[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 7, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S1454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BARRASSO:
  S. 2507. A bill to require short-term limited duration insurance 
issuers to renew or continue in force such coverage at the option of 
the enrollees; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, over the next couple of weeks, Congress 
is going to need to finalize government appropriations for the 
remainder of this year. Among the things that some people are talking 
about is including money for a couple of ObamaCare programs. One of 
them is money for the so-called cost-sharing reduction payments. 
Funding for these payments was never appropriated by Congress. The 
Obama administration paid the insurance companies anyway. President 
Trump stopped these illegal payments last October. Now, some people in 
Congress are talking about funding them again.
  We all know that ObamaCare has been a disaster for millions and 
millions of families all across the country. We know that for the 
people who live in States that use the Federal healthcare.gov exchange, 
average premiums have doubled since the law took effect. Certainly 
Wyoming is one of those States that experienced it; I heard about it in 
Clark County just last week. We know it. We hear about it in letters 
from the people who write to us. No matter where they are from in the 
State of Wyoming, we continue to hear about the costs going up. I am 
sure there is a similar situation in the State of Arkansas, the 
Presiding Officer's State, as well.
  According to Gallup, the number of uninsured people actually 
increased last year by 3 million. Many people are finding that they 
just can't afford to have ObamaCare insurance. It is especially hard 
for hard-working families who don't qualify for subsidies under the 
healthcare law. So we know there is a problem, and we know we have to 
do something to help people who are struggling in ObamaCare markets.
  If people are going to discuss using this government spending law to 
spend more money on the collapsing ObamaCare markets, there are other 
things we should be discussing as well. We should discuss finding a 
real solution to rising healthcare costs--one that doesn't just 
continue the unworkable, unaffordable, and, frankly, unfair system that 
ObamaCare created. We should discuss actually giving people more 
freedom and more flexibility to choose a healthcare plan that is right 
for them.
  I am introducing a bill today to do just that. My legislation will 
build on a step that President Trump and the Trump administration took 
last month. The administration reversed a last-minute Obama-era policy 
that had all but killed short-term health plans. These are less 
expensive health plans that are free from the expensive and intrusive 
and burdensome regulations that ObamaCare placed on other insurers, so 
they are a much more affordable option for many Americans who have been 
priced out of ObamaCare.
  President Trump is on the right path with this new rule. It is 
absolutely the right decision. He is giving people back an option so 
they can decide for themselves if it is a right choice for them. I 
think we should go a step further, and that is why I am introducing 
this legislation. We should go a step further in the omnibus spending 
bill. We should make this more affordable choice permanent. Making it 
permanent protects people. It protects people so a future 
administration doesn't do what President Obama did and try to wipe out 
choices for Americans.

  This legislation I am introducing today gives people a choice to have 
these plans for not just 90 days--which was allowed at the end of the 
Obama administration--but for a full 364 days. So it is up to a year.
  It also makes sure people can then renew these plans, if they want 
to, so it can become their permanent insurance, free from the mandates 
of the Obama healthcare law. It protects them from being dropped if 
they are sick. Remember, that was one of the biggest promises of 
ObamaCare that was broken. President Obama said: If you like your plan, 
you can keep your plan. Almost immediately, people found out it wasn't 
true at all. In fact, it was called by some of the press the ``Lie of 
the Year.''
  In 2013 alone, there were 4.7 million Americans who got letters from 
their insurance companies telling them that their insurance plan had 
been canceled. Under my proposal, people with these short-term plans 
wouldn't have to worry about getting a cancellation letter. They would 
be protected from their insurance company, and they would be protected 
from Washington, DC.
  States are much better suited than Washington to regulate their 
insurance markets in ways that work best for the citizens of their 
State. These simple changes in my legislation will help give people 
back--help give to them--the freedom ObamaCare took away. That is what 
we are looking at, the need for freedom for the American people. We can 
essentially give people an escape hatch to get out of the ObamaCare 
plan entirely. We can give them the freedom to choose the coverage that 
works for them and works best for their families.
  That is the right way to bring down healthcare costs for Americans: 
Give them options, give them choices, give them freedom, not make them 
buy a one-size-fits-all government plan.
  People living in more than half of America's counties have only one 
choice of insurance in the ObamaCare exchange--only one--half of the 
counties in the country. It is not a choice. They don't have options. 
It is a monopoly.
  The left-leaning Urban Institute estimates that 4.2 million Americans 
would enroll in short-term plans next year if we just let them keep 
their plan as long as a year. That is the kind of pent-up demand that 
is out there for these more affordable, more flexible plans with much 
more freedom.
  Just the one change could make a difference in the lives of 4 million 
Americans. My legislation does just that, and it has other benefits as 
well.
  I think it would be an attractive option for many more Americans, but 
a lot of Democrats in Washington don't want to talk about options. No. 
They know ObamaCare markets are collapsing; they don't seem to care. 
They know costs are soaring out of control; it doesn't seem to concern 
as many as it should. They know middle-class families are being 
squeezed the hardest by these rising ObamaCare premiums. Their answer? 
We have heard it. We have heard it on the floor of the Senate: Try to 
push everyone--everyone in America, want it or not, everyone in 
America--into a single, government-run insurance plan that looks a lot 
like Medicaid. That is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing 
and what I am proposing today.
  What the Democrats are proposing is more of the same failed idea that 
caused Americans so many problems under ObamaCare: government control.
  If there is going to be talk of propping up the ObamaCare markets 
during the omnibus spending bill, then we should also be talking about 
helping people get out of the ObamaCare markets. Give them the freedom, 
give them the escape hatch.
  We should protect people who want health insurance but who don't want 
ObamaCare health insurance. They know what works best for them and 
their families, and we should trust the American people to know what is 
best for them and their families. We should give people the freedom and 
the flexibility to make those decisions for themselves, and we should 
give them more opportunities to escape from the disastrous, 
destructive, and extremely expensive ObamaCare markets.
                                 ______