[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 160 (Thursday, October 5, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S6346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Mr. President, I am here for another purpose today; that is, that we 
must get to work on other important business in the Senate. We need to 
reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program and come together 
on bipartisan fixes to the Affordable Care Act. No parent should ever 
have to worry whether their child will have healthcare, but funding for 
the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, expired over this 
weekend. CHIP is one of the great bipartisan success stories. Both 
parties have come together to support a program that provides 
healthcare to millions of children.
  In Minnesota, these funds support coverage for 125,000 children. I 
heard from the children's hospitals and clinics of Minnesota just last 
week about many of the families who count on this program. While States 
like mine are finding ways to make Federal funding last a bit longer, 
since ours has already expired, every single day Congress doesn't act 
puts coverage of millions of children at risk.
  There is already bipartisan work underway to keep this program going. 
Senator Hatch and Senator Wyden have introduced a bipartisan bill to 
extend CHIP for 5 years. In 2015, the last time we renewed this 
program, it passed the Senate with 92 votes--92 out of 100 votes. We 
should demonstrate that same bipartisan spirit again. The children in 
America are counting on us. We must act before it is too late or States 
like mine may be forced to make difficult choices about insurance 
coverage for some of our more vulnerable constituents.
  CHIP is one part of our healthcare system that is working. We should 
be doing everything in our power to protect it. So let's come together 
and pass this long-term reauthorization of CHIP.
  Mr. President, CHIP is not the only area where we should be able to 
come together on healthcare. The American people want us to work 
together on bipartisan fixes to the Affordable Care Act. As I said the 
day it passed, it was a beginning and not an end. Any major piece of 
legislation like that needs improvements and changes. Let's work 
together on the bipartisan bills and ideas that have been put forward. 
Just like my friend Senator McCain said, we could do better working 
together--Republicans and Democrats.
  Senator Alexander and Senator Murray have been holding hearings and 
discussions on commonsense solutions to bring down insurance costs over 
the past month. We had Governors here, and there were actually more 
Republican Governors in the room than Democratic Governors, as they 
embraced these suggested changes which include reinsurance. I note 
Senator Collins and Senator Nelson, a Republican and a Democrat, have a 
bill together that would do something on that front.
  I look at what has been done in Alaska--I see my colleague, Senator 
Murkowski here--and what has been done in Minnesota when it comes to 
reinsurance, and we have seen some of the rates go down, not to where 
we need them to go, but there has been a decrease in the amount of 
rates. We would like to see that on a national basis, and that is why I 
am such a strong supporter of Senator Alexander and Senator Murray's 
work.
  Mr. President, finally, we need to be doing something on the 
skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs. People such as Kim from 
Plymouth, MN, is struggling to afford her insulin because it has gone 
up three times. She keeps the injector with a few drops of insulin from 
day-to-day so she can get by. That is why I think we should have 
Medicare Part D negotiations. I have a bill that now has 33 cosponsors 
that lifts the ban that makes it illegal for 41 million seniors to 
negotiate the prices of drugs. Seniors can be a pretty stubborn and 
very vocal group. Why don't we let them unleash their power and allow 
Medicaid to negotiate prices?
  Senator Grassley and I have a bill to stop pay for delay, where major 
pharmaceutical companies are paying off generics to keep their products 
off the market. I have a bill with Senator Grassley, Senator Leahy, and 
Senator Lee--the four of us lead the bill--the CREATES Act, which makes 
it easier to get more generic competition in the market. We also--
McCain and I, and Senator Lee and I--have bills that allow for safe 
drugs to come in from other countries to again create more competition 
to bring the price down. When the prices of four of the top best 
selling drugs in America have gone up over 100 percent, I don't think 
we can just sit here and do nothing anymore.
  I bring up these efforts because, for the most part, they are 
bipartisan--the work of Senator Alexander and Senator Murray, the bills 
that have been introduced to do something on prescription drugs. Let's 
get moving on that and let's reauthorize CHIP. The last time it passed 
the Senate with 92 votes.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.