[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 128 (Tuesday, September 9, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5387-S5388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I know many Senators were back home over 
the last number of weeks talking to and listening to their constituents 
about issues on their minds. I was also at home. As a doctor and as a 
Senator, I heard from many people in my home State of Wyoming who have 
a lot of concerns about the health care law and the devastating side 
effects the law has on them.
  Over the past few weeks there have been headlines just about every 
day all across the country with bad news about the health care law and 
its impact on the American people. Just this morning the local 
newspaper, The Hill, has a headline: ``Support for ObamaCare continues 
to fall.''

       Public approval of ObamaCare continued to sink this summer, 
     issuing the latest warning for vulnerable Democrats who will 
     face voters this fall after backing the law.

  It says that just 35 percent of voters now support the health care 
law. This is a monthly poll done by the Kaiser Health Foundation which 
was released yesterday.
  It says:

       Healthcare remains one of the most important issues in 
     midterm elections, ranking only behind the economy and jobs 
     as voters' top issue.

  I talk about health care repeatedly because I am a physician. I have 
taken care of patients for 25 years in my home State of Wyoming, and I 
have taken care of families from all around the State. They come to me 
with their concerns about the health care law.
  President Obama says the Democrats who voted for the law should, as 
he said, ``forcefully defend and be proud of the law.'' Is the 
President proud of the ways families across America are suffering 
because of his health care law and the dangerous side effects people 
continue to face?
  Here is a headline from last Friday, September 5, front page of the 
Wall Street Journal. It says: ``Hacker Breaches Part Of Federal Health 
Site.'' A computer hacker breached the Federal health site. The article 
says the hacker broke into part of the healthcare.gov Web site in 
July--in July--and uploaded malicious software, according to Federal 
officials.
  The administration now admits it. It goes on to say that ``the break-
in raised concerns among Federal officials because of how easily the 
intruder gained access and how much damage could have occurred.'' This 
is a concern Republicans have warned about for a long time.
  The Obama administration didn't do the basic things any business in 
America would have done to protect people and their personal 
information. According to this report, part of the problem in this case 
was that the Web site's developers never--and taxpayers have paid 
plenty to these developers--bothered to change a default password for 
the system. No one can believe it. Hackers didn't have to go around 
some complicated security system or break in through a back door. Oh, 
no. The Obama administration official admitted to the Wall Street 
Journal there was a door left open--a door left open.
  The Obama administration said that so far the hackers haven't stolen 
anybody's personal information that they know of. Apparently, they 
didn't know about this breach for weeks. The hacker walked in through 
an open door in July, and the Obama administration didn't know anything 
about it until August 25. Healthcare.gov stores huge amounts of 
personal and private information about people, including their access 
information and their health care information, and people have a right 
to know the information is secure.
  Where are the Democrats on the floor of the Senate today ready to 
forcefully defend leaving the door open for these hackers?
  Here is another headline from the September 2 New York Times: 
``Bracing for New Challenges in Year Two of Health Care Law.''

  We all remember how terrible the launch of the health care program 
was last fall. We remember right after the President sat down with Bill 
Clinton and he said: Oh, easier to use than Amazon, cheaper than your 
cell phone bill, and you can keep your doctor.
  America knows those things weren't true.
  We all remember the terrible launch last October. The new head of the 
exchange talked about what he expects it to be like this year, year 
two. They have had a full year now to get ready and fix the problems. 
Yet this Obama administration official just recently told the New York 
Times: ``In some respects, it's going to be more complicated. Part of 
me thinks that this year is going to make last year look like the good 
old days.''
  America is not ready to go back to the Obama Web site good old days. 
That is what the Obama administration's person in charge of the health 
care exchange told the New York Times. Are the Democrats going to come 
to the floor and forcefully defend this kind of chaos and confusion 
with the health care enrollment for a second year in a row? It is 
another disgraceful side effect of the President's unworkable, 
unmanageable health care law.
  I will give one more example of what the American people are learning 
about how the health care law is harming them individually. Insurance 
companies have been releasing their preliminary rates for 2015, and in 
many places for many people, premiums are going up. According to the 
consulting group PricewaterhouseCoopers, premiums are going up about 8 
percent on average across the country. That is not what Democrats 
promised when they wrote the health care law. Democrats in Washington, 
here in the Senate, promised the rates would go down. President Obama 
went around the country and said people would see their health care 
costs go down by an average of $2,500 per family per year. Nancy Pelosi 
went on ``Meet the Press'' and said rates will go down for everyone. 
That hasn't happened. Premiums have gone up. Copays are up. Deductibles 
have gone up. Out-of-pocket costs have gone up for millions of 
Americans.
  As chairman of the Republican policy committee, one of the things I 
do is look around the country and try to find out how the policies that 
come out of Washington affect people all across the country. I have 
traveled over the past month and heard from many people that the 
President's health care law is hurting them individually and costing 
them more.
  One place people are really being hurt by the health care law is 
Alaska. Here is a headline from The Hill newspaper on Monday: ``Alaska 
insurance rates set to spike.'' According to the article, Alaskans 
buying health insurance through the State's exchange can expect a 
surprise spike of more than 30 percent on average.

[[Page S5388]]

  Another place being hit is Iowa. PricewaterhouseCoopers says the 
average person in Iowa who buys health insurance through the exchange 
is going to pay 11.5 percent more next year in premiums. For others, 
premiums will be as high as 14 percent higher. Those Iowa families 
aren't getting a cut of $2,500 as promised by the Democrats who voted 
for this health care law and as the President said. What they are 
getting instead is an increase of 14 percent--more money out of their 
pockets.
  We can go round and round with individual stories. They are paying 
more. So it is no surprise then that today the headline in The Hill 
newspaper is that it is more unpopular now and continues to lose 
popularity.
  Then the impact. It is astonishing. I picked up today's Investor's 
Business Daily. The headline is ``ObamaCare Spurs College Blues For 
Working Students.'' A lot of students have to work their way through 
college. Page 1, above the fold, ``ObamaCare Goes To College.''

       More than 200 colleges and universities--

  This is because of the law, the way they define part-time work and 
full-time work, and full-time is defined as 30 hours.
  ``ObamaCare Goes To College.''

       More than 200 colleges and universities have restricted 
     work hours for students, for part-time faculty, or both, 
     citing the costs of complying with the employer mandate 
     related to the President's health care law.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time of the Senator has expired.
  Mr. BARRASSO. I ask unanimous consent for 1 additional minute.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, what I do is come to the floor to talk 
about the concerns I have for Americans who are concerned about their 
jobs, concerned about the economy, concerned about their opportunity to 
get the care they need from a doctor they choose at a lower cost. They 
see all of these issues as troublesome under the President's health 
care law. So I am going to continue to talk about this and the impact 
this has on the American family. I am going to talk about restoring 
people's freedom to buy insurance that works for them and their 
families because they know what is best for them, not the Obama 
administration. I am going to talk about reforms that get people the 
care they need from a doctor they choose at lower costs. I am going to 
talk about giving people choices, not Washington mandates.
  Republicans are going to keep offering real solutions for better 
health care without all of these tragic side effects.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.

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