[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 178 (Monday, December 16, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8830-S8831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Alabama for his 
kind words, and I commend him for the great job he has been doing in 
outlining the issues before us, not to mention the particular nominee 
he was speaking about.
  A few weeks ago the Obama administration essentially declared that it 
had met its goals for fixing the ObamaCare Web site. With the Web site 
fixed, they led us to assume that ObamaCare was ``fixed'' as well, but 
that was never true. As I have been saying all along, the problems are 
much bigger than a Web site.
  Even the administration's claims about the Web site have been 
exaggerated. Recent news reports suggest that many Americans who 
thought they had enrolled on the exchanges will find that they do not, 
in fact, have coverage on January 1, largely as a result of lingering 
problems with the site.
  An even larger problem lies with the coverage options folks are 
actually finding if they manage to make it through the Web site. For 
folks patient enough to successfully navigate through healthcare.gov, 
many are finding that ObamaCare offers higher premiums, higher costs, 
or higher deductibles--sometimes all three--in exchange for coverage 
that is in many cases inferior to what they had before: fewer choices, 
restricted hospital networks, losing doctors our constituents know and 
trust. That is what many are getting in exchange for higher costs and 
skyrocketing premiums, even after the President promised ObamaCare 
would ``cut costs and make coverage more affordable for families and 
for small businesses.''
  Despite the President's serial pledges to the contrary, the 
government's own studies on this issue now indicate that ObamaCare will 
actually increase the cost of health care in America by more than $620 
billion. ObamaCare will actually increase the cost of health care in 
America by more than $620 billion.
  As one California woman recently put it, for her, ObamaCare has meant 
being forced into lower coverage for more money. Many Kentuckians feel 
exactly the same way.
  Giselle Martino is a constituent of mine from Prospect, KY. Here is 
what she recently wrote to me after losing her coverage:

       I paid a very high premium to have a major medical plan. I 
     am now forced into the exchange for a lesser plan with more 
     exclusions and higher deductibles. I will most likely never 
     reach those deductibles. How does this help me? I am 
     basically paying into the plan for the others. If I must pay 
     for my higher tier heart drugs anyway, why should I bother 
     with the health plan? What a disappointment this 
     administration has caused.

  Higher costs and less care, that is what ObamaCare means for Giselle 
Martino.
  ObamaCare has been a disappointment for Mike Conn from Prestonsburg 
too. Here is what he had to say about this law:

       A policy that has similar coverage to what we had would 
     cost us around $1,100 a month. [That] is a 100-percent 
     increase for me and my wife. I was informed by the individual 
     that was helping me find coverage that it was because we live 
     in eastern Kentucky.

  Mike says his plan is no longer available in that part of the State, 
and now he is evidently facing a 100-percent increase in cost because 
of where he lives--a 100-percent increase in cost because of where he 
lives. It is not fair.
  Mike and Giselle both have every right to be upset. But that is the 
reality of ObamaCare for too many Kentuckians, a State where 280,000 
people have already lost the coverage they had because of this law. It 
is a reality facing millions of Americans across our country. When the 
White House was asked today whether they were confident that the 
millions of Americans with canceled policies would be able to sign up 
for new insurance before January 1, they couldn't give a straight 
answer.
  That is why we Republicans are going to maintain our focus where it 
belongs--on the people we represent and on the issues that truly matter 
to them because our constituents understand that ObamaCare is about so 
much more than a Web site. The administration needs to start 
understanding that too. Fixing a few lines of code isn't going to help 
people keep the plans they like, plans that work for their families. It 
isn't going to help our constituents afford the law's exorbitant 
premiums and deductibles. It isn't going to help our constituents cope 
with fewer choices and lower quality of care. These are the things that 
actually matter to the middle class.
  The administration and its allies in Congress can talk until they are 
hoarse about a Web site or about nominees or about whatever else they 
think they can say to distract Americans from the failures of this law, 
but that isn't going to work.
  To the millions of Americans suffering under ObamaCare, people should 
know that Republicans are on their side. We are going to keep fighting 
for true health reform that lowers costs, for reform that promotes 
choice and a better quality of care, and we are going to keep fighting 
against the idea that government knows better than our constituents 
when it comes to their families' health care. That is what our 
constituents expect of us, I know that is what Kentuckians expect, and 
that is just what Republicans are going to continue to do.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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