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Gomez spoke out in support of Rep. Horsford’s amendment to extend health care subsidies and shared his personal experience managing type 2 diabetes

Watch his full remarks HERE.

WASHINGTON, DC — During a House Ways and Means Committee markup, Representative Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) delivered a powerful statement in support of an amendment offered by Rep. Steven Horsford (NV-04) to extend the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced advanced premium tax credits — which have helped millions of Americans afford their health insurance. In his remarks, Rep. Gomez shared deeply personal stories of growing up without health insurance, and for the first time publicly disclosed his own diagnosis of type 2 diabetes from earlier this year.

“Earlier in the year—I haven't told this to many people publicly—but I was diagnosed with type two diabetes,” said Rep. Gomez. “It's just something that runs in my family. And what I had to do is […] get it under control. Insulin […] metformin […] then Jardiance. That just by itself, with insurance, costs $120 for a 90-day supply. I'm fortunate that I have a job with health care. But if you take away these subsidies, there are people that are not going to be able to get their diabetes medicine.”

The Republican tax bill currently allows the enhanced ACA tax credits to expire, raising costs for working families across the country. Despite Democrats’ efforts to protect these tax credits, Republicans voted to block the Horsford amendment. Rep. Gomez stressed that without these tax credits, basic medication would become unaffordable for many families:, “Your ‘less is more’ is going to cost people their lives. It’s going to make them sicker. I wish you would take that same logic—‘less is more’—and apply it to the tax breaks that you're giving to the billionaires and the ultra-wealthy in this country. Tell them ‘Less is more.’ We're going to give you less breaks so we can give more to everybody else. But you won’t do that. That’s why this whole committee is a fraud.”