[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 14, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1799-S1800]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TRUMPCARE

  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I want to talk about TrumpCare. In my 
State of Florida, there are nearly 2 million people who are covered 
through the Affordable Care Act, through healthcare.gov. The State of 
Florida leads the way with the highest ACA marketplace enrollment 
numbers. In my State, there are another 9 million people who get their 
health coverage from their employers.
  This group also benefits from the ACA's protections, like 
prohibitions against lifetime limits on insurance and discriminating 
against people with preexisting conditions. In our State, almost 8 
million people have preexisting conditions, which includes something as 
common as asthma.
  Before the ACA, people undergoing lifesaving cancer treatments were 
being told by their insurance companies they would no longer cover 
those treatments. Now, under the current law, the ACA, insurance 
companies can no longer discriminate against preexisting conditions, 
and your children are going to be able to stay on your family policy 
until they are age 26. By the way, that is another 4 million people in 
the United States. Four million young people up to age 26 now get 
health insurance who didn't get it before the ACA.
  What has come out of the House of Representatives--what I will refer 
to as TrumpCare--called the American Health Care Act--has some very 
troubling provisions. The House plan would mean 14 million people would 
lose coverage next year. That number, according to the CBO, would rise 
to 24 million people who have healthcare coverage now and would lose 
it--24 million people.
  TrumpCare would also mean an end to Medicaid as we know it because it 
comes in and caps Medicaid. It shifts the cost of Medicaid from the 
Federal Government to the State governments. If you happen to be a 
State that has not expanded Medicaid--as is allowed under the ACA, 
expanding it up to 138 percent of poverty--and if you are one of the 16 
States, like my State, that hasn't expanded it, you are going to get a 
double whammy. You are going to have your Medicaid amount from the 
Federal Government, called the block grant, capped, and it is going to 
be capped at your level instead of the higher level because you hadn't 
expanded your Medicaid.
  The TrumpCare out of the House of Representatives is going to get rid 
of the financial assistance that has helped so many get health 
coverage. The bottom line is--and this is what the CBO says--folks are 
going to pay more, and they are going to get less. They are going to 
get less coverage.
  What else does TrumpCare do? In fact, it cuts the taxes for the 
wealthy, and it shifts the financial burden of healthcare more to the 
poor. It would allow insurance companies to charge seniors up to five 
times more than younger Americans. Now, the existing law--the ACA--has 
age done in three groups. You can only charge an older person on their 
premiums, according to their age, three times more than you can charge 
a younger person. Under TrumpCare, out of the House of Representatives, 
they will be able to charge seniors five times more than young people 
in their health insurance premiums.
  It would scrap Medicaid expansion and fundamentally change the 
Medicaid Program. According to CBO, the Republican House TrumpCare bill 
will cut Medicaid by $880 billion over 10 years. They are saying it 
will reduce the deficit by some $330 billion over 10 years. That is a 
good thing. But, oh, by the way, it cuts Medicaid by $880 billion over 
10 years. It is my understanding that as to the capping of Medicaid, 
you have to pay for it someplace. If the Federal Government is not 
paying for it, as it is under the ACA, it is going to shift the cost to 
the States, or else the State is not going to provide the Federal-State 
Medicaid. And what does that mean? That means poor people go without 
healthcare. I don't think we want to do that.
  Obviously, the ACA isn't perfect. Instead of its being repealed, it 
ought to be fixed. But there doesn't seem to be an appetite over in the 
House of Representatives. They want to repeal it and create something 
new called TrumpCare, all of which I have just described.
  The problem before was that poorer people could not afford health 
insurance, or they couldn't get it because of a preexisting condition. 
If you did have coverage and you got sick, your insurance company just 
could drop you. People who didn't have coverage were avoiding going to 
the doctor until their condition got so bad that, when they were in an 
emergency, they would end up at the most expensive place--emergency 
rooms--at the most expensive time. So they hadn't done the preventive 
care and, therefore, the emergency occurred.
  The ACA isn't perfect, but it was needed to fix a system that was 
broken. We need to focus on fixing things that need to be fixed, while 
preserving

[[Page S1800]]

so many of the parts that are working--that now 24 million people in 
this country get healthcare who otherwise will have it taken away from 
them. That is not right. That is not the right thing to do. We don't 
want to treat our fellow human beings that way.
  To recapitulate, what does the House of Representatives' TrumpCare 
plan do?
  It cuts Medicaid. It has higher costs and less coverage. It cuts 
taxes for the wealthy, and it increases costs to seniors.
  I think we want to do exactly the opposite of what it does.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, let me add one additional thing to the 
statement that was made by the Senator from Florida; and that is, what 
does the House version do?
  I would like to first of all make it very clear that what we are 
going to see and ultimately vote on is what the House has right now. 
They have a starting place. But it does some things that I think are 
significant. One, it repeals the mandate and the Obama taxes. It 
changes the regulations back to the State--where most individuals 
prefer they be in--from Washington. HSAs are part of this plan. 
Preexisting conditions are there. It converts Medicaid.
  So I think we need to keep our powder dry. We need to look and see. I 
think most of the people in my State of Oklahoma consider ObamaCare to 
be a disaster, and it needs to be changed and it is going to be 
changed.

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