[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 89 (Thursday, June 4, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3731-S3732]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               OBAMACARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on another matter, we have heard a lot 
about the Supreme Court's imminent decision on ObamaCare and its latest 
problems. No one can say for sure how the Court will rule, but one 
thing we do know is this: ObamaCare is a mess. It is a law filled with 
broken promises, one that has been plagued by failure and one that has 
caused costs to skyrocket for millions after the supporters of this law 
promised the costs would actually fall.
  I speak to you in the wake of a bombshell revelation from the 
administration that many insurers are now requesting to raise premiums 
by double digits all across the country. For instance, numbers for 
Kentucky just came out yesterday, and most of the insurers on the 
Commonwealth's ObamaCare exchange are looking to raise premiums. Some 
of the proposed increases are as high as 25 percent, and some 
Kentuckians may now face double-digit premium increases for the second 
or even the third year in a row. This is more bad ObamaCare news for 
the people I represent.
  In some States, the proposed increases are even more alarming, if you 
can believe it. Kentuckians can look next door for proof of that, where 
some Hoosiers could be hit with a 46-percent jump in their premiums, or 
if they look south to Tennessee, they will see that premium hikes of 36 
percent have been proposed.
  These are huge numbers, and they affect real people. We have seen the 
truth of that statement in the stories we hear from constituents about 
how ObamaCare's massive cost burdens affect all of them. Take the 
Kentucky small business owner who wrote to say that his plan is now 
being canceled thanks to ObamaCare. Here is what he had to say: ``My 
monthly premium will increase from $610 to [approximately] $1,200,'' he 
said, ``and this is with very high deductibles.'' Or take the 
constituent of mine from Floyd County who recently wrote to say she can 
no longer afford her silver ObamaCare plan after the monthly premium 
spiked by more than 75 percent. ``I was forced to take the Bronze 
Plan,'' she said, ``which isn't worth the paper or ink to print it 
on.''
  These are the kinds of stories that have become all too familiar in 
the age of ObamaCare. They are compounded by a continual drip, drip of 
bad news about this law, such as the recent report that showed how 
ObamaCare's multibillion-dollar attack on hospitals in Kentucky is 
expected to result in a net loss of $1 billion over the next few 
years--a net loss of $1 billion to Kentucky hospitals.
  This is after ObamaCare already compelled taxpayers to shell out 
billions for Web sites that never worked, along with some pretty sad 
and desperate but expensive taxpayer-financed marketing campaigns that 
often just directed users to some technological nightmare, not 
affordable health care. Take Oregon, for instance. Taxpayers spent over 
$300 million on that State's exchange, only to have it taken over by 
the Federal Government and then, along with the ObamaCare exchange in 
Massachusetts, placed under Federal criminal investigation. Look at 
Hawaii, which received more than $205 million to establish its 
exchange. We learned just last month that the Hawaii exchange is 
planning to shut down operations by September 30 since lawmakers 
couldn't decide on a path forward to pay for it. And then there is 
Vermont. This morning, the New York Times reported on the spectacular

[[Page S3732]]

crash of Vermont's even more ambitious version of ObamaCare. Many on 
the left thought Vermont's experiment would light the way forward on 
health care. In the end, it turned out to be a remarkable failure and, 
as one Vermonter put it, ``an unending money pit.'' The State's top 
health official now says that ObamaCare's exchanges ``just [weren't] 
set up for success.'' That is in Vermont.
  ObamaCare is hitting small and midsized businesses, too. These are 
the engines of job growth in our economy, but too many of them are now 
facing premium hikes of nearly 20 percent because of ObamaCare. One 54-
person company in Connecticut is facing up to $100,000 in new costs. 
Its owner says that ObamaCare ``punishes companies for hiring new, 
younger workers,'' and, indeed, the uncertainty is causing her company 
to hire temporary workers rather than create permanent jobs.
  So while it is possible that ObamaCare will survive its latest 
crisis, that is not going to change the grim reality of this law. It 
won't change the broken promises, it won't change the repeated 
failures, and it won't change the fact that ObamaCare has led to 
skyrocketing costs for taxpayers, the small businesses that drive the 
American dream, and, most importantly, for middle-class Americans who 
work hard every single day and play by the rules.
  It is about time the President and his party worked constructively 
with us to start over on real health reform that can lower costs and 
increase choice instead of hurting the middle class the way ObamaCare 
does. That is what the American people deserve.

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