[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 30, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1953-S1955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. BARRASSO. I come to the floor as a physician who practiced 
medicine in Wyoming for a quarter of a century as an orthopaedic 
surgeon, taking care of families across the State, and to present a 
physician's second opinion on what has happened with the health care 
law people are dealing with. As Nancy Pelosi said 1 year ago: ``First 
we have to pass it before you get to find out what's in it.''
  The American people are finding out what is in it and, frankly, they 
are not happy with it. They don't like it, they don't want to live with 
it, and they don't want to live under it.
  One year ago, when we started this discussion, what we heard and what 
I believed as a physician was that what people are looking for is the 
care they need, from a doctor they want, at a cost they can afford.
  This 2,700-page bill that is costing trillions of dollars doesn't 
deliver that at all. To me, it is a bill that makes it harder to create 
jobs. It increases the cost of care, eliminates choice, raises taxes, 
is locking 16 million Americans into a broken Medicaid system, and is 
taking $500 billion from our seniors--not to help take care of Medicare 
and solve that problem but to start a whole new government entitlement 
program.
  I was visiting with one of my colleagues, Dr. Kris Keggi, an 
orthopedic surgeon whom I trained under in my residency program. Just 
the impact on

[[Page S1954]]

seniors alone who need hip and knee replacements--we know when we take 
that kind of money away from Medicare, it doesn't make it easier for 
seniors to get the care they need.
  Two courts have ruled--one in Virginia and one in Florida--that this 
health care law and the mandate that everybody in the country must buy 
or obtain government-approved health insurance is unconstitutional. The 
States are at an impasse in knowing what to do. How do they react? What 
will the Supreme Court decide? What kind of resources must the States 
commit?
  That is why I am delighted to be joined on the floor by Senator 
Hutchison from Texas. I think she has the right answer. She has 
introduced, as an amendment to the bill we are discussing on the floor, 
the Save our States Act. It is an amendment to suspend implementing 
these health care reform measures until the lawsuits have been settled 
and we actually get a clear understanding.
  I believe this law is unconstitutional. I ask my colleague--and I 
note there are quite a few Senators who have cosponsored this 
legislation--if she would perhaps share, as part of a second opinion, 
her thoughts on what the States have to live under now and what rights 
and opportunities the States should have.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I certainly appreciate what Dr./
Senator Barrasso, from Wyoming, does for us on a regular basis. As one 
of the few physicians in our body--he is one of the two--he tells us 
the things that are happening in this health care reform bill that are 
hurting our health care system, hurting the quality of health care in 
our country, at a time when we need to assure senior citizens that 
Medicare cuts will not take effect. We certainly want our small 
businesses to hire people rather than stop at 50 because then they are 
going to start getting fined for not giving the government-prescribed 
health care that is in the health care reform act that was passed last 
year.
  What I am doing in my amendment, as one of those pending in the bill 
before us, is saying: Stop. We have now had two Federal courts--one 
from Virginia, one from Florida--that have said this law is 
unconstitutional. Yet the administration is continuing to implement the 
law, even though it has certainly now been called into question.
  I am most affected by the number of States that are having to do the 
same thing. Most of our State legislatures are in session right now. 
Every one of them--actually, I think approximately 44 States out of 
50--has a budget shortfall. Yet our States are having to spend hundreds 
of millions of dollars to implement a law that may be declared 
unconstitutional.
  Some States have said we are not going to implement it. But if they 
say that, then they are going to be in jeopardy when they are not 
prepared, if the law is constitutional, and they will be paying late 
fees and fines for not implementing during this kind of time when we 
are in limbo. Some States are saying we are going to implement, but we 
have a budget shortfall and we would like not to be required to 
implement a law that may be void and we are spending millions of 
dollars when we need that money for education or Medicaid, frankly.
  My amendment says we will stop any further implementation of this law 
until we know the final opinion has been rendered by the Supreme Court 
of the United States regarding whether the law is valid. That is it. It 
is simple and clear. We will let every State know they have a level 
playing field, that they do not have to spend the hundreds of millions 
of dollars now being spent on implementation, unless we know the 
Supreme Court has said the law is valid.
  I have 36 cosponsors of my amendment, including the Senator from 
Wyoming, who is one of our two physicians in the Senate. I think we 
will have a large support because I am getting letters from 
organizations.
  I got a letter from a group that has been formed to say we need to 
start over on this health care reform bill. These are people who 
represent the employers of America that want to be able to give their 
employees the health care coverage they can afford right now. It may 
not be the government-prescribed health care, but many are trying to do 
it.
  The groups that have signed this letter supporting my amendment to 
say stop implementation now are: The Associated Builders and 
Contractors, the Associated General Contractors, the Electrical 
Contractors, the Foodservice Distributors Association, the 
International Franchises Association, the National Association of 
Manufacturers, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, the 
National Retail Federation, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship 
Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Independent Women's Voice, 
and the 60 Plus Association.
  Those are the groups that are saying let's stop the upheaval this has 
caused in our country and wait and see what the Supreme Court says 
before we have the outlays of millions of dollars.
  Most certainly, small businesses are not increasing employment 
because they are so concerned about the implications of the health care 
reform bill. Let me give the Senator from Wyoming an example from my 
home State of Texas, in Corpus Christi. A small business there has 34 
employees. The cheapest option they have for their health insurance 
renewal is 44 percent more than their insurance just last year. They 
have just days to decide whether they can continue to offer their 
employees health insurance. This is in anticipation of the health care 
reform bill going into effect and causing these employers to have to 
meet these new mandates.
  The insurance companies are already ratcheting up their insurance 
premiums in anticipation of this law. This is one of the key reasons we 
need to stop the implementation, until we know if this law is valid, so 
our businesses will have the freedom to provide affordable health care 
coverage to their employees.
  I thank the Senator from Wyoming for coming in with his second 
opinion because we know he has unique experience in working with our 
health care system. I wish to make sure we don't do what the 
physicians' motto is--which is do no harm--when we haven't thought it 
through and don't have all the ramifications. First, do no harm. That 
is their motto. It is simple and clear.
  I think we need to stop implementing this bill until the Supreme 
Court has ruled on its constitutionality.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, to follow up on that, I am so pleased to 
be an original cosponsor of the Save our States Act.
  States are very concerned. As I heard my colleague from Texas say, 44 
States are in the red right now. When we hear the complaints from 
Governors of both parties--they are all having to live under this law--
they have great concerns. Some States, as my colleague notes, have 
actually applied for waivers so they don't have to live under the 
constraints of the law. The State of Maine has been given a waiver, 
2\1/2\ million Americans have been given waivers by the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services. Many of those are union workers who actually 
supported the law. When they found out what the law was going to cost--
as in the example the Senator has given from Corpus Christi--they said: 
We can't live under this.
  To be forced to put out this expense and pay for it at a time of huge 
financial challenges for our States, it seems that the Save our States 
Act is a rational, logical, commonsense way to deal with this.
  I will be home in Wyoming this weekend, very likely at a health fair, 
visiting with people from the communities. Health care fairs are ways 
to get low-cost health screenings. We know early prevention and early 
detection of problems are ways to keep down the cost of health care. 
Those are measures that work. We need to repeal and replace this health 
care law with things that are commonsense solutions that work. Of 
course, we can make it legal to allow people to buy insurance across 
State lines, give people individual incentives to stay healthy, allow 
people who buy individual health insurance to get the same tax breaks 
as big companies, and deal with the lawsuit abuse doctors will tell us 
impacts the way they practice and raises the cost of care.
  There are so many things we need to do. That is why I come to the 
floor again with a doctor's second opinion on the health care law, 
saying it is time

[[Page S1955]]

to repeal and replace this health care law and replace it with 
something that works for the American people. This law we have passed 
and is now on the books is one I believe is unconstitutional and one 
that the Save our States Act will help our States deal with. This is a 
way that I think will help the health care of Americans who are 
struggling at this time to deal with the onerous requirements they see 
coming at them under the President's new health care law.
  With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________