. I've heard 90 percent. The only problem with that one: It doesn't even come close to taking care of the situation. So that means you have to go a lot higher than 90 percent. I don't think that's going to work too well in this country. We've lowered taxes. We want to keep them down. That's very important. (Applause.)

    And we will not rest until Americans have the healthcare system they need and deserve, a system that finally puts American patients first.

    I want to thank everybody for being here. It's a very important day, a very special day. God bless you, and God Bless America.

    Thank you all very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you everybody.

END  •  3:52 P.M. EDT
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