[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 17, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2975-S2976]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Healthcare Legislation

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, more than 3 million Illinoisans--about 20 
percent of the people in my State--currently depend on Medicaid and the 
Children's Health Insurance Program for healthcare. That is one out of 
five people in my State who need these programs to have basic health 
insurance for themselves and their children.
  This includes 300,000 Illinois seniors and people with disabilities, 
650,000 who were recently added as part of the Affordable Care Act. It 
also includes 1.5 million children. Half of all the kids in Illinois 
are enrolled in Medicaid and the CHIP program, which in Illinois is 
called ALL Kids.
  Nationwide, the Medicaid Program helps pay for two out of three 
seniors in their nursing homes. It pays for about half of all children 
born in this country. It is the primary payer of all mental health and 
opioid addiction treatment. It provides healthcare to 25 percent of 
people in rural communities. It pays for special education in nearly 
half of all school districts and provides critical support for veterans 
with chronic conditions.
  What does the House of Representatives Affordable Care Act repeal do 
to the programs I have just described? It ends the expansion of 
Medicaid. It would eliminate coverage for 650,000 people in the State 
of Illinois. Think about that. We had seven of our Republican 
Congressmen vote for a program that will eliminate health insurance 
under Medicaid for 650,000 people in my State and cut $840 billion in 
Federal Medicaid funding. Well, if they are going to cut this money for 
Medicaid funding, what are they going to do with it? The House knew 
exactly what to do with it: They give it back in tax breaks to the 
wealthiest people in America. Is there justice in that decision? Is it 
too much to ask that those of us who are better off in life pay a 
little more in taxes so that those who are struggling have basic 
healthcare? I don't think so, but those who voted for the Republican 
House plan do. The bill cuts healthcare for struggling families, women, 
seniors, and children in order to give a tax break to the wealthiest 
people in America.
  Illinois would lose $40 billion over the next decade, and 3 million 
people would be at risk of losing their care. Absolutely no one 
believes Illinois is going to magically come up with $40 billion to 
fill this Medicaid shortfall. I doubt many other States will be able to 
either. With funding cuts this dramatic, even Illinois's Republican 
Governor spoke out against the House action repealing the Affordable 
Care Act. He said it is going to force us to make significant changes 
in healthcare in Illinois. He would have to decide who gets healthcare 
and who doesn't. He would have to decide whether healthcare services 
are just too expensive to cover.
  Hospitals, too, would be devastated by the proposed Medicaid cuts. I 
was born and raised in downstate Illinois. It doesn't look at all like 
the city of Chicago. I am proud to represent that city. I enjoyed being 
there and being a part of it. I grew up in smalltown America, and the 
congressional district I represented basically was smaller cities--no 
more than 100,000 population at the time--with a lot of smaller towns. 
I can't tell you the pride those communities take in downstate Illinois 
in their hospitals. Some of those hospitals are a lifeline--the only 
source of healthcare for miles around. They are great employers. They 
bring in medical specialists who are paid good salaries by local 
standards.
  The Illinois Hospital Association is dead-set against what the House 
Republicans did in passing their repeal of the Affordable Care Act. 
They have told us that Illinois stands to lose up to 60,000 healthcare 
jobs because of that vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. Of 
course, that means that for many of the people who count on these rural 
hospitals, even inner city hospitals in Chicago, those services are 
going to be curtailed and denied.
  When I sit down with people like Ed Curtis, who is the president of 
Memorial Medical Center in Springfield and speaks for Illinois hospital 
administrators across the State--he tells me the devastating impact it 
will have when Medicaid coverage is eliminated and sick people still 
show up for care. They will be taken care of; their expenses will be 
shifted to other people. That is the way it used to be before the 
Affordable Care Act, before Medicaid expanded and gave these 
individuals in low-income situations basic health insurance.
  Why would Republicans in the House of Representatives want to have 
such a devastating negative impact on Medicaid? So they can give tax 
cuts to wealthy people? That, to me, is inexplicable.
  The Illinois Hospital Association speaks across our State for those 
who really care about those great institutions, but they are not alone 
in opposing this bill. The Illinois Nurses Association opposes it, as 
do the Illinois pediatricians and the Illinois Medical Society. Why 
does every medical advocacy group in Illinois oppose this bill, this 
so-called Republican reform of our healthcare system? Because they know 
it moves in the wrong direction. It eliminates healthcare coverage 
instead of expanding it. It makes healthcare too expensive and out of 
reach for people who are not lucky enough to have it at work and not 
wealthy enough to buy it on their own. It moves in the wrong direction. 
It is not a solution to any problem; it is a new and even worse problem 
than the ones we faced in the past.
  Remember when Candidate Donald Trump tweeted in May of 2015: ``I was 
the first and only potential GOP candidate to state there would be no 
cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid''? Then he tweeted in 
July of 2015--``The Republicans who want to cut Social Security and 
Medicaid are wrong,'' said Candidate Trump. He was right, but now he 
supports this bill which dramatically cuts Medicaid coverage across 
America.

[[Page S2976]]

  What is going to happen to the elderly in nursing homes who, despite 
all their Social Security payments and despite all of their Medicaid 
reimbursement, still don't have enough resources for the basic care 
they need to stay alive? When they cut back on that Medicaid coverage, 
what happens to them? What do their families do to make up the 
difference? Reach into their savings? Bring mom home from the nursing 
home in the hopes that they can take care of her in their own home? 
Those are choices no family should face and no family need face.
  I hope the Senate will show the courage and leadership on a 
bipartisan basis to say no to this terrible bill that passed the U.S. 
House of Representatives just 2 weeks ago. We need to put together a 
bill that expands the coverage of health insurance, gives people more 
peace of mind; a bill that addresses some of the built-in challenges we 
had with the Affordable Care Act, which is far from perfect. There are 
things we can do to improve it.
  We need to do something about the cost of pharmaceutical drugs. The 
current law doesn't really affect that. They are out of control at this 
point.
  Secondly, I think we ought to offer a public option. There ought to 
be a Medicare-type program available across the United States for those 
who wish it. Medicare enjoys a very positive reputation in America for 
good reason. Most Americans would feel honored and happy to be 
protected by a Medicare-type program.
  We also need to go to those premiums that are too high and ask why. 
In many cases, there are individuals who are buying health insurance 
from very narrow pools of people who are older and sicker. We need to 
expand that pool so it is real insurance, and we can bring those 
premiums down. There are ways to do that.
  There are many things we can do with reforming the Affordable Care 
Act, but what the House of Representatives did, what some want to do, 
is just repeal it and walk away. It would be devastating to the women 
in America who rely on Medicaid to pay for their delivery expenses, as 
well as prenatal and postnatal care. It would be devastating to seniors 
who are in nursing homes and are dependent on Medicaid supplements and 
for those who are disabled with chronic conditions and have to turn to 
Medicaid just to make sure they can maintain their lifestyle and still 
be productive, happy, and safe. These are the elements and these are 
the costs we would have to charge if we are not careful.
  Wouldn't it be great, wouldn't it be terrific, wouldn't it be a 
headliner to say that Democrats and Republicans came together in the 
U.S. Senate to make the Affordable Care Act better, to make sure there 
was more accessible, affordable, quality coverage for more Americans? I 
think that is why we were elected, and I hope we can achieve that goal.
  Mr. President, before I yield, I ask unanimous consent that the time 
during quorum calls until 12 noon today be charged equally to both 
sides.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sullivan). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.