[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]
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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