[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 93 (Friday, June 19, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6830-S6831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I wish to say a few words about health 
care. Obviously, according to most media reports, and my experience as 
a member of the HELP Committee, we are basically at gridlock. The 
Congressional Budget Office stated on Monday, in relation to the 
legislation being considered in the HELP Committee, that

       Once the proposal is fully implemented . . . the number of 
     people who had coverage through an employer would decline by 
     about 15 million.

  The Lewin Group, a health care consulting firm, estimates this number 
to be much higher. They estimate that up to 70 percent of all Americans 
who have private insurance today--120 million Americans--will lose 
their health insurance and be forced onto the government rolls.
  That stands in stark contrast to the President's repeated assertions 
that if you like your health care, you can keep it. Further analysis by 
HSI Network, a health care economics firm, found that to get all 
Americans covered under the Democrats' bill, it would cost a staggering 
$4 trillion and result in 79 million Americans who currently have 
private insurance having to obtain coverage from the government plan.
  What I have described is what is known as the ``crowdout'' 
phenomenon. It is the substitution effect that occurs when a massive 
government insurance plan ``crowds out'' private insurance as the 
expansion of publicly subsidized programs encourage or force people 
from private arrangements to public ones. This is a real issue and one 
we must pay attention to.
  On Monday the President said:

       I know that there are millions of Americans who are content 
     with their health care coverage. . . . And that means that no 
     matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: 
     If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your 
     doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will 
     be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will 
     take it away. No matter what.

  If the bill we are considering is enacted, I do not believe this is a 
promise the President will be able to keep. The President's hometown 
newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, stated in an editorial on Tuesday:

       [The President] promises that anyone who wants to keep 
     their private coverage will be able to do so . . . But we do 
     know a few things about government-run health plans . . . the 
     Federal Government isn't competition. It is the health care 
     equivalent of Bigfoot . . . It sets low prices, to be sure, 
     lower than many insurers are able to match. But that just 
     means those doctors and hospitals recoup the losses by 
     shifting costs onto those with private insurance . . . 
     [which] could easily crowd out private plans. A lot of 
     Americans think the health care system isn't really all that 
     broken. They get good care. They pay for it via insurance . . 
     . But a government-run health plan? Experience says that the 
     cure would be worse than the illness.

  The Chicago Tribune has it exactly right. The fact is, a lot of 
Americans are pleased with their health care options. In fact, 70 
percent of Americans with health insurance rated their coverage good or 
excellent, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll dated May 14, 2009. 
Those 70 percent might be the precise group of Americans who will lose 
their health insurance and be forced into government-run programs if 
the legislation is enacted.
  It is a fact that premiums continue rising, eating into family 
budgets and preventing the uninsured from getting covered. This is the 
problem we need to be addressing. We need to bring down the cost of 
health care and thus the cost of health insurance coverage. This will 
lead to more coverage of the uninsured and ensure that those who like 
their health care coverage can keep their coverage and their doctor as 
the President promises. Yet the majority bill contains not a single 
reform that will save money. Instead, as I have pointed out, it will 
cost up to $4 trillion and displace up to 79 million Americans from 
their current coverage.
  This is not reform. This is why we should start over. I continue to 
believe that the Democrats and the White House should scrap this 
incomplete bill and start over. Democrats and Republicans must come 
together and draft a bill that allows the President to uphold his 
promise that Americans will be able to keep their current doctor or 
health care plan.
  We spent a lot of time in the HELP Committee going over an incomplete 
proposal. Supposedly by tonight the three major issues, including the 
so-called government option, will be revealed to us by the majority 
side. I hope it is soon. I hope we will be able to view it so we could 
have for the first time a meaningful discussion and negotiation in the 
HELP Committee. So far, three major components are still blank spaces.
  I have been in this body for a long time. I have never seen a process 
such as we are going through right now. It is basically fundamentally a 
charade so the Democrats can come to the floor and say we consulted 
with the Republicans, we had hours and hours of debate and discussion 
and markup--when we were not presented with the key elements of the 
legislation we were supposed to be considering. If the key elements are 
there and we get to examine it over the weekend, then perhaps we will 
be able to sit down together and negotiate some kind of reasonable 
approach to this bill.
  It is not an accident that the Finance Committee, the other committee 
that is supposed to be tracking the health reform bill along with the 
HELP Committee, has decided not to present their proposal until after 
the Fourth of July recess because they simply do not have a way to pay 
for it.
  The CBO analysis and other outside analysis has revealed something 
very important, that the plan as proposed and propounded by the 
administration and by the Democrats is unsustainably expensive and one 
that they do not have a way of paying for. It will be very interesting 
to see how they tailor their plan to the expenses and how they address 
the issue of how to pay for it. Clearly, raising taxes is an option 
they are considering. I don't think raising anybody's taxes in the 
present day economy is something that would be beneficial to all 
Americans.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.

[[Page S6831]]

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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