[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 135 (Wednesday, September 23, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S9694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday afternoon I came to the floor 
to speak out against one of the tactics that supporters of the 
President's health care proposal have resorted to in recent days.
  It appears that a particular Senator has encouraged the 
administration to use its powers to clamp down on an opponent of the 
administration's health care policy--to clamp down--to use the 
administration to clamp down on an opponent of the President's health 
care policy. What is more, the administration snapped to attention at 
the Senator's request. It followed the Senator's advice and almost 
immediately the government clamped down on a private health care 
company in my home State that had been sharing its concerns about the 
administration's health care proposal with seniors on Medicare.
  Yesterday, we saw how legitimate those concerns were when the 
Director of the nonpartisan, independent Congressional Budget Office 
said the administration's proposed Medicare cuts would indeed lead to 
significant cuts in benefits to seniors.
  Let me say that again. We had the Director of the Congressional 
Budget Office just yesterday confirm that what was said by this health 
insurance company to its customers was true. Yesterday, we saw how 
legitimate those concerns were when the Director of the nonpartisan, 
independent Congressional Budget Office said that the administration's 
proposed Medicare cuts would indeed lead to significant cuts in 
benefits to seniors. So a part of the administration is putting a gag 
order on a company for telling the truth to its customers.
  First and foremost, this episode should be of serious concern to 
millions of seniors on Medicare who deserve to know what the government 
has in mind for their health care. But it should also frighten anyone--
anyone--who cherishes their first amendment right to free speech, 
whether in Louisville, Helena, MT, San Francisco, or anywhere else. It 
should concern anyone who is already worried about a government 
takeover of health care. Why? Because it seems that in order to advance 
its goals, the administration and its allies are now attacking citizens 
groups and stifling free speech.
  Let's review. At the instigation of the chairman of the Finance 
Committee, the author of the health care legislation now working its 
way through Congress, the executive branch, through the Centers for 
Medicare and Medicaid Services, has launched an investigation--believe 
it or not, an investigation--into Humana for explaining to seniors how 
this legislation would affect their coverage.
  One more time: A private health care provider told its elderly 
citizens how its health care legislation might affect their lives. Now 
the Federal Government is putting its full weight into investigating 
that company at the request of the Senator who wrote the legislation in 
question. Now we find out the concerns the company was raising to its 
clients were perfectly legitimate, according to the Director of CBO. 
So, for telling the truth to your clients, you get investigated by the 
government. This is so clearly an outrage it is hard to believe anyone 
thought it would go unnoticed. For explaining to seniors how 
legislation might affect them, the Federal Government has now issued a 
gag order on that company and any other company that communicates with 
clients on the issue, telling them to shut up--shut up or else. This is 
precisely the kind of thing Americans are worried about with this 
administration's health care plan.
  They are worried that handing government the reins over their health 
care will lead to this kind of intimidation. They are worried that 
government agencies, which were created to enforce violations 
evenhandedly, will, instead, be used against those who voice a 
different point of view.
  That is apparently what is happening here, and to many Americans it 
is a preview of what is in store for everyone under the 
administration's health care plan. It is hard to imagine any 
justification for this. But if people behind this latest effort believe 
they have some legal justification for shutting up a private company, 
then they need to explain themselves to the American people. More 
specifically, they need to explain to 11 million seniors on Medicare 
Advantage why they should not be allowed to know how the cuts to this 
program will affect their coverage.
  Yesterday, my office called CMS to ask for the legal authority that 
would warrant them imposing an industrywide gag order on an issue of 
public concern. We are still waiting for a response. So this morning I 
am asking the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide my 
office with its justification for telling a company it cannot 
communicate with its seniors.
  Over the past several months, we have seen a pattern of intimidation 
by supporters of the administration's health care proposals, including 
efforts to demonize serious-minded critics at townhall meetings across 
the country. Now we are seeing something even worse, the full power of 
the Federal Government being brought to bear on businesses by the very 
people writing the legislation. This was troubling enough in itself. It 
is even more troubling now that we are told that Humana was exactly 
right--exactly right in what it was telling its clients. Americans are 
already skeptical about the administration's plan. They should be even 
more skeptical now.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Virginia is 
recognized.

                          ____________________