[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 11, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H374-H380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1900
                     THE PEOPLE'S NIGHT: OBAMACARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Walker) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, tonight is our third time that we have 
hosted People's Night. This is a time for our Members to bypass outside 
forces and influences and talk directly to the American people.
  Tonight we are presenting something that has been very important, not 
just a topic, but something that nearly 6 years ago--or a little over 6 
years ago--right here where we stand tonight was passed in an overly 
bipartisan manner and has burdened the American people in what is now 
known as ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act.
  This is a piece of legislation that has burdened small businesses and 
individuals alike. Now we have been asked to fix it, to repeal and to 
replace. Well, it takes Members to be able to have experience in this 
particular field to understand the heart of community. One of the 
people who does that most, specifically in the area of poverty 
initiatives, who reaches across community lines, reaches across party 
lines is the gentleman from Kentucky, my good friend, Representative 
Andy Barr from Kentucky. I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. 
Barr).
  Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from North 
Carolina, for his leadership not only of the Republican Study Committee 
as the new chairman--and I welcome you as the new chairman of the 
Republican Study Committee--but for his leadership on issues related to 
the importance of repealing this disastrous law that is making life 
harder on the American people; and not just repealing it, but replacing 
it with policy ideas that put power back in the hands of patients, 
their families, and their doctors instead of driving up costs, forcing 
people to lose their healthcare plans, forcing the government to ration 
health care. We need a better way.
  I am proud to say that we are supporting not just repealing ObamaCare 
here tonight, but bringing to the American people some constructive, 
positive ideas that will make life easier for them and improve their 
lives through better patient-centered health care.
  Mr. Speaker, Kentucky was once portrayed by President Obama, a red 
State, as a model of the implementation of ObamaCare. Yet, every day in 
Kentucky, in my district in central and eastern Kentucky, I hear 
stories from families and small businesses and individuals who have 
been hurt by this disastrous law.
  Now, over the next few weeks, as President-elect Trump comes into 
office and as this Congress revisits the issue of healthcare reform, I 
expect we will hear from our friends on the other side of the aisle, 
arguments like ``Don't repeal ObamaCare. We have 20 million new 
Americans who have insurance.''
  But that statistic needs to be scrutinized because the truth of the 
matter is ObamaCare forced people to lose their health care. In many 
cases, and in Kentucky as an example, many of my constituents lost 
high-quality, private, commercial health insurance through their 
workplace, and millions of Americans received cancellation notices in 
the mail. Their small employers told them that they were going to have 
to change their health plans because of this law.
  So not only do we see now skyrocketing costs for those who currently 
have health insurance, but many Americans who our friends on the other 
side of the aisle say now are insured or covered, these are folks who 
lost their health insurance before.
  What happened?
  They lost high-quality, job-based health insurance, and so they were 
forced into these exchanges. In Kentucky it was called Kynect. In many 
cases, they went to the cheapest plan available, which happened to be 
Medicaid. Well, my fellow Americans, access to a waiting line is not 
access to health care. Unfortunately, Medicaid is oftentimes access to 
a waiting line, and it is not access to true health care.
  President Obama's promise that his healthcare law would help people 
has not turned out to be the case. In terms of cost, remember, this is 
called the Affordable Care Act, but it is anything but affordable 
because even though he promised that premiums would decline

[[Page H375]]

by $2,500 a year for the average family, premiums have actually 
increased for hardworking Americans. Premiums have increased for 11 
million people, according to a report by the Centers for Medicare & 
Medicaid Services. Millions of Americans, as I said before, lost 
previous coverage or had to change doctors due to this disastrous law.
  Take, for example, Laura in my congressional district in Kentucky. 
Laura is a young mother who had a baby girl, Catherine. Catherine was 
diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, ventricular septal defect at 
birth, which is basically a hole in the wall of the heart. They needed 
high-quality pediatric cardiology to help Catherine. So they got a 
specialist at Boston Children's Hospital. Of course, a long way away 
from Kentucky, but they wanted the best, of course, for their daughter. 
When ObamaCare went into effect, unfortunately they lost their job-
based health insurance that allowed them to access these specialists up 
in Boston for Catherine. The result was, they lost their doctor.
  What do you think a young mother and a young father are going to do 
in that situation?
  Guess what, they had to find a very expensive policy to cover a 
Boston surgeon out of network out of State, and so their costs 
skyrocketed.
  This is the kind of thing that was happening to millions of Americans 
as a result of ObamaCare.
  Look, ObamaCare obviously reduced choice and competition. There are 
now only three plans participating in the ObamaCare exchange in 
Kentucky, one of which covers a full 78 percent of the State's 
individual marketplace enrollees. In many States there is only one plan 
on the exchange. This has left too many families with no choice but to 
purchase high-deductible, high-premium coverage. In Kentucky, insurance 
plans have been forced to raise premiums by 23 percent in 2017 alone.

  There is a better way, and the better way is healthcare reform that 
is focused on the patient, not putting bureaucrats in charge, not 
taking away choices, not driving up costs, not creating narrow networks 
for people, not forcing people out of their high-quality private health 
insurance into government-run health care, but, instead, empowering 
patients to access more affordable private coverage.
  And one of the ways we can lower the cost of health care, make it 
more affordable for people to access high-quality private health 
insurance, is medical malpractice reform.
  Frivolous lawsuits, junk lawsuits, have driven up the cost of health 
care in this country significantly. One of the fatal flaws of ObamaCare 
is that it never addressed this cost of healthcare inflation.
  Over the course of their careers, it is estimated that 75 percent of 
all physicians will face a malpractice claim. Now, to be sure, some of 
those cases of medical negligence are legitimate. And, of course, those 
plaintiffs should be able to fully recover damages for those cases of 
genuine actual malpractice. But for these frivolous lawsuits, that is 
driving up the cost of care. The fact that ObamaCare never even dealt 
with that issue is a fundamental flaw in the previous efforts to reform 
our healthcare system.
  So I am a proud cosponsor of the Republican Study Committee's America 
Health Care Reform Act. In the American Health Care Reform Act is 
legislation that I introduced with Senator Barrasso called the Saving 
Lives, Saving Costs Act. This doesn't cap damages for cases of actual 
malpractice, but if there is a frivolous claim, if the liability 
climate is producing frivolous lawsuits, what we say is this: If you 
are a hospital or a doctor or a nurse and you practice in accordance 
with peer reviewed, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, that 
there should be a higher standard of proof for that plaintiff to get to 
a jury trial.
  We want a safe harbor for our outstanding medical professionals who 
practice in accordance with the latest state-of-the-art guidelines on 
how to take care of patients.
  So this does two things. Number one, it raises the standard of care. 
We are helping people access better, higher-quality medicine in this 
country with this legislation; and we are cutting out frivolous 
lawsuits, this litigation lottery that is driving up the cost of health 
care for all Americans.
  This is the kind of reform that, if enacted, would replace ObamaCare 
with reforms that would actually lower the cost of health care without 
growing government.
  I applaud the efforts of the Republican Study Committee for offering 
real solutions that will put patients and doctors in charge again and 
not Washington, D.C.
  Mr. WALKER. I thank Representative Barr. Your compassion on this 
topic is certainly evident. We appreciate your comments this evening.
  Mr. Speaker, there are a couple of numbers I would like to share that 
puts it a little bit in the context of what we are dealing with here. 
Seventy-five percent of co-ops have failed. In five States, Americans 
are down to just one option. The great thing about our country's 
history is that we have choices. We have decisions. Yet, since the 
takeover of this administration over health care, those choices have 
continued to reduce. Sometimes you may hear Congress this or Congress 
that. One of the neat things about Congress is the amount of people 
coming from diverse backgrounds.
  Our next speaker tonight is Representative Mike Bishop, former senate 
majority leader in his home State of Michigan, who was already working 
on those reforms when he came to the United States Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my good friend from Michigan (Mr. Bishop).
  Mr. BISHOP of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his 
continued leadership and for the opportunity to rise today to join him 
and this group in this urgent discussion regarding solutions for our 
Nation's healthcare crisis.
  I do appreciate the opportunity to be with my colleagues tonight and 
the sense of urgency that I feel from this group to address a very 
important issue.
  Mr. Speaker, since the 2,700-page healthcare law was enacted in 2010, 
when our colleague from across the aisle absurdly rose and declared 
that we would know what was in it as soon as we passed it, young 
adults, families, and seniors have been punished and their policies 
canceled.
  We have seen skyrocketing costs, poor coverage and, clearly, a lack 
of choices. I hear from constituents every single day who say that the 
law has not made health care more affordable, as President Obama 
promised it would.
  Instead, healthcare insurance premiums have skyrocketed and are 
slated to increase again and again and again--significantly--regardless 
of what Congress is able to do about the law this year. In fact, those 
who currently have a plan can expect an average premium increase of 73 
percent, while individuals who are just joining will see a 96 percent 
increase in premiums. Job providers are getting smothered as well.
  Prior to joining Congress, I was a member of the private sector, and 
I can tell you firsthand that small businesses are cutting hours. They 
are letting go of workers. All of these things they are doing to make 
room for the ever-expanding healthcare law. It is preventing the 
economy--small business, which is the backbone of our economy--from 
growing to its fullest potential.
  For all of these reasons, 8 out of every 10 Americans now favor 
changing ObamaCare significantly or replacing it altogether. What we do 
know is that doing nothing is not an option. Leaving this alone will 
result in further costs, further struggles by our families and small 
businesses, and we will see this whole healthcare law collapse upon 
itself. I do not believe and I don't think my colleagues believe here 
today that doing nothing is an option.
  Last year in Michigan, deductibles went up an average of $492 across 
all bronze, silver, and gold plans. This year our exchange rates will 
jump 17 percent in the State of Michigan. Families have a budget just 
like everybody else and they simply cannot absorb that kind of cost 
increase.
  Complicating matters further, insurers like UnitedHealth Group are 
leaving the exchanges. Private practices are folding and doctors are 
being forced to retire because they can't financially stay afloat.

                              {time}  1915

  I can tell you, from a personal perspective in my own family, I have 
seen my doctor disappear recently this past year. Seemingly overnight, 
he retired

[[Page H376]]

and moved away because he could not keep up with the costs of staying 
in business as a private practitioner.
  I had a rheumatologist in my district. He is a very well-respected 
man who treats many rheumatoid patients in our district. It is a very 
sad fact. These people count on him every single day of the week. They 
have been forced out of his practice because they no longer fit into 
the network. He is forced with compliance costs--overwhelming 
compliance costs. He has to hire new people to cover the compliance 
requirements. He doesn't have the same reimbursement rates.
  After all is said and done, a private practitioner, a specialist like 
this, can no longer stay in business; and families like ours, people 
like you and like me, can no longer continue to have that relationship, 
that doctor-patient relationship, that very personal relationship that 
we have had for years. These are real people, doctors, but also 
families and small businesses in our local communities that are 
struggling to stay financially afloat. The end result is we are losing 
good doctors because of the failures of ObamaCare.
  Mr. Speaker, when a law has unintended consequences, Congress has an 
obligation to step up and make things right. In 2017, this will require 
a collaborative, bipartisan approach to address the issue. This is 
about finding a pain-free way to move forward with health care in our 
Nation to ensure our neighbors and our families don't have to struggle 
to make ends meet because of failed law.
  We must act, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Chairman Walker for his 
continued support and his continued leadership on this important issue.
  Mr. WALKER. I thank Representative Bishop of Michigan.
  One of the numbers my friend just mentioned was 8 out of 10. Nearly 
80 percent, according to Gallup, believe this law should be overhauled 
or completely repealed. So I ask people watching tonight and my friends 
across the aisle: Are we to do nothing? In fact, even in the press 
conference today, President-elect Trump said that, if we did nothing, 
it would continue to fail. But we have an obligation to stand up and do 
what is right.
  We can't do nothing. People are suffering--in fact, suffering to the 
place that even recently a couple months ago a Minnesota Governor was 
honest enough to talk about how it has damaged small business. Goodness 
gracious, even a former Democratic President has acknowledged the 
destruction it has caused for individuals and small businesses.
  No one knows more about what it does to our States than individual 
Representatives. One of the fine gentlemen that is speaking tonight is 
Representative French Hill. He is one of the sharper minds that we have 
had as part of the 114th class that I have been privileged to meet and 
serve with for the last 2 years.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill).
  Mr. HILL. I thank the chairman for yielding and for his leadership to 
set aside for us to visit with the American people and talk about 
empowering patients, not politicians.
  For 6 years, we have witnessed the failed rollout of the ObamaCare 
program. We didn't get to keep our plan that we liked, and we didn't 
get to keep our doctor that we had such a good relationship with. We 
have seen physicians leave the business. We have spent billions on 
duplicative, unnecessary exchanges that are now failing across this 
country. So I commend the Republican Study Committee, and I am proud to 
be a part of this group to talk about how to bring relief to the 
American people on the failed ObamaCare law.
  I still hear from constituents--even now, 6 years later, from this 
rolling evolution of ObamaCare--who have seen their coverage lost and 
their increases in healthcare costs skyrocket. This healthcare 
regulatory burden that we are talking about tonight has led to droves 
of part-time jobs instead of full-time jobs and unaffordable group 
plans for the people who were in a good small business group plan. This 
regulatory burden is on top of what has been a 6-year to 8-year 
crushing burden on business from many different agencies from the EPA 
and beyond.
  One constituent wrote my office after he was forced to accept an 
insurance plan to meet the affordable healthcare law that cost him 
$1,300 a month, Mr. Speaker, and he still has to meet two $2,500 
deductibles before the insurance coverage kicks in. Now, that is 
$20,600 a year. Mr. Speaker, I was a small businessman before I joined 
Congress, and we had employees that made $20,600 a year in our small 
business. So what is left for the family budget when you are going to 
spend $20,000 for health care? That is typical now after the rollout of 
ObamaCare for a family of four. This is in a place in our country where 
healthcare costs $20- or $30,000 a year in out-of-pocket expenses? 
Obviously, this system is broken.
  Now, in Arkansas, unlike much of the country where people are 
definitely seeing large, double-digit, or, in some cases, larger 
increases in the ObamaCare premium, Arkansans, on the exchanges, are 
seeing lower than those average increases. In my view, this is largely 
because our Governor and our State legislature are working hard to make 
the best out of a bad situation and fighting to pursue innovative 
measures that work best for our small State.
  The Arkansas Works program has helped to prevent skyrocketing 
premiums on the exchanges, and the State is still subject, though, to 
duplicative reviews by Federal and State agencies and costly and 
burdensome regulations that have nothing to do with trying to lower the 
cost of health care for Arkansans.
  This week, Governor Hutchinson wrote the House leadership decrying 
the individual and employer mandates and stressing the need for 
healthcare reform that provides our States more flexibility--more 
flexibility, Mr. Speaker--to design programs that fit the needs of 
people in our State while increasing predictability and affordability. 
Some of the points Governor Hutchinson made in his letter to our 
leadership include calling for States having the option of receiving 
Medicaid funds through a block grant enabling them to tailor the 
program in the Medicaid population under health care in what fits 
Arkansas, what Arkansans can afford. In fact, that is our Better Way 
approach, Mr. Speaker, for the Medicaid population.

  He calls for the elimination of the Federal health insurance 
exchanges. We had exchanges before ObamaCare that can be operated by 
States in the private sector without Federal interference. Governor 
Hutchinson called for restricting the duplicative reviews of rate and 
plan filings by CMS. They are already being done by our individual 
State insurance regulators. Of course, the thing that drives up costs 
not only for the Medicaid population, for people on the ObamaCare 
exchanges, and for people out in the group health plans is the 
essential health benefits requirement.
  Governor Hutchinson says that this has driven up costs for everybody, 
for government, for families, and that elimination of these 
requirements would provide flexible options for insurance providers to 
offer cheaper plans to younger and healthier individuals. That is key 
to choice, Mr. Speaker.
  In some counties, Arkansans now only have one insurance option. I 
don't think one option is an option. There is no choice. This monopoly 
or oligopoly pricing combined with the mandates are demonstrating the 
unaffordability of the Affordable Care Act.
  With the recent election, we now have a unique opportunity to 
recognize these flaws of this one-size-fits-all, Big Government-
mandated, top-down approach to health care, reverse course, and, again, 
bring relief to the American people of this failed law put forth by the 
Obama administration. Chairman Walker and the Republican Study 
Committee have put together a comprehensive plan to repeal ObamaCare 
and replace this failed law with conservative principles.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans want change. We are asking that we design 
those changes with patients in mind and that we, in fact, in this 
group--Mr. Walker, I know you agree--we will read the bill before we 
pass it.
  So the RSC proposal and the Better Way framework outlined by Speaker 
Ryan are going to bring relief, change, and opportunity that fit with 
the principles that have guided the Republican Party and the Republican 
outlook, the Republican Study Committee, which is

[[Page H377]]

we will bring competition and we will bring efforts to lower prices and 
increase access for the American people.
  With that, Mr. Walker, I commend you again.
  Mr. WALKER. If you listened closely there, Representative Hill talked 
about some of the premiums increasing. If you think back 6, 7, even 8 
years ago, even part of the original campaign talking about the 
Affordable Care Act, this ObamaCare, we think about three promises--we 
have all heard them--you can keep your doctor, you can keep your 
healthcare plan, and premiums are going down. Specifically one that 
stands out more was the premiums going down $2,500.
  My Democratic friends want to ignore some of those numbers, but here 
are the facts: In 2014, premiums increased across the board 37 percent; 
2015, again, last year, 25 percent. In fact, in some States, it is out 
of sight. In my home State of North Carolina, it is 40 percent. But in 
some places, in Arizona, it is as high as 116 percent.
  So the process of working to put this together, the RSC plan and the 
repeal and replace, who better than to have people that have experience 
in this? There is maybe nobody better in the House who has the 
insurance background than our friend, Representative Austin Scott from 
Georgia's Eighth District.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Austin 
Scott).
  Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, there is something I very 
much want to speak on. I rise today on behalf of my many constituents 
back in Georgia's Eighth Congressional District who have been 
negatively impacted by ObamaCare.
  It is pretty clear to the vast majority of us that the attempt to fix 
our Nation's healthcare problems by inserting more Federal control into 
the system has simply failed. There are some counties in the district 
that I represent in middle and south Georgia that are down to just 
one--maybe two--insurance providers that people can choose from. That 
is not competition, and that is not affordable. It is not even a choice 
really, and it is certainly not ``if you like your plan you can keep 
it.''
  My colleagues and I on the Republican Study Committee have worked for 
a couple of years, and we have offered a plan to repeal ObamaCare and 
replace it with patient-centered reforms and free-market solutions for 
American citizens.
  The American Healthcare Reform Act is not just about repealing 
ObamaCare. It is about fixing problems that existed in the healthcare 
system before ObamaCare and problems that, quite honestly, were made 
worse by ObamaCare. There is a lot of talk about what is in the bill 
that is a problem. I would like to talk just a second today about what 
is not in the bill that is a problem.
  Mr. Speaker, the President, by leaving the health insurance industry 
exempt from the antitrust laws of the country, created a bigger problem 
than we had prior to the healthcare bill going in place. That's right. 
I want you to hear what I said. Under ObamaCare, health insurance 
providers are exempt from the antitrust laws. These are the very laws 
that are designed to promote competition for the benefit of the 
consumer.
  How is it that ObamaCare can mandate that Americans purchase a 
product from an industry that that very bill left exempt from playing 
by the rules? Why did the President and the Democratic leaders leave 
the health insurance industry exempt from the antitrust laws in the 
bill? I have asked these questions over and over. It is baffling to me. 
It means the big boys can play and the little man has to pay.
  I wish somebody from the press would ask that question. I don't 
understand why the press doesn't ask the Democratic Party: Why did you 
leave the health insurance industry exempt from the antitrust laws of 
the country? It is a question the President should answer.
  The American Healthcare Reform Act reverses that. Our legislation 
injects much-needed competition into the health insurance marketplace 
by eliminating the antitrust exemptions for the insurance providers. By 
applying the antitrust laws to the insurance industry, we are making 
the market more competitive which, in turn, will drive down premium 
cost, increase choice, and does so without adding any new taxes.
  I hope the American Healthcare Reform Act will serve as the baseline 
for discussions on how to repeal and replace ObamaCare, bring about 
debate on how to lower healthcare costs, and allow for input from both 
sides of the aisle, which is something ObamaCare did not do. Along the 
way, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Speaker, I sure do wish the press would ask 
the President and the Democratic leadership: How could you do that to 
the American citizens?
  Mr. WALKER. Representative Scott, well articulated. I appreciate your 
heart on this.
  Looking at this and tackling this project because of the 2,600 pages 
of complexities, I guess we don't need to reiterate it, but how the 
minority leader said that we needed to pass this law to be able to 
figure out what is in it.

                              {time} 1930

  Obviously, it is more than just a running joke. With the people in 
the background, what does it take to kind of wrap our minds around it 
and to wrap our arms around it so as to find our way back? It takes 
people with medical experience, and it takes people with budget 
experience. This is going to be huge.
  One of the Members we have here with us tonight is the vice chair of 
the Committee on the Budget, someone who has great concern about the 
damage that this has caused to the fine folks of Indiana, whom he 
represents. It is my privilege to yield to the Representative from 
Indiana, Todd Rokita.
  Mr. ROKITA. I thank Chairman Walker for organizing the time tonight, 
and I congratulate the gentleman on leading this organization. I look 
forward to working with him.
  Mr. Speaker, we could all stand up here and take the barbs that have 
been leveled by some as to how we don't care about people or how we are 
this or that or how we are just focused on the numbers. Nothing could 
be further from the truth. We could sit idly by and watch this 
terrible, insidious law continue to implode, to continue to hurt more 
and more Americans--insidious because it is built on lies, like you can 
keep your doctor if you want to, like you can keep your health plan if 
you want to--not true in any case. Instead, we are here tonight, 
talking with the American people about ``what could be'' when we first 
get rid of this terrible law--something that many of us have voted on 
60 times or more to do. We now have a real opportunity with not only a 
Republican House, but a Republican Senate, and with a President who is 
willing to work with us.
  The verdict is in. In Indiana alone and in my district, I have met 
person after person who has horror stories about the failure of 
ObamaCare.
  I spoke with Anna, whose husband, Jack, survived stage IV cancer. 
With Jack's cancer only having a 30 percent survival rate, it is 
crucial that he has effective doctors who know how to treat and how to 
work the problem. Instead, Anna's doctor quit practicing medicine--well 
before his planned retirement age--due to the burdensome costs of 
ObamaCare, which is something that the gentleman from Georgia also 
mentioned.
  It is not just doctors who are unable to perform their duties--their 
profession--under this insidious law, but also insurance companies that 
are withdrawing from the market as we speak. Last year alone, we saw 
Indiana's exchange lose 50 percent of its health insurance carriers due 
to regulations of ObamaCare. This included IU Health, which covered 
almost 30,000 Hoosiers. This lack of options means that healthy 
Hoosiers are being forced to pay for coverage that they don't want, 
that they don't need, and that, in fact, may do more harm than good.
  I spoke with Mark from Tippecanoe County, in my district, who talked 
about the harmful impact of ObamaCare. He stated that he was forced to 
buy insurance with only four doctors listed as providers for the entire 
county. What good does this insurance do Mark or the rest of us if he 
can't even use it and schedule an appointment?
  I am very proud to have worked on this Republican Study Committee 
with the Health Care Task Force, led by my good friend, Dr. Phil Roe of 
Tennessee. Over a period of a year or so, we have

[[Page H378]]

put together a plan that is a very real, patient-centered, consumer-
focused, free market-driven replacement for ObamaCare, but with one big 
difference--our plan would work because it harnesses the value that we 
all have innately as Americans and, really, as humans, which is the 
ability to value price once we have the information.
  If I left this Chamber and, God forbid, I broke my leg on my way down 
the steps, I wouldn't worry too much about where I was going--just to 
the nearest emergency room. But that is not most of our healthcare 
transactions; that is not most of our healthcare decisions. Most of our 
healthcare decisions can be made by attaching value to the services and 
products that we want. We do it in every other part of our consumer-
driven life. Why can't we finally do it with health care? That is what 
people like Dr. Phil Roe have practiced in medicine their entire lives. 
That is what he has taught me. That is what we know as American 
consumers. Why can't we be trusted to do that with our health care?
  Whether the intent is malicious, whether the intent is malign, the 
intent of the people who support ObamaCare--that insidious law--is 
wrong. It says: just give your life over to these few people, and let 
them run it for a while, and everything will be fine. Unfortunately, 
throughout not only American history, every time it has been tried here 
and every time it has been tried in world history, it has failed. 
Control over the individual has failed, and it will do the same, as we 
are seeing every day now, with regard to our health care.
  Let's repeal this insidious law, and let's get back on the track of 
replacing it with something that we all can trust, beginning with 
ourselves.
  I thank the chairman for his leadership.
  Mr. WALKER. I thank Representative Rokita.
  Mr. Speaker, as I was sitting here, I just received a text from a 
volunteer fire department official right outside of Charlotte, North 
Carolina. He writes that they were watching the proceedings this 
evening:

       I just want to let you know that even my drug prescription 
     has gone up $200 out of pocket per person.

  He has three daughters in his family.
  Think about this. This is real-life stuff. That is why we are 
stepping in. Part of our plan in the repeal and replacement--the 
American Health Care Reform Act--allows you to have immediate access to 
your health savings account. You would not have to worry about 
somebody's needing a prescription or somebody's needing medicine--one 
of the children--and, every time, it is $200 out of pocket. That is why 
it is important to move--and to move with diligence.
  Someone who knows a little bit about the healthcare industry is my 
friend Dr. Brian Babin of Texas, who has been dealing with this in his 
own dentist's practice. He is a former veteran and is someone who cares 
about his district but who cares about all Americans. It is my 
privilege to yield to my friend from the great State of Texas, the Lone 
Star State, Dr. Brian Babin.

  Mr. BABIN. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina, my good friend 
and RSC chairman, Mark Walker, for this Special Order opportunity 
tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans are hurting right now with their health care. 
ObamaCare supporters are quick to point out some Americans who have 
actually been helped by ObamaCare. After spending over $1 trillion of 
borrowed money, I would certainly hope that there are at least some 
people who have been helped by this terrible law that was forced on us 
over 6 years ago by the Democrats and without one single Republican 
vote.
  Thousands of my constituents are demanding to be rescued from 
ObamaCare. They have shared their individual stories with me about how 
it has hurt them--higher premiums, excessive deductibles--how it has 
disrupted cancer treatments, forced them to change doctors, and how it 
has even cost many their jobs.
  Here is what real people are saying--my constituents. This is what 
they are telling me:
  A young couple with three children, living in Tyler County, Texas, 
shared how their premiums have gone up year after year. They began with 
a $900 monthly premium and with a $2,500 deductible. The very next 
year, the premium went to $1,100, and the deductible went up to $5,000. 
Then, in 2015, they were forced from a PPO into an HMO at $1,000 a 
month with a $6,600 deductible. These are individual deductibles. That 
is $33,000, plus the $12,000-per-year premium. That is an extraordinary 
burden on a young family. This family tells me about their problem 
every time they see me, and they see me a lot because this is my 
daughter and my son-in-law and my three grandchildren.
  Gale in Deer Park, Texas, and Alisa from Crosby, Texas, wrote to tell 
me how their ObamaCare mandates have forced their employers to cut 
their work hours. They are losing hundreds of dollars in income each 
and every month. This 30-hour mandate means that this college student 
has lost out on hundreds of dollars in pay that she could have earned 
over the recent Christmas break.
  Tim in Baytown, along with several others, wrote to share with me 
that it cost him his job. Paul from Harris County and Frank in Jasper 
shared how they have been significantly experiencing higher costs and a 
decrease in coverage. Roy in Pasadena says that his deductible is now 
over $12,000. Ben and Carol, like thousands of others in southeast 
Texas, have had their healthcare plans canceled.
  This calamitous unaffordability and poor coverage have inundated 
folks everywhere, like Linda in Vidor, who have to choose between their 
medications and food; like folks in El Lago--David and Sheryl--and 
Brian in Houston. It continues to tragically affect folks every single 
day. Sharell from Jasper County has faced a doubling of her premiums, 
and Carol in Baytown shared how she has seen substantial increases in 
her premiums and her deductibles.
  Retirees who have worked their entire lives, like Jack from Orange 
and Glenda from Hardin County, wrote to tell me how they are finding it 
difficult to afford their healthcare costs. Let's not forget that 
ObamaCare cut hundreds of billions of dollars and services from 
Medicare, hurting the elderly.
  Many who are sick have reached out to me, such as Randal of Harris 
County, who had their medical treatments disrupted by ObamaCare. I hear 
all the time the firsthand accounts of hardworking folks who are at 
their wits' end under this monstrosity.
  I am voting to repeal ObamaCare in order to provide relief to Brian, 
Brad, LaLa, Gale, Alisa, Abby, Tim, Paul, Frank, Roy, Linda, David, 
Sheryl, Brian, Sharell, Carol, Jack, Glenda, Randal, and the tens of 
thousands more Texans just like them.
  Perhaps Paul in Deer Park sums it up the best:

       It made it worse for me. It increased the costs, and it 
     decreased my coverage.

  That is the story I have heard for 6 long years, and it is why this 
failed program must be repealed and replaced with a plan that restores 
healthcare freedom to all Americans--health plans that are affordable 
and that meet their families' needs--a plan that they choose, not the 
Federal Government. Americans need relief now.
  Mr. WALKER. I thank Dr. Babin. I appreciate that spirited, heartfelt 
talk. In my previous vocation, we would usually call for an invitation 
at about this time.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not just a problem in red States; this is a 
problem in blue States, like it is with my good friend from the First 
District of California, Representative Doug LaMalfa, to whom I yield as 
he shares a little bit of his heart when it comes to ObamaCare and the 
repeal.
  Mr. LaMALFA. I really want to thank Chairman Walker of the RSC, the 
Republican Study Committee. I greatly appreciate the gentleman's 
leadership on this event here tonight as well as the great job the 
gentleman is doing on the Committee.
  Mr. Speaker, we have had alternatives to the Affordable Care Act ever 
since I have been here. The American Health Care Reform Act, as put 
forward by the Republican Study Committee, has many of the elements we 
have all been talking about for several years: with the Affordable Care 
Act being forced upon Americans not in a bipartisan effort but strictly 
by the votes of one party when they had the majority--the ability--to 
force it

[[Page H379]]

through. We are suffering the effects of that now.
  One of my colleagues earlier was talking about: Why isn't this being 
reported? Why isn't this being talked about in the broad sense of how 
it is really affecting the Americans who are paying for it?
  People in my district, ever since I have been a Member of this House, 
have been pleading with us to do something about these high premiums, 
about the high deductibles, about the lack of access they have, 
especially in rural areas. Why are the proponents continuing to prop 
this up? It is clear that it doesn't work: higher costs, fewer options, 
unworkable plans. The exchanges--we have watched in several States--
most of them, after billions in investment, are shuttering; they are 
closing up shop. Where do those billions go that we have invested as a 
country into these exchanges?

                              {time}  1945

  But on a patient level, it is putting even more of our most 
vulnerable patients on a system already known to be unsustainable 
without even ensuring access to quality care. In some cases, no care at 
all.
  How are people defining that as a success?
  We know that the main reason why so many people are uninsured is the 
high cost of coverage. But instead of investing vast amounts of money 
to bring more people into a broken system, let's take this opportunity 
to start fixing the root of the problem.
  One, this is done by increasing competition, giving patients more 
options, choices. Mr. Speaker, give them a menu of options they can 
pick themselves, tailor the plan to what they need. A 20-year-old young 
man has a completely different need than a 30-year-old mom and her 
family. Let them have the choices.
  Also, let's get rid of the costly mandates, the taxes. There are 
taxes on everything, it seems, to help prop up ObamaCare, the 
Affordable Care Act, including the cost for students for college. They 
are paying for some of that.
  Then let's build off successes that we have seen in the past and that 
are part of the proposal of the Republican Study Committee and the 
American Healthcare Reform Act. That could help fill our gaps in the 
healthcare delivery system.
  Community health centers, for example, is a model that is both cost 
effective and efficient in expanding access to care services in 
underserved areas, very rural ones, such as my own district at home.
  Healthcare reform affects the lives of every single person in this 
country, which is why it is high time that we put the health and well-
being of the American people ahead of partisan politics and legacies.
  Let's get to work and deliver actual solutions that empower patients, 
drive down the costs, and increase access to care in every part of the 
country. Let's give back to Americans: ``Keep your plan that you like, 
keep your doctor that you like.''
  So it is time to stop the partisan squabbling over it and the 
deception that has gone on for what is indeed for some a bad legacy of 
the American people.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Yoho), our resident veterinarian in the House.
  Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
Walker) for hosting this Special Order. The American people have 
spoken, and it is time. The ACA, the Affordable Care Act--which it is 
not, and we know that.
  I want to take you back, a little history here. Back prior to 2009, 
before the Affordable Care Act came out, 85 percent of the people in 
America had health insurance either through their employer or on their 
own. Fifteen percent did not have health insurance.
  Yet, Congress, in their infinite wisdom, instead of fixing it for the 
15 percent and getting them into the pool of people that had health 
insurance, said: No; we are going to change it. We are going to change 
it and disrupt the whole healthcare market and 20 percent of our 
economy.
  This is the epitome of legislative malpractice. This Congress was 
controlled by one party, the Democratic Party, through the House, the 
Senate, and the executive branch. They passed a 2,900-page bill at the 
end of the year that nobody read. You can't do that in any other 
business without going to jail.
  President Obama sold us a bill of goods on a lie. If you want to keep 
your doctor or your insurance, you can and your price will go down 
$2,500.
  Let me share three real-life stories. One was a 54-year-old man that 
came into our office, single, making a six-figure income, could afford 
insurance. He was going through the exchange. He changed his plan and 
wanted to pay for it right then. They said: Don't worry about it, we 
will send you a bill. They never sent him a bill, and his insurance got 
canceled. He could not buy insurance because it was through the 
exchange and the sign-up period had expired. He got fined whatever the 
fine was. He got fined trying to do the right thing.
  Another one is a friend of mine who owns a restaurant franchise. He 
has 500 employees. He says: I can't afford to pay for the health 
insurance. So he moved people from working 32 or 40 hours a week down 
to 26 hours.
  I could tell you a real personal story about a couple I know real 
well. They came to Congress. Their policy got canceled. Their premiums 
went up by over $11,000. Their deductibles went up and their coverage 
went down. I know that couple real well because it is my wife and 
myself.
  The American people have spoken and given us the majority for a 
reason, and that is to fix health care and allow the best healthcare 
providers, the best medicine, the best research and the institutions in 
America to provide that for all Americans and deliver that care to all 
Americans.
  The Republican Congress has a better way, and it starts with putting 
health care back into the hands of the physicians to the patients. It 
has a better way increasing access, the cure, the quality at a lower 
cost with a stable transition so no one is left out. And it starts with 
the repeal of ObamaCare.
  I appreciate Chairman Walker doing this. This is a message we are 
going to drive home and home and home. We are going to fix this, and 
the American people will be better off and our economy will be better 
off.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, we talk about numbers. Twenty-five percent 
of all Americans have been damaged at some point under this Affordable 
Care Act. We cannot look the other way.
  One gentleman who doesn't look the other way but stands up and speaks 
the truth is Representative Pete Olson.
  I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Olson).
  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, my friend knows the American people spoke on 
November 8th. They gave our party control of the entire Congress and 
the White House because of the job-killing, promise-breaking law known 
as ObamaCare.

  This was a repeal mission for almost 7 years, but now it has become a 
rescue mission. It is to rescue Americans like Andrea from my home in 
Texas in the 22nd Congressional District.
  She wrote me this letter last week:
  ``I'm a 42 year-old legally blind single parent in Sugar Land, self-
employed working very hard to rear two great kids ages 15 and 13. I 
have a master's degree in education and work extremely hard to provide 
a stable, comfortable life for the kids. In doing so, I have invested 
time and money into my own healthcare because the kids need me to be 
healthy.
  ``I lost my right eye a few years ago to complications from ROP (too 
much oxygen at birth) and my left eye is severely impaired with 
potential for complications that would need immediate specialized care.
  ``I have different specialist doctors for different issues related to 
each eye. Additionally, I am a kidney cancer survivor (RCC) which also 
requires specialist follow-up. For those reasons, and others, I've 
spent time and effort getting drivers to take me to specialists to 
develop rapport, trust, and history with specific physicians.
  ``They are the best doctors in their respected fields, and my trust 
in them is important with this type of care.
  ``I don't have the PPO option now for my healthcare in 2016 through 
the ACA. The HMO's and EPO's being offered are not being accepted by my 
doctors.
  `` . . . among the needs of many others in similar situations as my 
own,

[[Page H380]]

my remaining eyesight and renal function should never be less important 
than anything in politics. And while I know that there are many, many 
people in this same boat, for today, while I write this letter, it's 
about my kids getting to keep their mom and about me keeping the 
ability to see them grow up.
  ``I write because it needs to be said and needs to be heard and needs 
to be ACTED on.
  `` . . . in the past I've paid a lot and had my share of insurance 
issues, but at least I could choose my own doctor. At least in crisis 
(which I've had) I went straight to the doctor who knew me and my 
history and they could resolve it without a referral and delay after 
delay after delay.
  ``HMO might work for some, but not for those who don't want one.
  ``I'm not asking for a hand-out. I am asking for reasonable choice of 
a basic PPO for which I have paid for in past and am asking to have the 
option to pay for now. I'm not writing just to vent--I'm asking for 
some kind of solution to this train wreck of healthcare options or lack 
thereof.
  ``If President Obama thinks this is actually working, he's more blind 
than me.''
  Andrea, we have a plan to help you up. It is called A Better Way. How 
about this: Allow coverage across state lines, expand opportunities for 
pooling, make coverage portable, Medicare laws reformed, and 
preexisting condition protections.
  That is a better way. That is what the American people deserve. We 
will keep fighting for Andrea and people like her.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, who better to close out our Special Order 
than a gentleman, a doctor who has employed hundreds of people and has 
worked with thousands of patients?
  You may have heard the false narrative that, yes, we have contributed 
in breaking the program, from the Democrat's perspective, and you guys 
need to fix it, but you don't have a plan.
  Well, that is a false narrative and here to tell you why is Dr. Phil 
Roe.
  I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe).
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I stand here in the well of the 
House tonight remembering 8 years ago when I stood here. I am the only 
one, other than Pete Olson, that was here that has spoken tonight.
  I actually left my medical practice of 31 years. I have been a 
physician--it is hard to believe--46 years. I ran for Congress because 
I wanted to be involved in the healthcare debate. I realize that the 
American people needed healthcare reform.
  One of the most disappointing things I have had since I have been in 
the U.S. Congress was, when I showed up here, I naively thought that 
people cared what I thought. I found out I was wrong about that.
  We had nine physicians in the Doctors Caucus on the Republican side 
in 2009, and not one of us was asked one thing about that healthcare 
bill. Not one Republican amendment to that bill that would have made it 
better was ruled in order.
  So it was passed on one-party rule, and now the Democrat party owns 
it. Unfortunately, patients own it. And that is what I came here to do, 
was to try to help people.
  I had spent 31 years of my life in the small town of Johnson City, 
Tennessee, practicing medicine and trying to do a good job for patients 
that I saw every single day.
  You have heard it many times before: If you liked your doctor, you 
can keep it. We are going to reduce your premiums by $2,500.
  The President also said that I will go over this bill line by line 
with anyone who wants to. We asked to do that on multiple occasions, 
and I am still waiting for my cell phone to ring.
  So we have heard over and over and over again that the Republicans 
have no ideas. Two Congresses ago we were challenged and asked to write 
a Republican alternative to the Affordable Care Act, and we did just 
that.
  I want to show you out there tonight--those of you who are watching--
this is the bill right here. It is a 184-page bill. You can read it in 
an hour or so or less than that.
  I read the entire Affordable Care Act. I felt like I should. I didn't 
pass it and see what was in it. I actually read it ahead of time.
  We had healthcare reform in Tennessee in the nineties called 
TennCare. I wrote the epitaph on this bill with Marsha Blackburn in 
2010, if anyone is interested in reading that.

  So what did we do with this bill?
  With the Affordable Care Act, the Federal Government said: You will 
purchase 10 essential health benefits or your insurance is no good. You 
have to get rid of it.
  And this 10 essential health benefits cost, in many cases, is a lot 
of money.
  Then what do we do?
  We passed a tax, a mandate, a fine, a penalty, whatever Judge Roberts 
decided he wanted to decide that it was, or define it, I should say. 
But here we are passing a mandate for people to purchase something they 
can't afford. I find that astonishing that you tax people for something 
they cannot buy.
  So what our bill did was repeal the Affordable Care Act. It then 
massively expanded health savings accounts. Look, there are Indian 
tribes out there that use the Indian Health Service that can't have an 
HSA. There are disabled veterans that can't have an HSA. There are 
retired people that can't have HSAs. We expanded that. I have used them 
in my own practice for patients. I use one myself.
  We used high-risk pools, and we expanded ERISA benefits to help 
offset preexisting conditions. Quite frankly, I think in two paragraphs 
I could have done two-thirds of what the Affordable Care Act did, which 
is expand Medicaid, which is a system that needs to be reformed, and 
allowed 26-year-olds to stay on their parents healthcare plan.

                              {time}  2000

  We also allow you to buy across State lines with association health 
plans, malpractice reforms, and transparency. It is a very simple, 
patient-centered bill. We have said this before, our bill is open for 
amendment. If a Democrat has a good idea, I am open to listen to it. 
The main thing is I want patients and doctors to be in charge of their 
healthcare decisions.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight, and I 
look forward to going into much more detail about the details of this 
particular bill.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, the bottom line to the American people is 
this: it is time to return healthcare choices to the American people.
  God bless and good night.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________