[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 48 (Wednesday, March 26, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1744-S1745]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, this past Sunday was the fourth 
anniversary of President Obama's health care law.
  Four years ago Democrats in Washington were confident the law they 
forced through Congress would be extremely popular today. Instead, the 
law has broken almost every significant promise President Obama made 
about the law itself, and Americans regrettably have been left to deal 
with the consequences.
  The actual law doesn't even look the same as it did 4 years ago 
because President Obama has lawlessly rewritten so much of it. Last 
night word leaked about the latest change. Now the administration is 
getting rid of the March 31 deadline for some people to sign up for 
insurance in the government exchange.
  According to this morning's Washington Post, if people just check a 
box on the Web site saying they are having trouble signing up, they 
will get an extension until at least mid-April--and I wouldn't be 
surprised if another extension after that and then again beyond.
  Remember, the Obama administration said 7 million people would have 
to sign up by March 31 in order for this open enrollment period to be a 
success. Those are the administration's words. But with less than 1 
week to go, they are 2 million short of their goal. That is why they 
are allowing this extension because they are in a panic, a panic not 
enough people are signing up.
  The White House may come out and say they have come close to their 7 
million target. They may even claim they were somehow able to find all 
of the 2 million people they needed to buy insurance on the exchanges, 
but looking at some of the dubious numbers the administration has 
released so far, we can predict there will be many unanswered questions 
about the numbers--whatever numbers the White House claims to now be 
the new numbers.
  The first question we should ask about the numbers is, how many of 
the people signing up actually have insurance?
  Apparently, it doesn't seem to matter much to the administration how 
many people who go to the Web site actually have insurance. The Obama 
administration released a report showing how many people went through 
the signup process on the Web site through the exchanges. Those people 
don't actually have insurance until they write a check, pay their 
premiums, and make sure they do have insurance.
  Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said 
recently she had no idea in the world--no idea at all--about how many 
people had paid and how many had not paid, and she is the President's 
Secretary of Health and Human Services--no idea.
  Insurance companies say they have given Washington plenty of 
information to know the answer to that question, but the person in 
charge has no idea.
  One industry official told Politico:

       If they have not processed those yet and compiled the data, 
     that is a choice they are making. But they have that data 
     now.

  The White House can say whatever they want--and they tend to do 
that--but they have the data. They are not admitting the truth.
  Why isn't the administration playing it straight with these numbers? 
The point of ObamaCare was to get people insurance, not just register 
them on a Web site. A recent survey by McKinsey & Company found that 
only 53 percent of the previously uninsured people who had selected a 
plan actually then went and paid the first month's premium. So only 
about half of the people that didn't have insurance before, who signed 
up on the Web site, actually went to pay for and buy the insurance. 
That is question number one.
  Question No. 2 is: How many people are newly insured? That was the 
major goal of the Obama health care legislation. Washington Democrats 
said time and time again that we needed a massive overall of the entire 
health care system of this country in order to cover the uninsured. 
Many of the people who are signing up today and people who have signed 
up are doing so because the insurance they had, that they liked, that 
worked for them, that they could afford, under the health care law was 
canceled. The President's health care law forced them to switch.
  How many people? We don't know that either. One Health and Human 
Services official admitted as much. He said: ``That is not a data point 
that we are really collecting in any sort of systemic way.''
  The government officials overseeing this part of the Web site are not 
even collecting the data. The goal of the whole policy plan was to get 
people that didn't have insurance on insurance. They are not collecting 
that data point at all. It turns out that the paper application for 
ObamaCare included a question--reasonably so--as to whether that person 
already had insurance because it is information we want to know. But 
the bureaucrats and the contractors who were apparently overseen by the 
President of the United States, who created the healthcare.gov Web 
site--the Web site that the President said was going to be easier to 
use than Amazon for insurance and cheaper than your cell phone bill--
apparently they just dropped the question. Why did they do that? Why 
did they drop the question that was on the paper form and leave it off 
of the Web site to ask if somebody had actually had insurance before? 
That is what they did.
  Isn't it something the Obama administration would want to know if 
they wanted to be honest with the American people. The best estimate 
has been from this McKinsey survey. They figure that by early February 
only about a quarter of the people who signed up for ObamaCare 
insurance were actually newly insured. Three-fourths of them were just 
changing out insurance, many of whom had their insurance canceled. If 
that number holds, the exchanges might end up covering fewer than 2 
million previously uninsured Americans this year--fewer than 2 million 
people who didn't have insurance before covered on the exchange. Think 
about how much simpler, how much more cost effective health care could 
have been while still covering that same number of people.
  Here is the third important question. Who exactly is signing up? The 
administration is pushing young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 to 
buy insurance. It is not happening the way the administration wants it 
to happen. Through February, less than 10 percent--less than 1 in 10--
of the young adults who potentially could enroll

[[Page S1745]]

have actually done so. Insurance companies need lots of young, healthy 
people to pay premiums--to pay for premiums and then not use much care 
in return. That is the only way this works. Unless more of those young 
people sign up by the beginning of next week, theoretically--now 
extended by checking a box--premiums are going to jump.
  Here is the final question. When people buy insurance through the 
ObamaCare exchanges, what kind of care will it provide? Just remember 
what the President said: If you like what you have, you could keep it; 
you could keep your doctor--easier than Amazon and cheaper than your 
cell phone. People are losing access to doctors they have known and 
trusted for years. We have heard from people around the country that 
this has happened. But for some people having a doctor won't mean they 
can actually see the doctor. According to the Association of American 
Medical Colleges, we are facing a shortage of about 90,000 physicians 
by the end of this decade.
  Some patients may be able to get to see a doctor but maybe not the 
one they need. According to an Associated Press survey that was 
reported last week, only 4 of 19 leading cancer hospitals--only 4 of 19 
leading cancer hospitals--said that they accept the plans from all the 
insurance companies in their State's exchanges. For many other 
patients, the doctor is going to be spending more time looking at the 
computer instead of looking at them, even though they are in the same 
office together because of the burdensome new rules and recordkeeping 
requirements in the law. Maybe you can keep your doctor, maybe you 
cannot. Do you need special cancer care? Are you worried about whether 
you are going to be able to get that, and is the doctor going to be 
able to look at you and interact or is the doctor going to be staring 
at his computer screen instead of you in the limited time they have 
because of the burdensome requirements? It is going to be bad for 
patients.
  So patients are going to be getting less care and many will be paying 
a lot more than they were paying before. Secretary Sebelius finally 
conceded that the rates will continue to rise in 2015. Now The Hill 
newspaper that is around--this is what they said on Wednesday, March 
19: ``ObamaCare premiums are about to skyrocket.''

  The President said: cheaper than your cell phone. Reuters ran a 
headline that said: ``Insurers see double-digit Obamacare price rises 
in many states next year.'' Bloomberg's headline yesterday was almost 
the same: ``Obamacare insurer WellPoint Sees Double-Digit Rate Rise.''
  The President said recently the law ``is working the way it should.'' 
The President of the United States looked into the camera and said it 
is working the way it should. What does he think of the people who are 
on the other side watching him on TV? Does he realize how he is losing 
credibility with the American people when he makes blatant statements 
like that, when they see how poorly it is working?
  I believe the President has no idea how the law is working, how 
poorly it is working or what is going to happen next. Does he really 
think the law is working or is it just a line that somebody wrote for 
him and that he read? It is hard to know. Does he think that double-
digit premium increases are a sign that the law is working? I heard 
from one of my constituents the other day, as we were away for the week 
talking to people around Wyoming, and he put it in writing. He is from 
western Wyoming. He said:

       Senator Barrasso, I am sorry for the snide subject of our 
     e-mail but the truth hurts. I know I am preaching to the 
     choir but I just wanted to share our story and frustration.

  Now I know the majority leader has been to the floor and said all of 
these stories that we tell are all lies. This is a person who lives in 
Wyoming. This is what is happening in that person's life. He said:

       We have finally just finished applying for health care 
     through the exchange and found out that our health insurance 
     will double if we sign up. Fortunately for us, we are covered 
     under our own insurance until this December. Our current plan 
     is $505 a month, and it has a $15 thousand deductible after 
     which it is an 80/20 split. The rub for us is the following:
       Under the construct of the subsidy plan we would 
     theoretically qualify, based on our family size (5 girls) and 
     our income. But since my employer offers health insurance for 
     me and my family, we don't qualify. So we are stuck in limbo. 
     Nonetheless, if we go on my employer's health insurance, we 
     will be paying over $1000 more each month. If we go on the 
     health care market place plan, the least expensive is $1,054/
     month. This is a significant increase for our middle class 
     family.
       I thought the affordable health care act was supposed to 
     help us not hurt us.

  The affordable health care act was supposed to help us, he said, not 
hurt us.

       We are panicked on how we are going to pay for this in 
     December? We will be taking all of the money that was going 
     into savings to pay for a terrible insurance plan. Please 
     help us and share our story with people who say this act is 
     helping the middle class.

  I wish the majority leader were here to hear this. Please share this 
story--our story--a true story about a family in Wyoming, with those 
who say the act is helping the middle class.
  Madam President, it clearly is not. Does it sound like the law is 
working for this man and his family? President Obama says it is working 
just the way it is supposed to work. It is not working for this man and 
his family.
  Our health care system needed reform. It needs it now more than ever. 
We all know that. What Americans got with the Obama health care law was 
a monstrous new bureaucracy. It is raising costs for millions of 
people. It is leading to worse care and other unintended consequences. 
Now these questions are just a small part of what the American people 
want to know.
  In fact, as of last night, I can think of another question. How does 
the Obama administration define the word deadline? Kathleen Sebelius in 
the House the other day said the deadline is March 31. We are not going 
to extend it. We are not under any circumstances going to extend it. 
The White House press secretary said the same. Are there any deadlines 
at all for anything in this administration? Is it all on the honor 
system?
  As we start to get answers to these questions, we are going to see 
even more clearly that this health care law has failed patients, it has 
failed health care providers, and it has failed taxpayers. The 
President needs to admit that his law is not working. He needs to 
accept Republican ideas to replace it. Americans need better access to 
quality, affordable health care, not just broken promises, tired 
excuses, and unanswered questions.
  Thank you, Madam President. I yield the floor, and I suggest the 
absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mrs. Murray pertaining to the introduction of S. 2162 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.

                          ____________________