[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 131 (Wednesday, August 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S4701]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I note in this morning's news that 
insurance companies that provide health insurance policies on the 
ObamaCare exchanges are projecting that insurance premiums will go up 
about 30 percent next year.
  Since 2013, we have seen the nationwide average of premiums go up 105 
percent. That was before this latest announcement. We know that in 
2017, the national average increase in premiums was 25 percent, and in 
Arizona, for example, it was 145 percent.

  So why did all of the Senate Democrats vote against making progress 
on a solution toward these runaway premiums I have talked about ad 
nauseam on the Senate floor?
  We have almost become numb to the pain people across this country are 
experiencing because of the skyrocketing rate of their insurance 
premiums, and we know that 28 million, roughly, have dropped out and 
are uninsured. In my State alone, because of the individual mandate, 
which is the penalty the government imposes for one's failing to buy a 
government-approved health insurance plan--as the Presiding Officer 
knows because I got the figures from him--more than 400,000 Texans who 
earn less than $25,000 a year paid the penalty because they could not 
afford to buy the insurance. All in all, about a million Texans paid 
the penalty because of the individual mandate.
  When we tried to do something about that last week, in working with 
our House colleagues, what was the response from the other side? It was 
crickets--silence. Unfortunately, the people who were hurt by ObamaCare 
are still being hurt by ObamaCare.
  Now, here is the narrative. I have already seen it on social media 
and have read about it in the paper and elsewhere. Some people are 
saying: Well, the reason insurance companies are saying that premiums 
are going to go up 30 percent next year is that President Trump will 
not commit to the subsidies for insurance companies, the so-called 
CSRs.
  That is utterly false. How do they explain the 105-percent increase 
from 2013 to currently? How do they explain last year's increase in 
insurance premiums, 25 percent, on average, and 145 percent in places 
like Arizona before President Trump even took office? It is a 
demonstrably false narrative, and I cannot tell you how disappointed I 
am that we were not able to make some progress toward a solution on 
behalf of the people whom I represent in my State but also on behalf of 
the people whom we all represent across the United States.
  I dare say, as we search for a path forward, we ought to get our 
facts straight, and the idea that premiums are going to go up 30 
percent next year, unless something changes, is a product of the 
failure of ObamaCare. It is nothing that this administration has done 
or will do that has caused that. So let's get our facts straight 
because starting with the correct facts is absolutely essential to 
coming up with real solutions.