[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 9, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S740-S741]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. McCAIN (for himself and Mr. Perdue):
  S. 2519. A bill to provide for incentives to encourage health 
insurance coverage, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Finance.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, it has been more than 5 years since 
ObamaCare was signed into law. Since then, the American people have 
only seen higher health care costs, less access, decreased quality of 
care, and fewer choices.
  Every day I hear from Arizonans who have been forced to give up the 
health insurance plans they liked and now face skyrocketing monthly 
premiums and never-ending wait times for appointments. Moreover, I have 
spoken with small business owners across my State who have been forced 
to choose between complying with costly government mandates, laying off 
employees or, worse, closing their doors.
  For 5 long years, the American people have been unfairly burdened by 
this failed law, and the negative effects are only expected to grow. 
According to the Department of Health and Human Service's own data, 24 
insurance plans in the ObamaCare exchanges were expected to see double-
digit rate hikes in 2016, while residents of Phoenix, AZ, were expected 
to see their premiums increase by roughly 19 percent. The highest 
average premium increase in Arizona was projected to reach a whopping 
78 percent.

  ObamaCare's numerous failures are well established. Take, for 
example, the President's broken promise that Americans who liked their 
health care plans and doctors could keep them; skyrocketing premiums 
and deductibles; 21 tax increases that both the CBO and the Joint 
Committee on Taxation predict would be passed on to the consumer; over 
$1 billion wasted on failed ObamaCare-established health care co-ops; 
and an estimated 2 million full-time equivalent workers expected to 
lose their jobs by 2024, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
  For these reasons, a majority of Americans today oppose the 
President's failed health care law. They are counting on us, their 
elected representatives in Congress, to fight to fully repeal and 
replace it. That is why I was proud to partner with my Republican 
colleagues in sending the first ObamaCare repeal to the President's 
desk. That is also why I am proud to stand before the Congress today to 
reintroduce the Empowering Patients First Act along with my friend, the 
Senator from Georgia, Mr. Perdue, to replace the President's failed law 
with health care reform that puts patients and physicians back in 
charge of their health care decisions. The Empowering Patients First 
Act is companion legislation to a bill introduced in the House of 
Representatives by Congressman Tom Price that would fully repeal the 
Affordable Care Act and replace it with solutions that put patients, 
families, and doctors back in charge of their medical decisions--not 
Washington bureaucrats.
  It is past time for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to 
wake up to the reality that ObamaCare is the wrong solution to health 
care reform. Just consider a recent report by the Galen Institute which 
notes that since the President's health care law was

[[Page S741]]

passed in 2010, it has undergone 70 significant changes through either 
acts of Congress, administrative actions, or the U.S. Supreme Court. 
Let me repeat that. ObamaCare has been changed a total of 70 times--in 
many cases through unilateral action--in order to protect the American 
people from its damaging effects.
  I am as convinced today as I was 7 years ago when I stood on this 
floor to propose the first Republican amendment to ObamaCare that this 
law is the wrong approach to health care reform.
  The bill I am reintroducing today would create policies that empower 
patients and doctors to take charge of their health care decisions, 
including by ensuring no one is priced out of the market, including 
individuals with preexisting conditions; building on and expanding 
health savings accounts and other models to drive down costs; 
establishing age-adjusted tax credits for health insurance; equalizing 
tax treatment of employer-sponsored plans and plans purchased by 
individuals by letting individuals buy health insurance with pretax 
dollars; enhancing coverage options by letting small business owners 
band together across State lines through association health plans to 
create more affordable and comprehensive health care; letting consumers 
buy insurance across State lines; curbing defensive medicine and 
lawsuit abuse through tort reform; and making coverage more affordable 
by enabling individuals to own their insurance, like a 401(k) plan, so 
they can take it with them across State lines and if they change jobs. 
That only makes sense.
  Americans deserve an alternative to the mandates, high costs, and 
bureaucratic mess that have been created by ObamaCare. The Empowering 
Patients First Act would repeal ObamaCare once and for all and replace 
it with health care reform that gives patients, families, and doctors 
the power to make medical decisions--not bureaucrats in Washington.

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