[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 106 (Thursday, July 9, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4937-S4938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OBAMACARE
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise to talk about an issue that will
have serious negative consequences on the lives and the livelihoods of
millions of Americans and threaten our already muddled and beleaguered
health care system. Ever since the partisan and rushed passage of the
so-called Affordable Care Act, I have come to the floor dozens of times
to shine a light on the problems associated with this law and to call
for a swift repeal and replacement.
I have not been alone. Many of my colleagues have been working to
make this case as well. Truth be told, this has not been an altogether
difficult case to make. Indeed, the data has repeatedly shown that
ObamaCare, despite the many claims of its proponents, simply is not
working. We have seen more evidence of this in just the past few days.
For example, in a recent New York Times article, we all read about the
dramatic proposed increases in health insurance premiums due to
ObamaCare's expensive mandates and regulations.
Now, many plans are proposing rate increases that average 23 percent
in Illinois, 25 percent in North Carolina, 31 percent in Oklahoma, 36
percent in Tennessee, and 54 percent in Minnesota. I don't know about
the Presiding Officer, but my constituents find this unnerving. After
all, one of the President's chief justifications for his health care
law was that it would actually bring down the cost of health care. Once
again, we are seeing that this is just another one of the many empty
ObamaCare promises.
But even more frightening than these proposed rate increases are the
root causes of the increases. In the recent New York Times article,
Nathan T. Johns, the chief financial officer of Arches Health Plan,
which operates in my home State of Utah, was quoted as saying: ``Our
enrollees generated 24 percent more claims than we thought they would
when we set our 2014 rates.''
This, according to Mr. Johns, led to a collection of just under $40
million in premiums, while the company had to pay out more than $56
million in claims for 2014. As a result, Arches Health Plan has
proposed rate increases averaging 45 percent for 2016 in order to
remain viable. Now, I know this was not at all the intention of my
Democratic colleagues who voted for this bill, but it is because of
this and a myriad of other unintended consequences that ObamaCare has
consistently polled below 50 percent approval since the day it was
signed into law.
Indeed, according to a compilation by Real Clear Politics, of the 405
polls collected since the law passed in March of 2010, 391 reported a
majority of Americans opposing or having negative views toward
ObamaCare. Unfortunately, President Obama seems to be disconnected from
this reality. In a recent trip to Tennessee, the President called for
consumers to put pressure on State insurance regulators to scrutinize
the proposed rate increases. He then suggested that if commissioners do
their job and actively review the rates, his ``expectation is that
they'll come in significantly lower than what's being requested.''
But as Roy Vaughn, vice president of the Tennessee BlueCross plan
stated:
There's not a lot of mystery to it. We lost a significant
amount of money in the marketplace, $141 million, because we
were not very accurate in predicting the utilization of
health care.
Yet President Obama fails to grasp the simple mathematics of the
problem. He is not alone. In response to the President's call for
scrutiny, the Tennessee insurance commissioner was quoted as saying she
would ask ``hard questions of companies we regulate to protect
consumers.'' Forgive me, but I fail to understand what hard questions
there are to ask. If I own a business that takes in $100 million in
revenue but pays out $120 million in expenses, I will not be solvent
for very long.
What is perhaps most disconcerting to me in all of this are the
responses these patients get from officials in the Obama
administration. For example, in response to concerns about those
premium hikes, Health and Human Services Secretary Burwell recently
argued that patients should not worry because there are tax subsidies
available to help cover the cost. She also said they could simply shop
for cheaper plans on the exchanges during the next open enrollment
period.
Of course, in a world where insurance plans across the country are
requesting rate increases of 26--well, 20, 30, 40, or even 50 percent
or more, one has to wonder just how many cheaper plans will be
available and how many sacrifices patients will have to make in their
care in order to get significant savings. While many seem to believe
the Affordable Care Act received a reprieve from the Supreme Court, I
think we are actually witnessing a downward spiral of ObamaCare. I
cannot help but question what supposed solutions my friends on the
other side of the aisle will come up with next.
Anyone who is being honest and who is listening to the American
people should recognize that ObamaCare needs to be replaced with real,
patient-centered reforms that are designed not to control the
marketplace but to actually reduce the costs for hard-working patients
and taxpayers. I am a coauthor of such a plan, which we have called the
Patient CARE Act. This legislative proposal, which I have put forward
along with Senator Burr and Chairman Fred Upton in the House, will
reduce the cost of health care in this country without all of the
expensive mandates and regulations that are causing these major
increases in health insurance premiums.
I have talked about our proposal many times on the floor. I will
continue to do so. I know there are other ideas out there, and I think
we should consider and evaluate those as well. Put simply, I am willing
to work with anyone on either side of the aisle to fix our Nation's
health care system and to protect the American people from the negative
consequences of this misguided law.
My hope is that more of our colleagues on the other side will
eventually see what the majority of the American people have seen for
more than 5 years: The problems with ObamaCare are not minor flaws that
can be fixed with a little regulatory tinkering. They are fundamental
flaws.
The only answer is real reform, which addresses the skyrocketing
costs of health care in America.
[[Page S4938]]
With that, you can see that I am very, very concerned about ObamaCare
and the fact that it is breaking America. It is not working. Costs are
going up in a rapid basis. People are not being well served. The
emergency rooms, which were supposed to be spared from all of this, are
just full of Medicaid and Medicare patients who cannot find doctors
now. Doctors are leaving the profession because of ObamaCare, in large
measure, and we can't get help to those who really need the help
because of the many restrictions in ObamaCare.
All I can say is that sooner or later we have to get off of our high
horse, look at this, and look at it in a very effective, nonpartisan
way, and either change it or get rid of it and replace it with
something that will work much better and will be something the American
people can live with.
There were approximately 35 million people who did not have health
insurance before ObamaCare. That was a big issue. The President has
cited that many times. Guess how many don't have insurance now with
ObamaCare--how about 30, 35 million people.
So has this just been a big boondoggle so the President can take
credit for something that doesn't work or are we going to do the thing
that we all should as Members of Congress in the best interests of our
citizens and change this bill and get one that really does work?
With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Ms. HEITKAMP. 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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