[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 129 (Thursday, September 23, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7369-S7370]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            A SECOND OPINION

  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today, on the 6-
month anniversary of the signing into law of what has commonly across 
the country come to be called ObamaCare. I come as a physician, someone 
who has practiced medicine in Wyoming since the early 1980s, taking 
care of thousands and thousands of patients across the cowboy State--
families. I bring that experience to the Senate floor. I have a 
doctor's second opinion, now that here we are, 6 months out. It is akin 
to looking at an x ray after something has happened, going 6 months 
later and taking a look at the x ray to see what has occurred to the 
patient.
  Six months ago when Obama signed his new health care bill into law, 
he said: ``All of the overheated rhetoric over reform will finally 
confront the reality of reform.''
  Here we are 6 months later. The American people have been confronted 
with the reality of the President's reform, and they do not like it. 
The American people who listened to Speaker Pelosi say: First, we must 
pass the bill before you get to find out what is in it, now have 
learned more and more what is in it, and they don't like it. The 
American people watched as this body came together, cobbled together 
legislation with things such as the ``Cornhusker kickback'' and special 
treats for different Senators so we would agree to vote for the bill, 
and the American people don't like it.
  As a matter of fact, there was a Rasmussen poll that just came out 
Monday, and as of Monday this week, 6 months after the bill was signed 
into law, 61 percent of the American people want Washington to repeal 
this new health care law--61 percent want it repealed. Once again, 
instead of listening to the American people, the President continues to 
try to sell his law. He tried it again yesterday in a back yard. He 
continues to make promises he knows he cannot keep and that have not 
been kept with this new law.
  Now that we are 6 months into the new law, I wish to walk you through 
some of the President's promises and the reality that the people of 
this great country are living with as they look at what has been 
crammed down their throats. Promise No. 1 by the President: If you like 
your current health care coverage, you can keep it. According to a new 
Obama administration regulation--this is the President's own 
administration, writing the regulation--a majority of Americans who get 
their insurance through work will not be able to keep the current 
health care plan they have. Even the White House admits it. The 
President keeps saying it, but the White House admits it is not true.
  Promise No. 2: The law will bring the cost of medical care down and 
reduce the deficit. The Congressional Budget Office disagrees, saying 
it erases savings. The Actuary at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid 
Services says the new law will increase health care spending.
  Let's look at promise No. 3. This says the law will strengthen 
Medicare. It actually cuts Medicare by $\1/2\ trillion--$500 billion 
cut from Medicare. The seniors of this country are furious.
  To make matters worse, this money is not being used to save Medicare 
or to strengthen Medicare. The money is being used to start a whole new 
government program for other people. There is a rebellion among the 
seniors of this country.
  Let's look at another promise the President made. He said: The law 
will create jobs. We have 9.6 percent unemployment in this country. We 
continue to learn about companies that want to employ people, that want 
to create jobs, but instead those companies are cutting their payrolls 
in order to deal with the massive new tax increases included in the 
law. If you look at the incentives that are given to small companies, 
in terms of helping them with health care costs, the incentives are the 
ones that say: If you want to get something, you want to cut the number 
of employees you have and cut the salaries of the people you are still 
going to employ. That does not create jobs. This law does not create 
jobs.
  Then, of course, President Obama also promised that the Federal 
Government would not ration care. Then I would say why did the 
President make a recess appointment of a man to run the Centers for 
Medicare and Medicaid who has repeatedly acknowledged and said the 
government must ration care? He has a long history, but he did not come 
to the Senate to explain a number of statements he has made about 
redistributing wealth, rationing care. He does not need to explain it 
to the Senate. He needs to explain it to the people of this country. 
That is Donald Berwick, a physician from Massachusetts, still refusing 
to testify before Congress and the American people. He has been invited 
again to come today. There will be people waiting in a room to which he 
has been invited. We will see if he does arrive, but I doubt it.
  You wonder why Americans are sick and tired of Washington. It is no 
surprise; yesterday, when speaking at the event in Virginia, the 
President focused on provisions of the new law that go into effect 
today. As Paul Harvey used to say: ``Now the rest of the story.'' Some 
of the changes the President touted yesterday actually don't start 
right away. Many Americans will not see how these changes will impact 
them until after January 1 of 2011. But yesterday, USA Today, the 
newspaper, actually ran a big story--a full-page story almost--on the 
new provisions. The thing that was so interesting about the story is, 
the story outlined the basics of each provision--a little thing there. 
Then underneath each one of the basics it had several paragraphs of 
things they called be aware: The basics are this, but be aware that 
this may happen to you, and this may happen to you and this may not 
apply or this may apply.

  All those things are to alert the American people that there is a lot 
more to it when you look at this over 2,000-page bill and the so many 
agencies that are being brought forth to write rules and regulations--
so many things the American people will still learn about this bill, 
and as they learn those things they will like it even less.
  The story outlined the basics and then the ``be awares'' of each 
provision. I think it is very important for the Americans who are 
listening and who are focused on this to be aware of these ``be 
awares,'' that they are so much longer than the provisions. What I 
would like to do is walk through some of them with you.
  The law does allow young adults to stay on and be added to their 
parents' health insurance plan until age 26. That is what we hear. Make 
sure to read the fine print.
  One of the things the Obama administration published was the so-
called grandfather regulation--not when the bill was signed into law 
but in June. This Washington White House regulation defines the rules 
that employers must follow if they want the health coverage they 
currently offer their employees to be exempt from the new law's 
mandates. It says be aware that children are not eligible to be added 
to their parents' grandfathered employer group plan if the child can 
access coverage in other ways, if they have a job--another very 
complicated situation of rules and regulations.
  Second, the law now requires insurers to cover more preventive 
services--immunizations, mammograms, colonoscopies. It is important for 
people to take responsibility for their health and things such as 
screening mammograms and immunizations; those help people in the long 
run. It says insurers cannot charge copayments or deductibles for these 
added benefits. Then let's get to the ``be aware'' section. Be aware 
these cost savings only apply to new health insurance plans, not the 
so-called grandfathered plans, so you have them describing the 
grandfathered plans and who can be a part of it and who cannot.

[[Page S7370]]

There is more to this than meets the eye. Also, be aware--don't be 
surprised if you see your insurance premiums go up.
  The President wants to sell Americans on the good things in the law, 
what he considers the good things in the law, but he has failed to 
mention that mandating insurers to cover these extra benefits is going 
to cause premiums to go up.
  Another: Insurance companies can no longer cap the amount they will 
pay over a person's lifetime. Americans need to be aware, however, that 
insurance plans that had lower premium costs because--they say, how do 
you get premiums down? They did it by limiting lifetime amounts. It 
says those people now may be forced to pay higher insurance premiums.
  Another: The law designed new rules preventing insurers from denying 
coverage to any child under the age of 19 who has a preexisting medical 
condition. So what did the Washington Post say about that? What did the 
Los Angeles Times report? They both printed articles this Tuesday, 2 
days ago, warning consumers that major health insurance companies--what 
are they going to do about this? They are going to plan to stop selling 
new child-only covered products completely. Is this going to help kids 
with preexisting conditions, this law? As these insurance companies 
plan to stop selling new child-only coverage products, that is not 
going to help. It is because of this law.
  The health care law allows parents to wait until their child is sick 
before buying a policy. When only sick people buy health insurance, 
premiums have to go up. As the rate increases, more people drop their 
coverage. This certainly is going to hit lower income families hard. 
Some uninsured parents, while they can't afford family insurance, often 
decide to buy a child-only policy to ensure their kids have coverage. 
But according to these new reports, families all across America will 
have fewer health insurance options because of the new law--fewer 
options for families, fewer options for patients, not more.
  This Congress had a historic opportunity to make patient-centered 
health care reforms to bring down the cost of medical care in this 
country. We had a historic opportunity, and this Congress missed it. 
The one thing the American people wanted out of health care reform was 
lower costs. But increased Washington mandates passed by this Senate 
only serve to produce fewer insurance choices, increased costs, and 
insert the Federal Government between patients and their doctors.
  It is time that we start talking honestly about how this law--even 
the things on which Republicans and Democrats agree--affected patients 
and their families. That is why I believe this health care law needs to 
be repealed. It should be repealed and replaced with better ideas. And 
there are better ideas--better ideas that were rejected by the majority 
in this Senate, who refused to listen, who refused to listen to the 
American people who were bringing forth better ideas, changes such as 
allowing people to buy insurance across State lines--that is going to 
bring down the cost of care, and it is going to help about 12 million 
people who did not have insurance get insurance; offering premium 
breaks to folks who make healthy lifestyle changes--absolutely 
critical; dealing with lawsuit abuse to help eliminate some of this 
defensive medicine and the increased cost of that practice. We need to 
allow small businesses to join together, to pool together in order to 
offer affordable health insurance to their workers, get better deals 
with insurance costs. These are changes that put patients in control of 
their medical decisions, not the government.
  People ask me, as a doctor, what I think about this, what I think 
about this law. I will tell you, having practiced medicine for over 25 
years, we need to do something. This wasn't it. This law is bad for 
people. It is bad for people who are patients. It is bad for people who 
are providers, the nurses and the doctors who take care of the 
patients. It is bad for payers, the taxpayers of this country who will 
foot a significant amount of the bill. The people who get their 
insurance through work--what is the impact going to be on those jobs 
and those businesses? This is a bill that is bad for people.
  We can and we must fix a broken health care system, but we can do it 
without undermining choice, which is what this health care law has 
done; without undermining competition, which is what this health care 
law has done; and without undermining innovation, which is what this 
health care law has done. And we need to do it without raiding Medicare 
to start a whole new government entitlement program. We can do it 
without raising taxes that kill jobs in a bad economy.
  That is why, as we are here today, 6 months after the enactment of 
this bill becoming law, the Obamacare law, 6 months later, 61 percent 
of the American people want it repealed. It is now time to repeal and 
replace this health care legislation and replace it with something that 
will work for the American people because that is what this country 
wants, that is what this country needs, that is what this country and 
the people of this country have been asking for all along, but the 
members of the majority and the White House refused to listen.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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