[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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