[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 155 (Monday, November 4, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7797-S7798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself and Mr. Manchin):
S. 1642. A bill to permit the continuation of certain health plans;
to the Committee on Finance.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I wish to speak about a bill I plan to
introduce in a few moments, and hopefully we will have a chance or an
opportunity in the future to debate it because it is a very important
fix, if you will, to the Affordable Care Act.
We debated this bill for literally years--months in committee for
hours and hours, in daylight and during the evening sessions. There
were hundreds of amendments. This bill was built with Democratic input
and support and Republican input. The Republicans did not vote for the
bill, but they most certainly had a tremendous amount of impact in the
amendment process.
Building a new health care system for this Nation has been very
difficult, but it holds a great deal of promise. The Affordable Care
Act--and the easiest way to explain it--was somewhere between what some
people on the left wanted, which was a government-run system, something
like Medicare for all--it is appealing, but it is very expensive. We
couldn't figure out a cost-effective way to provide that. Members on
the right, the more conservative-leaning in this body, wanted to
provide savings accounts. This works beautifully for people who have
money to save in the account, but people who live paycheck to paycheck
and have no money to save would never get any account to be able to
provide for their health insurance.
Between those two bookends, we debated for a long time about how to
provide a market-based approach to insurance. No nation in the world
has attempted this. This is a big effort, but it is an important effort
because we are a developed nation. We need to have a healthy workforce.
It is about as simple as that. We can't be No. 1 in the world and we
can't be the strongest economic power in the world if our people are
sick and weak. It is as simple as that. We can't be the strongest
economic power in the world if our health care system is sapping so
much money out of our economic power--19 percent of the GDP, when Japan
is 8 percent. We can't expect to beat Japan in economics if we are
paying almost twice as much for health care and getting less results.
We had to change. We did, and we built a market-based approach,
contrary to what all of the opponents of the Affordable Care Act say.
We built a market-based approach that basically said that if people are
over 65, they will be on Medicare. We are continuing to reform and
strengthen Medicare. There are some very good parts of it, and then
there are some weaker parts or difficult parts that need to be
corrected. Over time we will continue to streamline, save money,
provide better service, more choice, et cetera.
People who are among the poorest members of our country--133 percent
of poverty, which is an income of about $15,000 or less--potentially
may not be able to find a good-paying full-time job or perhaps didn't
receive the education others received, perhaps have some disability,
they would go on Medicaid. Then everyone in between the lowest income
and under the age of 65 is in a private health care system, which is a
market-based system, with competition driving prices down.
The idea would be that there would be 20, 30, 40 health care plans
offered in every State. People could choose what they want with a
minimum bronze, silver, or gold plan with many choices. That is the
promise; that is the hope; that is the idea. The great promise of this
is that if someone has cancer, they can't be dropped. If they have
diabetes, they can't be turned away. Everyone is covered, the risk is
spread, the price comes down, and the free market operates. We would
never know that based upon the criticism we hear on television and
radio all day long, but this is the truth.
One of the important components of that bill that many of us talked
about was the fact that if someone had individual insurance on the
market, they could keep it. What is happening now, unfortunately,
because of the grandfather provision in the Affordable Care Act, in my
view--this may not be shared by everyone on the floor--it was not
written as tightly as it should have been, as clearly as it should have
been. The bill I am introducing today, Keeping the Affordable Care Act
Promise Act, will clarify this grandfather clause in the Affordable
Care Act so that it will clearly say that if a person has an insurance
plan they like, if it is what they want and can afford, they can keep
it. This bill, if it passes, will help anywhere from 5 to 7 million
people who are getting notices in the mail every day like the one I
will read into the Record, which was sent to someone in my State.
Thank you for your support of Vantage Health Plan, Inc.
("Vantage'') over recent years. It has been our pleasure to
serve you and we hope that you have been satisfied as a
Vantage member.
In light of recent changes in the health insurance
industry, Vantage will be discontinuing our offering of
Grandfathered Individual plans, effective January 4, 2014.
This discontinuance will affect your policy.
Vantage is pleased to announce the availability of several
new individual products in 2014:
Beginning in January 2014, you will have the option to
enroll into a new plan through the Health Insurance
Marketplace (or the Exchange). Members enrolling into
Individual plans through the Marketplace may be eligible for
premium and/or cost sharing subsidies.
This is because everyone in Louisiana with a family income of up to
$90,000 a year will have some sort of premium support, which will be a
great help to many of our middle-class families.
Continuing:
[[Page S7798]]
Many of the Marketplace plans will provide you with more
generous coverage than your current Grandfathered Individual
plan. We invite you to visit Vantage online at
www.VantageHealthPlan.com/marketplace to review our Exchange
plan offerings. You may also enroll online at
www.Healthcare.gov, by calling (800) 318-2596 or by
contacting your agent or broker.
In addition to the Exchange plan offerings, Vantage will
have several new plan offerings available outside of the
Exchange for 2014. These plans are similar to your current
Freedom or High Deductible plan. We will have more
information on those plan options later this Fall.
This is the letter thousands of people are receiving. This letter
should have never gone out. We said to people that if they have
insurance they like, they can keep it. We didn't say that if they have
insurance they like that doesn't meet the standards or that meets the
minimum standards, they can keep it. We said and the President said
over and over that if people have insurance and they like the insurance
they have, they can keep it. That is my bill. That is the single focus
of my bill. It is not to undermine the Affordable Care Act; it is to
strengthen it and to keep our promise to the millions of Americans to
whom we said if they have insurance, they can keep what they have. If
they don't, there is a new marketplace where they and their families
can go and choose among a variety of different plans.
Depending on their income, they may have support from their community
or from the government. If someone is extremely poor, we can provide
options for them through Medicaid. It is not as desirable as through
private insurance, but many Governors, including some Republican
Governors, are being very creative with their Medicaid plans and
actually changing them into more of a private-like insurance model.
There is great flexibility in how Governors who have good hearts and
good intentions are using their Medicaid dollars wisely.
Having said that, having reread the grandfather clause, having looked
at it very closely, I have determined that this is the best course to
introduce this bill, which I will do later this evening to actually
file it. Again, it has two simple directives:
No. 1, all insurance companies shall continue to offer grandfather
plans that were in effect prior to a certain date.
No. 2, every insurance company that provided those grandfather plans
has to explain to those policyholders how their current plan falls
short of the new standard on the market and what might be available to
them that is better, but they are not forced to buy it.
So I hope we can debate this. Unlike many on the other side who want
to tear the act down and repeal it, to defund it--they even took the
whole Federal Government hostage and the whole economy of the United
States hostage because of it--or that is what they tried to do. They
failed, thank goodness, and the hostages have been released. The
government is back up and operating. There are some of us who are
sincere about supporting the concepts of this bill, the promise of this
bill, which is extraordinary and historic. We recognize there are some
pieces of it that need to be fixed or tightened or tweaked to make sure
it is going to work in the future as we have said.
Again, that is simply what my bill does. I am happy to introduce it.
I have one cosponsor, Senator Manchin of West Virginia, but many others
have expressed their interest in working with me, and I look forward to
bringing this before the committee for full debate and hopefully to the
Senate floor in some way in the near future for debate and hopefully
for passage.
______
By Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. Inhofe):
S. 1643. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for
a two-year extension of the Veterans' Advisory Committee on Education;
to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I rise to introduce bipartisan
legislation to reauthorize the Veterans' Advisory Committee on
Education, a panel that provides much needed assistance to our Nation's
veterans by advising the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on existing VA
education benefit programs, new education initiatives, and long-range
education planning and development. This legislation is entitled the
Veterans Advisory Committee on Education Improvement Act, and I wish to
thank my colleague, Senator Inhofe, for joining me in this effort.
I am proud to introduce this companion bill to House-passed
legislation which was introduced by Representatives John Delaney and
Jim Renacci and 12 other Members. This bill will reauthorize the
Veterans' Advisory Committee on Education through December 31, 2015,
and it expands the make-up of the Committee to include post 9/11
veterans. Absent Congressional action, the Advisory Committee's
authority will sunset on December 31, 2013. In addition to preserving
its traditional role, our bill will require the Advisory Committee to
expand its reach to include veterans who served after September 11,
2001. Currently, the Committee only provides assistance for veterans
who served through the Persian Gulf War. The Committee is particularly
interested in ensuring that educational opportunities are available to
eligible veterans and enabling them to readjust to civilian life and
become members of a highly educated and productive work force. The
Committee focuses on improving the benefits provided by the GI Bill.
I believe that a true marker of our Nation's worth is our willingness
to serve those who have served us. As we continue to wind down our
commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan after a decade of war, we need to
gear up our commitment to our veterans. This legislation will ensure
that the brave men and women who serve our country in the armed
services receive the most effective education and training
opportunities available. I am proud of the support that organizations
have provided in this effort. The Military Officers Association of
America, MOAA, Students Veterans Association, SVA, Iraq and Afghanistan
Veterans of America, IAVA, and Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW, have
provided invaluable insight in crafting this
I am committed to making sure that our veterans receive the services
and benefits they earned, and the support they were promised and
deserve. The United States is the strongest nation in the world and we
owe veterans our gratitude and our respect. This legislation is just a
small token of how Congress can help veterans have all the tools they
need, including education and job training, to ensure an easier
transition to civilian life. By making sure that post 9/11 veterans
have a voice at the VA this legislation encourages more effective and
efficient government.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 1643
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans' Advisory Committee
on Education Improvement Act of 2013''.
SEC. 2. TWO-YEAR EXTENSION OF VETERANS' ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON
EDUCATION.
Section 3692 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) by inserting ``31,'' after ``30,''; and
(B) by striking ``and the Persian Gulf War'' and inserting
``the Persian Gulf War, and the post-9/11 operations in Iraq
and Afghanistan'';
(2) in subsection (b), by inserting ``31,'' after ``30,'';
and
(3) in subsection (c), by striking ``December 31, 2013''
and inserting ``December 31, 2015''.
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