[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 10, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2870-S2871]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Healthcare Legislation

  On another topic, Mr. President, last week our colleagues in the 
House took the first necessary step to deliver on our campaign promises 
for the last three elections to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Why is 
that important? Well, because of the impact of ObamaCare on premiums 
and deductibles for many people, millions of people, literally, are now 
being priced out of the insurance market, and their insurance, even 
though they have the policy, is really unavailable to them because they 
have, for example, such high deductibles. We know insurance companies 
continue to pull out of the marketplace, and people are reduced to 
little or no choices when it comes to where to buy their insurance, 
because, frankly, ObamaCare was oversold and underdelivered.
  The President said: If you like your policy, you can keep it. Well, 
that proved to be false. He said: If you like your doctor, you can keep 
your doctor. Well, that didn't turn out to be true, either. He said 
that a family of four would save an average of $2,500 on their 
premiums, and that didn't prove to be true, either.

  So like most command and control from Washington, DC--
notwithstanding, perhaps, the aspirations of our colleagues across the 
aisle to deliver affordable healthcare to the American people--it 
simply failed to do so, and it is in serious distress--even a meltdown.
  So we would invite our colleagues across the aisle--our Democrat 
friends--to join with us to help rescue the American people from this 
failure of the Affordable Care Act.
  The House passed a bill last week--the American Health Care Act. It 
is not a perfect bill. I dare say the Senate is going to take up a bill 
of its own, and we will try to work with our House colleagues to try to 
get legislation to the President and signed into law that will rescue 
the American people and will finally deliver on our promise of more 
affordable premiums, better access, and real choice.
  But it is really not enough to just stand back and criticize those 
who are actually trying to rescue those who are in harm's way as a 
result of the failures of ObamaCare. That, so far, is what our friends 
across the aisle are doing. They are not lifting a finger to help the 
people hurt today by ObamaCare. We would challenge them to get involved 
and to work with us.
  Many of our colleagues have come to the floor and talked about 
stories they have heard from their constituents back in their States 
and the harm that the Affordable Care Act has caused. Premiums have 
skyrocketed. Millions have been kicked off their healthcare plans. The 
economy is saddled with billions of dollars in new regulations. 
Employers are laying people off or not hiring new people because, 
frankly, they don't want to suffer the additional financial burdens of 
ObamaCare.
  Instead of having more access to more health insurance options, 
Texans--the people I represent--have less of both.
  The bottom line is ObamaCare has failed, and it is up to us to 
provide some relief to the people who are being hurt by the failure of 
ObamaCare. We invite our colleagues to work with us to do that.
  Since the creation of ObamaCare, I have been hearing regularly from 
my constituents back home in Texas how they need relief from the 
healthcare law and they need it now. Every letter, phone call, or 
conversation produces similar themes. One of my constituents, for 
example, is a woman who was paying about $300 a month for her health 
insurance, but under a span of just a few months, that premium 
skyrocketed to $800--$300 to $800. I don't know many people who can 
withstand that kind of increase in their expenses for healthcare.

[[Page S2871]]

  She wrote to me and said: ``This has to stop--and quality, flexible 
plans need to return for individuals.''
  I agree with her.
  Another wrote in to say that before ObamaCare her daughter was 
getting what she considered to be adequate healthcare insurance for 
about $190 a month with just a $500 deductible. Now that has gone up to 
a payment of almost $400 a month--roughly, doubled--with a deductible 
of more than $6,000. What are people supposed to do with a deductible 
of $6,000 which says you have to pay $6,000 before your insurance pays 
a penny? It is essentially no good to most hard-working, middle class 
families.
  So ObamaCare does not equal healthcare that is affordable or better 
for Americans. It is simply not working.
  In fact, in Texas, if you have a gross income of about $24,000 a 
year, under ObamaCare, you could end up spending about 30 percent of 
your total income on healthcare costs alone--30 percent of your gross 
income on healthcare and related costs.
  Fortunately, thanks to the passage of the American Healthcare Act, or 
the AHCA, which passed the House last week, we have the beginning of a 
path forward to provide a lifeline to those people who are simply 
priced out of the market today--the 30 million people who don't have 
insurance--and those who simply can't use the health coverage they have 
under ObamaCare.
  So I look forward to working with our Senate colleagues--hopefully, 
all of our Senate colleagues, if they are willing--to help improve the 
House bill and to get it passed in this Chamber and signed by the 
President.
  This is not something we can do without the support of every 
Republican Senator, but my hope is that we would do this with the help 
of more than just Republicans.
  Our goal to repeal and replace this bill has been, of course, no 
secret.
  We need legislation that will reform Medicaid. With the American 
Healthcare Act, we have the first major healthcare entitlement reform 
in a generation, without eliminating anybody who is currently covered 
by Medicaid today.
  We also need to do away with ObamaCare's job-killing taxes, like the 
individual and the employer mandate. I remember, in Tyler, TX, a few 
years ago, meeting with a single mom who worked in a restaurant who 
told me that her hours had been cut from 40 hours a week to less than 
30 hours a week because her employer didn't want to pay the employer 
mandate and so basically had to cut people from full-time work back to 
part-time work. So what did she do? She had to get another job as a 
single mom, working in a restaurant in Tyler, TX. That is the sort of 
unintended consequence of ObamaCare.
  Then there is the medical device tax--something the Presiding Officer 
has led on--which is a tax on innovation. This isn't even a tax on 
income. It is a tax on gross receipts. I have had some medical device 
companies from my State tell me they have had to move their operations 
to Costa Rica in order to avoid the medical device tax, which has 
crippled their ability to innovate and invest in their business. Then 
there is the tax on investments and the tax on prescription drugs. 
Middle-income Americans and our job creators need and will get massive 
tax relief when we repeal and replace ObamaCare.
  So that is what 52 Members of the Republican conference are working 
on and what we would like to work on with our colleagues across the 
aisle, if they are willing to help. We welcome their ideas. Actually, a 
bipartisan solution would be preferable to one done strictly along 
party lines. But all Members of the Republican conference are at the 
table working on that today. There is no denying that our country can't 
afford another one-size-fits-all approach to healthcare. The American 
people need relief from the unworkable, unsustainable system that 
President Obama promised--or delivered, which is very different from 
what he promised. I am confident that we can get there by working 
together to responsibly provide relief and, in doing so, empower 
individuals to deliver more options and competition and responsibly 
help those who need care to have more access to it.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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