[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 12 (Monday, January 23, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H594-H599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FIXING OUR NATION'S HEALTH CARE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, tonight, what I would like to do is engage
the American people on several subjects. I will be speaking for quite a
bit of time tonight on the health care issue facing America.
Mr. Speaker, before I get there, I yield to the gentleman from
Nebraska (Mr. Fortenberry), a very dear friend of mine.
Windswept Plains of Nebraska
Mr. FORTENBERRY. Mr. Speaker, first, let me thank the chairman for
yielding, but, more importantly, for his extraordinarily hard work as
chairman of the Rules Committee. I don't think a lot of people are
aware just how critical his job is in shepherding and guiding order in
our institution here. So I am grateful for his hard work, most grateful
for his friendship, and very grateful for his leadership. I thank him
so much for the time.
Mr. Speaker, when Presidents give their inaugural addresses, we are
very accustomed to lofty narratives, to visionary ideals, and to
sweeping language. But last Friday, President Trump spoke very
differently. The only sweeping thing in the President's speech was his
reference to the windswept plains of Nebraska. Of course, when I heard
that, I perked up.
President Trump's speech was a striking and direct call for a new,
healthy nationalism. He spoke to the people, about the people, and for
the people. A certain awkwardness marked the beginning of his speech,
not only because of the initial confrontational style from the outset,
but it also began to rain as the President started, creating a bit of
an uncomfortable moment. But then the rain suddenly stopped and his
speech gained momentum. He discussed, in hard terms, some of the stark
realities we are facing and how they might be resolved for our country.
Mr. Speaker, we all know this, that defining problems is an easy
task, but finding solutions is much harder. While President Trump's
speech lacked specifics in that regard, nonetheless, there was
extraordinary power in the attempt to articulate an America that has
been lost to globalized supply-side elitism, an America that has been
lost to drugs and crime, and an America that has systems that no longer
seem to serve all persons. It just seems that no matter how hard
individuals work, they just can't get ahead.
Mr. Speaker, our President's speech was an authoritative call for a
new national unity, particularly for those forgotten. The idea that
America can do better, that we must do better, and that we will do
better for everyone was clearly conveyed by President Trump.
I recognize the tone of this speech will not have universal appeal.
It was to the point, direct, and firm. It was not a delicate, textured
speech. But the President was clear when he declared: ``The American
carnage stops right here and stops right now.''
Mr. Speaker, we are witnessing a renewed and important and essential
focus on reviving America's economy. The multinational corporations of
this world are on notice: they cannot play both sides of the balance
sheet, being for us and against us at the same time, and the benefits
of exchange will have to be fair for all. Frankly, I believe this
creates possibilities, possibilities for authentic relationships with
peoples around the world rather than a transactional one. If this
objective can be achieved, it will be constructive indeed. A healthy
American nationalism will lead to properly ordered international
engagement--for our benefit and the benefit of others.
Mr. Speaker, when the President spoke before the entirety of our
government, he also spoke before the House of Representatives. The
President's authoritative style, communicating the desire to devolve
power from Washington as well as Wall Street, interestingly repositions
Congress to its appropriate role in governing society through the power
of the people.
Mr. Speaker, it is statistically shown that the majority of Americans
believe that it is the job of Congress to do whatever the President
says. This is not true. Congress is an independent, coequal branch of
government that makes the law, which is interpreted by the judiciary
and enforced by the President. But across Democratic and across
Republican executive administrations more and more power has been taken
by the executive and has been ceded by Congress. This balance of power,
this necessary balance of power, this original idea of the balance of
power, has been out of balance for 100 years, and perhaps now a
realignment begins.
[[Page H595]]
Mr. Speaker, whether you love President Trump or you loathe him, or
whether you are someplace in between with certain apprehensions but
hoping that President Trump succeeds, Friday, Inauguration Day, was an
extraordinary American day. What we saw was the successful and peaceful
transfer of power.
Mr. Speaker, with that, I want to thank, again, my good friend, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions), for yielding to me.
Mr. SESSIONS. I thank the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Fortenberry)
not only for taking time today to discuss the important things that he
has on his mind, but also for sharing with the American people his
ideas about where our country is and where we are headed with the new
Presidency, a new Senate, and a new House of Representatives.
Tonight, Mr. Speaker, I rise to talk about the current state of our
Nation's healthcare system.
Mr. Speaker, tonight I am given this time as a result of the majority
leader, Mr. McCarthy. He has given me time to talk about an important
issue that faces not only our country, but also elected Members of the
House of Representatives and the United States Senate and the President
of the United States, our new President, President Trump.
As each of us is aware, the issue of health care is one of the most
important issues that has been faced in our Nation for many years. Back
in 2009, President Obama began the search that he talked about for what
was called an Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act seemed to be
a promise to make health care better. It seemed to be a word, in the
words of the President, an Affordable Care Act that would help all
Americans to receive health care on a fair basis and one that would be
sustainable.
The President stood before this body several times and talked about
his ideas about health care. It took about a year, maybe a little bit
more, for the Democratic Congress to work through this issue. On or
about March 21 or 22, 2010, a bill popped out of the United States
Senate, came to the House of Representatives, and we handled the matter
here up in the Rules Committee, brought it to the floor, passed it with
debate, no opposition--no opposition, meaning Republicans were not
allowed to present an alternative case, a bill. It was a closed rule.
And the Democrats passed it and went to the White House the next day,
March 23, 2010, and signed the bill.
{time} 1930
The American people had grave reservations about that, but what
happened is that it took several years in which they were working
through this process. We did not know exactly what would happen; but,
almost immediately, hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of spending
would take place and taxes would take place. What the President did and
what the Democrat Party did is they tied health care directly to
employers and put mandates on top of employers and mandates on top of
individuals with the belief that individuals would be forced into
taking what was then ObamaCare--health care--under the Affordable Care
Act.
What has happened over the years, including as we stand today, is
that only some 12 to 20 million people are on ObamaCare at any one
time. That is because the system that was devised and run by the
Affordable Care Act is a system that does not work well. It is very
expensive. It provides limited benefits. And perhaps worst of all, the
promise that it would make health care available and better for poorer
people never materialized as they sold it. In fact, healthcare
providers are reimbursed 50 percent less than from normal insurance;
meaning that, while you may have some bit of coverage, the people who
would accept that health care are hard to find.
It is true that many times you could find someone who is a GP--
someone who is a family physician, someone who is an internist who
might take what is known as ObamaCare--but if he found something that
might be wrong or needed to refer that individual, it was very
difficult to do. In my hometown of Dallas, Texas, major hospitals do
not take what is known as ObamaCare under the Affordable Care Act, and
it is because of this problem that it is a false promise for the people
who are on it.
Members of Congress are legally required to be on ObamaCare if we
accept the health care from our providers, but President Obama did not
ask anyone else in government to fall under the same opportunities that
we would have as Members of Congress. Over the years, it became a
festering point--a sore--among not only those who were paying the
costs, but also those who were on it saw it as a concrete life
preserver, one that did not live up to its billing. Repeatedly,
businesses would come to the House of Representatives--to Members of
Congress--and say to us: This law is not only not working, it is
causing us to make full-time employees become part-time employees
because we cannot either pay or do not want to or do not have the
ability to follow all of the requirements of the law.
We here in America saw not only dwindling opportunities for
employment, but we also saw the skyrocketing cost--from taxes, from
behavior that did not help health care. So Republicans, yes, and the
American people began talking about some way that we could isolate
health care to where we would have our friends who were Democrats want
to accept one of these opportunities to fix this broken system. Over
the years, Republicans offered some 60 different alternative votes--
piece parts, rifle shots--that said we want to fix ObamaCare, the
Affordable Care Act. We picked 60 different things about the bill that
were either incomplete, that did not live up to the billing, that
caused bad behavior, or that simply were tremendously anticompetitive
in their nature.
It was a lonely few years.
As the chairman of the House Rules Committee, day after day, we would
seek opportunities for our colleagues to come join us to present their
ideas, and they not only disagreed with us, but they chastised us. We
kept going. We kept offering alternatives to a healthcare system that
was not working.
Mr. Speaker, what happened is the American people soon saw, as we
came close to another election, that we were going to have to ask the
American people to be a part of the solution. We had tried in
Washington, D.C. We had over 60 votes and we had made it a regular part
of our discussion. Republicans, each time, had better ideas, better
alternatives--ways to take 60 different pieces and trade them out so
that we could better this terrible law that was not working.
Then came the election. With the election, one of the most key and
cleanest issues that was discussed was not only the repeal of
ObamaCare, but the promise that Republicans would replace it also. For
the past 4 or 5 years, Republicans have had a talking point that we
want to repeal and to replace the healthcare system that was known as
ObamaCare.
Mr. Speaker, that is why I am here tonight--to talk about Republican
ideas that we think are better for health care and ideas that we think
will work not only in a marketplace, but that will be able to be used
by a vast number of people here in America. It will not be something
that is use it or lose it, as health care many times is. It will be
sustainable. Perhaps, more importantly, there will be the ability for
families to get what they want and to not have to pay for what they do
not need. It passed on March 21 by a vote of 219-212. No Republican
supported the Affordable Care Act, but every Republican understands
that health care is important to families. It is important that a
family takes the responsibility and tries to cover its family.
Tonight, as I speak with you about where we are in health care, I
want to include the words that come from Dallas, Texas--my home--of the
families whom I have gotten to know and of the families who have
communicated with me, because, as their Member of Congress, I am
expected not only to listen, but to try and work for their betterment.
I am probably no different than hundreds of other Members of Congress
who come to Washington every week with a message.
This is from Julie Ross of Dallas, Texas, with her two beautiful
children. This is a very high-level conversation in which she says:
Now that my daughter is at home and thriving--who was in
the hospital--we depend upon these protections to provide
[[Page H596]]
health care for her complex healthcare needs.
ObamaCare did not meet those needs; but as a Member of Congress, if I
am going to talk about repealing, I need to also, forthrightly, talk
about replacing what is a bad healthcare law with a better healthcare
alternative. Republicans have better ideas to fix health care, and I am
going to speak about these.
The first thing I would like to speak about is the reality that about
150 million Americans have an opportunity to receive their health care
on a pretax basis. That means that our employers and our employees who
work for large companies have a chance to get their health care without
paying for it on an after-tax basis. I pay about $13,000 myself out of
pocket for my health care. My employer pays essentially what is a 70-30
split, but that entire amount is on a pretax basis. The 1943 employer-
sponsored insurance exemption and the 21st Century Cures, which we just
passed this last December, allow businesses an opportunity to provide
their employees with pretax health insurance. Pretax health insurance
means that they are able to deduct the contributions that they make for
their employees, and employees are allowed to receive this as a
benefit.
However, this, I believe, is part of what we have known for a long
time as being an unfair, rigged system. It is a system that says, if
you work for one of these larger companies, you will get that tax
advantage; but if you do not--if you are self-employed, if you are an
entrepreneur, if you are a 941-type employee, meaning perhaps you are a
real estate agent who is self-employed or perhaps you work for a small
company--then you are not offered this pretax opportunity. It is
probably true that you could deduct that amount next April. As you pay
your taxes, you would file if you qualified based upon the amount of
money that you spent.
Mr. Speaker, this right here is the disadvantage for about 100
million Americans. They do not receive what 150 million other Americans
do, and that is to get their health care on a pretax basis. I have
worked now for some 2 years with some 500 physicians who are across the
country. We have worked on a system that would allow every single
American not only to have better health care, but to have an
opportunity to participate on a fair basis.
The gentleman from Lubbock, Texas (Mr. Arrington) will participate
with me tonight and will speak about how important this is for him.
Mr. ARRINGTON. I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) for
yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about something that is near and dear to
my heart and to the hearts of my constituents.
It has been 44 years since Roe v. Wade. Since then, 58 million
precious American lives have been aborted. The Supreme Court got it
wrong when it violated its authority by creating a constitutional right
to abortion. To make matters worse, the Federal Government is now using
our taxpayer dollars to subsidize these abortions. Tomorrow we will
have the opportunity to put a stop to this. This is an area in which
the Constitution, my constituents, and my conviction will not allow me
to budge.
I believe that all life is ordained by God and begins at conception,
as the psalmists so eloquently said: ``for You created my inward parts.
You knit me together in my mother's womb.'' Our Constitution clearly
defines that all Americans--even those who cannot vote, who cannot
speak or defend themselves--have the same right to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand with me in support of H.R.
7; but, most importantly, I plead with them to stand up for generations
of Americans yet unborn.
I thank the gentleman again.
{time} 1945
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Arrington), one of our brand new freshman from Lubbock, Texas. Jodey
not only comes from the high plains of Lubbock, a young man who has
given great service to the State of Texas, but he also comes as our
newest member from the Texas delegation who stands not only with the
principles of that district, but with the principle of caring about
other people. I thank the gentleman for letting his voice be heard
about what will be a bill that will be before the House of
Representatives tomorrow.
Mr. Speaker, continuing our discussion about health care and
Republican ideas. Back in 2013, some 4.7 million Americans that had
their own health care were knocked off that health care because it
didn't qualify in the way that President Obama and Democrats wanted to
have a comprehensive healthcare plan. So it knocked off 4.7 million
Americans, and what it did is it placed America into a circumstance
where we began looking for options and alternatives about how we would
insure the uninsured.
We were told: Just watch and wait. This Affordable Care Act is going
to make sure that it takes every single American and gives them an
affordable healthcare plan.
Here is what happened, Mr. Speaker. We found out that we still have
some 30 million people in this country--now in the sixth year of
ObamaCare--that do not have coverage. We have learned that about 49
percent of those who are insured work for employers, about 20 percent
of the marketplace is Medicaid, about 14 percent is Medicare, but we
still have some 9 percent who were uninsured.
We then find out that what happened is that the Federal Government
decided that insurance was not working, so we had coops that were
invented out of the Affordable Care Act. Seventeen out of the 23 coops
have now gone into bankruptcy. They could not provide the services that
the Affordable Care Act was just so sure, with government-run programs,
would work; and they wiped out almost unilaterally every single
insurance plan where they came in. I don't know if it was just because
they undercut them, but what they did is provided a false indicator for
people.
Well, the Federal Government is here. Barack Obama and Democrats now
have a healthcare plan for every single American. Only a few short
years later, they are gone. They are gone from the marketplace after
wiping out the insurance that was there.
Perhaps worst of all, as they left, there was a requirement by the
Obama administration that somebody had to come and renew insurance,
even late in the year, or they would receive a $2,000 penalty because
they did not have insurance at the end of the year.
Mr. Speaker, this is what the insured and the uninsured look like. A
gentleman from Dallas, Texas, Kennis Ketchum told us: I am being
penalized for being an entrepreneur. I am in here, and I want to be in
here. I want to be able to go and to allow myself to be in insurance,
but I cannot afford it because I do not have the tax advantage.
So Republicans finally have the chance for our ideas that we believe
are bigger and better. We have a chance to do, I think, what we have
wanted to do for a long time; and that is to repeal the Affordable Care
Act, but with the promise that we need to make sure that we replace it
with something better.
What does this mean?
Well, I will tell you what it means, Mr. Speaker. What it means is
that Republicans are going to understand that a simple plan that can be
paid for literally with the existing dollars that are in health care
today and authorized by law--some $1.2 trillion that exists in law and
authorized today--can be utilized for a healthcare system to take care
of each and every American. I would like to describe that.
First of all, it is important for us to understand that of the
uninsured in this country, 74 percent work. That means that people that
are no different than me and you, Mr. Speaker, get up and go to work to
the best of their ability. It might be that they don't have all the
advantages of education that I have. It could be that they have
something in their life that might be an impediment. It could be some
sort of perhaps what might be a difference or a disability. I
understand this. I have a son that has Down syndrome. Alex is not
really capable of taking care of himself, so he is not necessarily one
of these that would qualify for what we know as the alternative to
ObamaCare.
There are millions who do need the help, who do want and need
insurance and not insurance that is like the Affordable Care Act
because we know
[[Page H597]]
that reimburses at 50 percent less than insurance, some 25 percent less
than Medicaid, a plan that limits the number of physicians and
healthcare professionals that a person can see. No.
The American people need something that they can count on. They need
something that is better, that provides better reimbursement to where
virtually every hospital would take their plan instead of a few, where
four times as many doctors would take their plan, their insurance as
opposed to them being on ObamaCare. These people who want and seek
health care need a plan that is worthy of the representation that would
be given to them, and that is the Republican idea.
So Republicans have a chance, an opportunity. Just one of the ideas
is to allow the healthcare tax benefits to be consistent with those of
every American who works for a large company.
You see, there are two ways to look at this. One might be a high
standard deduction that an employee or a person would be able to take
and buy health insurance and, next April, be able to write that off, so
to speak, as a pretax deduction. You know the problem with that and so
do I. Seventy-four percent of the people who are uninsured do not have
the money to buy health care. Seventy-four percent of the people who
are uninsured might not have enough money to be able to go buy
insurance and wait all year long to get back their money next April
when they file their taxes.
So one of the ideas that I have--and I shared this plan with Senator
Bill Cassidy from Louisiana--is that what we would like to do is to
provide a $2,500 tax credit for adults and a $1,500 tax credit for
dependent children that would be advanceable, assignable, and
refundable.
What would this mean?
This would mean that this year every single American that did not
receive the tax advantage--the tax advantage like I receive and some
150 million Americans receive by getting their health care on a pretax
basis--would have an opportunity to go online. They would be able to go
online and look at the insurance in their area, and they would be able
to receive this benefit, this tax advantage. It would not ever come to
them. It would go directly to their insurance program.
They would be able to take, for a family of four, some $8,000. They
would be able to use this first $8,000--the exact same tax advantage
that Pete Sessions and 150 million other Americans get--January 1st of
next year and to assign this $8,000 to their healthcare plan.
They could decide they wanted more, and they would be able to do that
on a pretax basis also up to $5,000. They could decide that they would
like perhaps to get a plan that would be at their local hospital. That
is fine. They could decide that they would like to have what is called
a health savings account, an HSA, which, more generally, is an
opportunity for them to control their costs. This is very attractive
for young people and advantageous for young people because they would
be able to control their costs and roll these advantages or savings
over year after year after year as opposed to losing what they had
saved or, at the beginning of the year, starting back over.
Republicans have an opportunity to make things fair. I think this is
what President Trump talked about when he was candidate Trump. I think
he talked about a rigged system. When you have a system where 150
million Americans get a tax advantage and you don't, you would describe
that as a rigged system.
So Republicans, at least one of the proposals that is out there--
because it is Senator Cassidy's and mine, known as the World's Greatest
Healthcare Plan--employs an opportunity where up front we allow every
single American to have health care January 1 that is superior in
nature to whatever they had with ObamaCare.
It allows the purchase of a nongovernment plan and it allows each
individual, if they choose, to go to a health savings account.
What is a health savings account?
A health savings account is a well-known product whereby a family
would be able to get what is called major medical coverage. They
actually, as part of their plan, would make sure that, if they were in
the hospital or a member of their family was in the hospital, they
would have to cover the first $5,000, but that the insurance plan then
that they could find about affording out of this $8,000 for a family of
four would give them a chance then to have either a 90/10, 80/20, or
70/30 contribution. Meaning they could decide what they wanted to
afford based upon their age, based upon their risk, based upon their
own circumstances. But they, as a consumer, would be able to make sure
that they are taken care of if they go in the hospital.
Then that contribution, to the level that they would choose--either
they would pay 30 percent or 20 percent or 10 percent for expenses past
$10,000--gave them the coverage that they need in the marketplace.
Maybe it is a baby. Maybe it is major surgery. Maybe it is cancer. But
they would receive hospital coverage.
Then with the remaining amount of money, they could then put that
into a health savings account and use cash for their doctor's visits.
Cash is king. Cash is also the most economical way to get your health
care because you go and actually, instead of negotiating with a doctor
or looking at what your insurance company negotiated, you negotiate
paying that person today instead of the doctor having to file insurance
and go through the necessary elements to receive their money back.
You go to the doctor you choose. You pay for what you want. You pay
for those things that you have made a decision, and you pay out of your
cash account. It is the most leading edge, fastest way to get health
care in America, and, generally speaking, it is 18 percent cheaper.
Mr. Speaker, these are but one of the ideas that Republicans bring to
the table.
{time} 2000
And it is why I can stand up, as chairman of the Rules Committee,
when my colleagues say: oh, you are going to take away something that
people had with the Affordable Care Act. And I say: you know, I think
we have got a better way to look at it.
Instead of only some 27 out of 100 doctors being available to you as
a patient, I would like to double or quadruple that. I would like for
you to be able to make your own decisions, and, in the long run, you
will be better.
But there is more to the story. And the more to the story is, what
this will do is allow a robust marketplace where, instead of forcing
people to go into a system and then penalizing them, we encourage
people to go into a system and encourage them to be not only consumers,
and not only to take care of themselves, but to help everybody out
because it helps the curve.
It helps people get in of all ages, of all needs, of all types back
into the marketplace automatically January 1st. Didn't have to guess at
how much money they were going to make; didn't have to worry about
whether they got laid off; didn't have to go check with the IRS; didn't
have to ask Uncle Sam.
We are automatically giving the tax advantage by virtue of them being
American and us doing the right thing off the existing money that
exists in ObamaCare and health care today.
Mr. Speaker, that is a better idea. That is a better opportunity for
us, as Republicans, to go back home, and, no matter who we want to look
at, we can say: we get it. We do get that you want and need health
care, that we want and need America to have the greatest healthcare
system in the world, but we need to make sure we can pay for it. And it
should not restrict business. It should not come and tell a business or
a group of people what they will--how they will tie themselves together
with their health care and their job that makes absolutely no sense.
I know we were told that is the way it would happen, but it did not.
It became a concrete life preserver for employees, employers, and for
the marketplace.
So, Mr. Speaker, this health insurance tax advantage is but one of
the ideas that is available to the American people and to the
Republican Party as part of the world's greatest healthcare system.
I believe that we need a very disciplined approach. I believe that we
need to be thoughtful. I believe that we need every single Member of
Congress to understand what kind of healthcare system America deserves,
not only for the physicians and the hospitals back
[[Page H598]]
home but for the real live people who are called constituents. And we
as Members of Congress should know, the day we pass a bill, how we
intend it to work.
My colleagues, the Democrats, for 6 years have bumbled around and,
even today, don't even understand, nor will they admit, what a disaster
ObamaCare is. So, the American people did it for them.
The American people voted in Donald J. Trump. They voted in
Republicans to the House in the majority. They voted in Republicans to
the Senate. And now we are in Washington, and we are going to struggle.
We are going to struggle mightily. We are going to throw ideas onto the
wall. We are going to have committee hearings. We are going to have the
best thought process.
We are going to be able to go back home and to sell to the American
people not only some of the ideas that I have but some of the ideas
that my colleagues have. And we are going to come up with a better
healthcare system.
So what we are about is fix the system before we repeal it. I believe
it is wise to say that Republicans owe it to the American people to
say: before we go replacing something--before we repeal something,
let's replace it. And more and more and more and more of my colleagues
are saying this openly. It only makes sense.
We have nothing to fear with a Republican option and an alternative
that will be superior for the American people, and every single person
will be able to see that. We believe establishing a Republican
alternative that can be implemented this year is the best answer.
Now, this is my idea. My idea is, let's go get it on. We know what we
are doing. Let's go hold our hearings. Let's go to the American people.
Let's sell the ideas that we have got. Let's go move forward and get
this process on.
Secondly, we believe that what we have got to do is use
reconciliation to repeal the most onerous mandates. What might those
be? Well, the individual and the business mandate, the Cadillac tax.
We believe that we have got to go and use the processes, the leverage
that we have got. And then we have got to count on what I hope will be
the gentleman from Georgia, Tom Price, who is today the chairman of the
Budget Committee, but tomorrow has been nominated to be the Secretary
of Health and Human Services.
We will count on Dr. Tom Price actually sitting in the seat, looking
at the exact same law that was overwhelmingly voted by Democrats and no
Republicans, and using those levers that he has that were expressly
given to the head of HHS to make wise decisions on how to implement the
law as we move forward.
I will tell you, Chairman Price, as a physician with a long history
of understanding health care, as a provider of health care for years,
as an awesome physician, Tom Price knows the problems, and he will use
those same opportunities that exist in the law today. Instead of it
being something that would be more difficult for a consumer, more
difficult for a person on ObamaCare, more difficult for what might be
an employer, more difficult and time consuming for a consumer, more
costly to the consumers of this country, but, perhaps worst of all,
making it harder to provide better health care for a patient, Tom Price
will have that opportunity.
So this is a three-tier process for Republicans, for us to also bring
the best ideas. The American people should be checking with their
Member of Congress who will be able to understand the Republican
alternative. This is great for the American people to know.
We are going to use the levers of laws to change them, to repeal and
take back the most onerous parts of ObamaCare, and we are going to work
within the law that Mr. Price, as head of HHS, would be able to use
exactly the same levers that someone sat there, if they really wanted
to fix health care instead of making it harder for someone.
We know that Republicans have better ideas, and that what we want to
do is to establish a tax benefit system while allowing the employer-
sponsored insurance tax system to remain. That means that every single
American will have parity on the opportunity to buy health care on
January 1 of every year; that no longer will we find that people lag
behind because they can't afford, or it is a rigged system, or they
have a disadvantage.
Republicans have an opportunity to level the playing field. This is
why Republicans openly in any crowd can say: we have better ideas. We
don't have to force anybody. We will invite them to come be a part of
what we do. And I guarantee you, more people will flock to our system
than fled and ran from ObamaCare, because it has to work for everybody,
not just some of us.
The healthcare system that we have today, ObamaCare, literally, young
people ran from the system. They could not afford it. But worst of all,
they could not pay the high deductible. And if you have such a high
deductible, it means, by and large, insurance is useless to you.
So, Mr. Speaker, what Republicans are doing is going to allow a tax
benefit system. Republicans are going to make HSAs available as an
option, an alternative, so that people have a choice and a chance to
buy what they need but not pay for what they don't want. We want an
opportunity for them to become consumers. We want them to be a part of
a system where it is not use it or lose it, rather, they can only,
through their own means and their hard work, roll over perhaps $1,000 a
year, $1,000 at 21, $1,000 at 22, $1,000 at 23, and to allow private
physicians to make sure they are in the system.
Lastly, as my time is moving forward, I want to say something to each
and every American because it seemingly has been a part of the lexicon
in my Democrat friends' viewpoint, and it is this: The Republican plan
has available to it and, I believe, will accept the rights that were
known as under ObamaCare, which were very bipartisan, dependent
coverage through age 26--Republican plan, you bet. No lifetime annual
limits--Republican plan, absolutely. Modified guarantee availability
renewability, just like what was in ObamaCare--you bet we will have
that too.
Prohibition on preexisting conditions exclusions--literally, just the
same. You have to buy in. And if you don't, then you have a problem.
But if you buy in the first time you get a chance, it is an opportunity
just like ObamaCare.
Prohibition on discrimination based on health status--absolutely.
That is a Republican idea, too. It is not owned by just one party. It
is a generally accepted idea and would be a part, should be a part, of
a Republican plan, and nondiscrimination and healthcare coverage.
Mr. Speaker, what I have tried to do in this hour is to give the
American people and my colleagues the confidence that what lies ahead
will be an awesome debate, but it will be done in public. It will be
done above board. It will be done where Members of Congress can go back
home and explain to people not only what we want to do but be willing
to take their own feedback also.
It will be a system that will fix the inequities, the things that
were unfair about tax benefits. And it should be, and I hope will be, a
system that will be available this next year so that, on January 1 of
this next year, as we find the American people wanting eagerly to look
at the health care that their families would want and need, that they
will find a tax benefit that is consistent with what any other American
gets.
Now, the last point I would like to say is a thank you. I would like
to say a thank you to some 500 physicians of the National Physicians'
Policy Council who have worked through, for 2 years, 9 very large
meetings across this country, the last one, the first week of December
here in Washington.
Dr. John T. Gill, national co-chairman, and Dr. Marcy Zwelling--Dr.
Gill is from Dallas. Dr. Zwelling is from Los Angeles--and our 16 vice
chairmen, who have devoted not only hard work but a belief that a
healthcare change should be done with physicians, with the people who
care about not only patients but care about the system that they would
be engaged in, the system of health care in America, that is the
greatest system that we know of.
{time} 2015
They have sent me hundreds of ideas and hundreds of things which we
have openly discussed where we rubbed elbows trying to decide how do we
hone
[[Page H599]]
this idea. It has come down to every single American should end up with
a better healthcare system than one that was designed that they could
not explain and still leaves some 30 million people uninsured in
America, and that is called ObamaCare. We should not have a system that
demands that a person be on that system or have to pay a huge fine. No.
We would want a system where people gleefully came to it, liked their
healthcare system, became a consumer, were proud of what they got, and
perhaps more importantly, could go to the doctor of their choice
instead of calling a number and being assigned or take the person that
they were given.
Mr. Speaker, there are lots of ways to get things done in this
country, but Republicans have, for years, had better ideas. The idea on
health care is one that Republicans are eager--eager--not only to
accept this challenge, but eager to say that we are going to work
together. Speaker Ryan has pledged himself to our Conference. We have
Members of the United States Senate, Mitch McConnell--the other body--
and there are a number of Members, including Dr. Bill Cassidy and Dr.
Rand Paul who have come out with their own healthcare bills, ways to
attract not just other cosponsors, but their colleagues who are
Democrats also.
So I would say tonight to my colleagues: I would like for you to take
just a minute to look at the world's greatest healthcare plan. I would
like for you to be concerned, instead of the some 12 to 20 million
people across the country--everybody has their own congressional
district, and there might be a large number in some of their districts.
But by and large, the vast number would not be on ObamaCare, and each
of our Members owe them a better healthcare system also.
But if we all get together, every single person can have the
opportunity to have a nondiscriminatory system where virtually every
hospital would take your coverage instead of only a few. ObamaCare is
only a few, only a few doctors. And if we work together and form larger
team sizes, we can make health care even better for all Americans.
So, Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity tonight to talk
about not only better ideas to fix health care, but it would be done
through a deliberate, disciplined approach, one in which every single
Member of this body should be able to describe what they want. If they
want to be for ObamaCare and say that only 24 percent of physicians and
only a few hospitals will take their plan, then let them stand on that.
But I want to be for a system where virtually every hospital and
virtually every doctor would take the healthcare plan that I would like
my family to be on and them, also. That is why I stand up tonight and
speak favorably about the Republican advantages of where we will head,
specifically about the world's greatest healthcare plan that Senator
Bill Cassidy and I have cosponsored and, more specifically, that the
American people can be sold by every single one of us to make health
care work and be better for each and every American.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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