[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 96 (Tuesday, June 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3255-S3256]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Healthcare Legislation

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I came to the floor to talk about other 
matters, and I will get to those in a moment. I can't help but be 
struck by the Democratic leader's sudden interest in addressing 
healthcare reform.
  It is a fact that even if Hillary Clinton were elected President of 
the United States, we would be revisiting the failed promises of the 
Affordable Care Act. For example, premiums, since 2013, have gone up 
105 percent in the individual market. Those are people who don't have 
employer-provided coverage or aren't on Medicare or Medicaid. Small 
businesses and individuals who have to go out and purchase their

[[Page S3256]]

healthcare have seen premiums go up 105 percent.
  We hear stories every day--and I will recount some of those from 
Texas--where people say they have zero choices. For example, in Iowa, 
we learned there are no insurance companies that are willing to sell 
health insurance on the individual market. That isn't because of 
anything that President Trump or the Republican majority have done. 
These are the failures of ObamaCare.

  President Obama made extravagant promises about ObamaCare, none of 
which has really proven to be true. He said he would bring down 
premiums $2,500 for a family of four. Well, these folks in the 
individual market have seen their premiums go up 105 percent since 
2013. He said that if you like your policy, you could keep your policy. 
That proved not to be true because unless you bought the government-
approved healthcare policy, insurance companies couldn't sell it on the 
exchanges. He said: If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
  But as people found out when their policies changed, frequently the 
doctors in the network they could see changed. People saw premiums go 
up. They lost coverage they liked, and they lost the doctor they had 
confidence in.
  So the suggestion of the Democratic leader that somehow this current 
situation is a result of President Trump or congressional action is 
ludicrous. I think people understand that, but I just couldn't resist 
responding a little bit to what he had to say, because sometimes when 
people don't respond they assume there isn't a response, and clearly 
there is.