[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 16, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1580-S1582]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on this health 
care reform bill that is purportedly going through the House right now. 
I just have to speak on it because it is so obvious that the American 
people do not want this bill, and yet now the Democrats seem to be 
pushing it through the House with these elaborate procedures. So I want 
to talk about it, as I know many others on this floor are doing and 
have done, because really the only way we can bring to the attention of 
the American people what is going on here is to talk about it--both 
process as well as substance.
  The health care bill that passed this Senate last December, on 
Christmas Eve, was passed really under a cloud,

[[Page S1581]]

and the American people immediately saw that big cloud on the horizon, 
for sure. The bill has been bandied around so much that the American 
people have finally come to the conclusion that what was passed was not 
in the best interest of America. So we are still debating this 
legislation, and the reason is the American people don't want this 
bill. Why do they not want it? They know it will do great harm to our 
economy--one-sixth of the whole economy of our country--and it is not 
going to significantly change the course of our Nation's spending on 
health care, nor is it going to add to its quality. The Senate bill is 
a failure in terms of resolving the concerns Americans have with our 
current health care system.
  Most of us in this Chamber agree that the health care system today is 
not what it needs to be and that it is not sustainable. And we can 
probably agree on the causes--No. 1, health care costs are going up, 
and No. 2, a lot of people can't afford and don't have access to health 
care insurance. So limited access to affordable options and rising 
costs. But this bill makes it worse, not better.
  The bill is so bad that the President and the leadership in Congress 
are going to use the unique budget procedure known as reconciliation to 
force additional health care measures through Congress. In fact, they 
are even talking about not actually passing the bill that passed the 
Senate--without any minority votes--in December, and they are talking 
about ``passing it'' by deeming it in the House, which means Members of 
the House won't actually vote on it, because it is so bad. Well, how 
much sense does that make?
  The media is continuing to speculate about whether the Speaker of the 
House can secure the votes needed to pass the Senate bill as well as a 
new unseen, unknown additional bill that would change the bill that 
passed the Senate and take out some of its flaws. We haven't seen this 
new bill, either, and we are talking about getting it over on the 
Senate side next week.
  Amid this media storm of speculation on whether a bill can be passed 
using reconciliation, we need to talk about why this bill represents 
the wrong approach to health care reform.
  No. 1 is the cost of the bill. The bill costs more than $2 trillion. 
Some may try to say it is actually less than that, but the truth is, 
there are 10 years of tax increases and 10 years of Medicare cuts to 
pay for 6 years of spending. Yes, that is right. The taxes start 
immediately, the Medicare cuts start immediately, and 4 years from now 
there will be presumed options for people to be able to have affordable 
health care. The true 10-year cost of this bill is $2 trillion.
  More taxes. The bill imposes 10 years of taxes--$\1/2\ trillion of 
tax increases--most of which will start immediately or very shortly. 
More than $100 billion in taxes on prescription drug companies, medical 
device manufacturers, and insurance companies is going to be levied. 
What do those taxes mean? Well, clearly, every study shows and every 
economist says those taxes will be passed on to individuals. They will 
be passed on to individuals in the form of higher cost for prescription 
drugs and higher cost of insurance premiums and medical devices. That 
all starts before we ever see any kind of affordable health care 
options.
  I offered an amendment in the December debate that would say no taxes 
start until services are provided. I thought that was a pretty clear 
tax policy, one that maybe the American people would at least say: OK, 
at least it is fair; the taxes don't start until the services start.
  Of course, my amendment was rejected. Now we have the bill that was 
passed which is 10 years of taxes for 6 years of services. There are 
taxes on those who cannot afford insurance, the higher of $750 per 
individual or 2 percent of household income. That is the tax on people 
who do not purchase insurance. Employers are also hit with new taxes. 
The penalty could be as high as $3,000 per employee under the Senate 
bill.
  What will this do to small businesses, which create 70 percent of the 
new jobs in our country? In a letter sent to the majority leader, the 
Small Business Coalition for Affordable Health Care stated ``with the 
new taxes, mandates, growth in government programs and overall price 
tag, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,'' the health care 
reform bill, ``costs too much and delivers too little.''
  That is pretty succinct, the Small Business Coalition speaking out 
and saying this bill costs too much and delivers too little. Small 
businesses are reeling. We are in a time when families are struggling 
to pay their mortgages, struggling to find a job, struggling to pay 
bills, and businesses are having a hard time, too, and they are not 
hiring. What are we doing? Providing more burdens on small businesses 
and expecting them to hire more people. This is so counterintuitive 
that the American people certainly see what is happening.
  Those are all the taxes. The other side is the cuts to Medicare. The 
Senate bill includes $\1/2\ trillion in cuts to Medicare over 10 years, 
including $135 billion in cuts to hospitals. The Medicare Program is 
unsustainable. The Chief Actuary of Medicare has said as much as 20 
percent of Medicare's providers will either go out of business or will 
have to stop seeing Medicare beneficiaries. Millions of seniors, 
including those who have chosen Medicare Advantage, will lose the 
coverage they now enjoy. Medicare is being used as a piggy bank, and it 
needs every penny that has been deposited. We cannot reform all of the 
health care system on the backs of our seniors. Cuts to hospitals will 
threaten access for seniors.
  We have been asking the leadership of Congress to scrap this bill and 
work with Republicans to achieve the reform that Americans want, reform 
that will reduce costs, increase competition, and improve access. This 
bill achieves none of that. I cannot understand why the President chose 
to base his proposal for reform on the Senate bill that was passed by 
the Senate, but the American people have consistently opposed it. Every 
poll shows the American people do not want the Senate bill. They saw it 
for what it was, a failure.
  I hope the Members of Congress who are being cajoled into voting for 
this bill will listen to the American people. They do not want the 
government to take over their health care. They want affordable access, 
and that means we have to bring the costs down and give more options.
  Let's talk about the right kind of reform, what Republicans are 
putting on the table: more choices. How about allowing small businesses 
to pull together so their risk pool is increased and costs are lowered; 
and create an online marketplace where the public can easily compare 
and select insurance plans. But it would be a marketplace that is free 
from mandates and government interference. The one that is in the 
Senate bill had so many mandates and so many requirements that the 
costs are going to be out of sight.
  So what happens? In comes the government plan to supplant the new 
higher cost options because of all the taxes that have been put on the 
companies that are trying to provide health care.
  No. 2, how can we reduce costs and lower expenses? For one thing, we 
could reform our litigious system of tort law that punishes doctors and 
hospitals. It drives physicians away from the practice of medicine. 
Tort reform alone could save at least $54 billion. That is the low end 
of the projections of what tort reform could save.
  No. 3, we could lower the cost to taxpayers by giving tax incentives 
to encourage the purchase of health insurance. We do not have to have a 
government takeover, and we don't have to have new taxes. Let's give 
incentives, tax breaks for individuals and families who will buy health 
insurance. We will help them have affordable access. Senator DeMint and 
I have a bill that would offer a voucher to families: $5,000 for a 
family to purchase their own health insurance, to go on the exchange, 
to determine what they can afford, to determine what their needs are, 
and it is not tied to their employer so it is portable, so it is theirs 
and they own it. No preexisting conditions would ever keep them from 
having that policy again, and they could take it to whatever employer 
they decided to work for. They would not be tied to employment for 
health care coverage.
  These are options the Republicans have given to the majority to ask 
them to consider in a bill that would reform health care in the right 
way.
  I urge my colleagues to listen to their constituents. Their 
constituents are speaking in volumes at a time

[[Page S1582]]

when we are seeing political games being played on the House side to 
strong-arm people to vote for a bill that their constituents do not 
want, and then they are going to send it over to the Senate with a new 
bill that is going to, supposedly, correct the problems in the Senate 
bill--except that we will still have the taxes, we will still have the 
increased costs, we will still have the cuts to Medicare. All of that 
will remain. It is a flawed bill.
  Please, Members of Congress, listen to your constituents and let's 
start again and do this right. That is what the American people are 
asking for. It is the least that we owe them: not to pass a bill that 
is going to destroy one-sixth of the American economy and take away the 
choices that Medicare patients have, cut the services of Medicare, and 
tax every employer and every family whether they have not enough health 
insurance, no health insurance, or too much health insurance. They are 
going to be taxed no matter which way they go. That is not health 
reform. That is a government takeover of a system that needs 
improvement, but not killing.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________