[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 154 (Thursday, October 31, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S7716]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               OBAMACARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I recently received a disturbing note 
from a constituent in Burlington, KY. Unfortunately, I suspect a lot of 
my colleagues have been receiving notes just like it.
  This gentleman said that after receiving several letters from his 
insurer, it became clear to him that the President was being misleading 
when he said if you like the plan you have--if you like the plan you 
have--you can keep it. That is because he found out his policy, which 
came into effect just 2 months after the law's arbitrary cutoff date 
for grandfather plans, will be discontinued next year. He is not happy 
about this at all, especially given the fact that a plan on the 
ObamaCare exchanges will dramatically drive up his insurance costs, 
from $400 a month to more than $700 a month, with zero subsidies 
available.

  Here is what he had to say:

       My wife and I are 54. We don't need maternity care and we 
     don't need ObamaCare.

  He is right to be upset. This is simply not in keeping with the 
spirit of the President's oft repeated promise.
  Perhaps the administration would like to tell him he should have just 
done a better job of keeping up with its regulatory dictates. But what 
about the millions who purchased their plans relying on the President's 
promise that they could keep them? What about the husbands and wives 
across Kentucky who suffered when two of our largest employers had to 
drop spousal coverage? What about the folks who lost coverage at work? 
What about all the smaller paychecks and lost jobs? What about the 
part-timeization of our economy?
  This law is a mess. It is a mess. As Secretary Sebelius said herself 
yesterday: ``The system is not functioning.''
  Maybe she was referring to no more than the narrow problems with 
healthcare.gov. But as the President keeps reminding us over and over, 
ObamaCare is about more than just a Web site. He is right about that. 
That is why, if the system is not functioning, it is just another sign 
that ObamaCare itself is simply not working. The President and his 
Washington Democratic allies understand this. That is why the White 
House is so eager to enroll everybody--other than themselves--into the 
exchanges. It is why they handed out a yearlong delay to businesses, 
and that is why the Washington Democrats' Big Labor allies are looking 
for their own special carve-outs.
  What about everybody else? What about the middle class? Where is 
their carve-out? So far, Washington Democrats have resisted every 
attempt to exempt the struggling constituents whom we all represent.
  The folks who rammed this partisan bill through know it is not ready 
for prime time, and they seem to want no part of it themselves. But for 
you out there, the middle class, it seems to be tough luck--tough luck.
  We have even seen some of the same folks try to stamp out innovations 
that would help folks get out from under some of ObamaCare's more 
crushing burdens. That is why they have launched a crusade against 
small businesses that dare to experiment with self-insurance and other 
pioneering ideas. Maybe the administration does not like self-insurance 
because it represents a free market alternative to ObamaCare. But the 
fact is nearly 100 million Americans are already availing themselves of 
it. I am sure most of them like the greater flexibility and 
affordability it provides.
  So it is time these folks spent their energy working with us to look 
after the middle class and to bring about the kind of reforms that will 
actually lower costs and that our constituents want, because they 
should not have to wake up to news such as this: ``Florida Blue is 
dropping 300,000 customers.''
  ``Hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans opened the mail last week to 
find their health insurance plan would no longer exist in 2014''--out 
of existence.
  ``Half of the roughly 600,000 people in [my State of] Kentucky's 
private insurance market will have their current insurance plans 
discontinued.''
  Mr. President, 300,000 Kentuckians will have their current insurance 
plans discontinued.
  This is not fair. It is not what Americans were promised, and 
Republicans intend to keep fighting for middle-class families suffering 
under this law. I hope more of our Democratic colleagues will join us 
in this battle in the future.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coons). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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