[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 1, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2542-S2543]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Medicare

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, during the last week I was home in 
Wyoming, traveling the State, visiting with people, talking to 
constituents, listening to what they had to say. I had the chance to 
attend a couple of health fairs in Rawlins, WY, and Mountain View, WY. 
The health fair is a gathering of the community. It is based on 
prevention and early detection of problems as ways to help lower the 
cost of care. For many years, I was the medical director of the Wyoming 
Health Fairs bringing low-cost health screening to people of Wyoming. 
At the fair, people come out. There are booths from the heart 
association, diabetes association, the American Cancer Society. People 
learn information about diseases, how they work, and how they affect 
their bodies. It can aid in early detection of problems. People can get 
their blood drawn and visit with healthcare providers from the 
community to go over blood results. All of this is aimed at prevention, 
early detection, and early treatment.
  It is interesting that during the same time Democrats running for 
President have been traveling the country talking about healthcare as 
well, and specifically Senator Bernie Sanders has talked about 
``BernieCare''--Medicare for All.
  To me, Medicare for All is going to drive up costs for Americans in 
terms of taxes, and it is also going to take away the kind of choice 
people look for when I talk with them at Wyoming health fairs.
  I come to you today to talk on the floor about the real problems I 
see with this so-called Medicare for All, and I come to it as a doctor 
who has practiced medicine in Wyoming for 25 years, taking care of 
patients for decades. When I go to health fairs, more people refer to 
me as Dr. Barrasso rather than Senator Barrasso.
  I also want to talk as the husband of a breast cancer survivor. My 
wife, Bobbi, has had three operations, chemotherapy twice, and is now 
disease-free for 15 years, but I know how critically important it is as 
a doctor as well as a husband to make sure that people with preexisting 
conditions are protected.
  I also speak as the son of a 96-year-old mother, and she is a 
motivating force in our lives. She is a constant reminder to me that we 
must do everything we can to care for our seniors. So as I have been 
listening to the Presidential candidates talk about this Medicare for 
All proposal, whether it is Senators Harris, Warren, Gillibrand, or 
Booker, all of them back what Senator Sanders has been proposing. I am 
just not sure most Americans understand what Medicare for All means and 
what it would mean for them personally. Maybe some of the Presidential 
candidates don't even want people to know what it means.
  Senator Sanders has claimed that Medicare for All is, as he said, ``a 
struggle for the soul of who we are as a nation.'' Let's be clear. 
Americans are facing a critical choice. It is a choice between a big, 
government-run healthcare system and a system that gives Americans 
access to quality, affordable care that they can choose that is right 
for them and their families. That, to me, is the choice we are facing.
  Medicare for All essentially means a complete government takeover of 
all healthcare in this country. Central planners in Washington, DC, 
would then be in control of the healthcare for all of us.
  Medicare for All would enroll every American in a government-run 
healthcare system. It will take away America's healthcare choices. 
Senator Harris talks about, perhaps, a supplemental plan, but the 
legislation I have read that has been introduced is crystal clear--
Medicare for All outlaws private health insurance plans. The only 
exception, Senator Sanders says, is some limited insurance for cosmetic 
surgery--he says procedures like nose jobs.
  With about 180 million Americans getting insurance through work, 
currently covered through their employers, people who get insurance 
through work like the insurance they have. All of them will lose their 
coverage under what is proposed under the Medicare for All legislation. 
All of them will be forced onto this new government program--every one 
of them. Never mind that 71 percent of Americans covered through their 
employer actually say they like their current plan. A single-payer 
Medicare for All proposal says, basically, if you like your current 
healthcare plan, you cannot keep it. The government will take it away 
and make it illegal.
  Seniors are going to suffer, too, and, actually, I think seniors may 
end up suffering the most. I am talking about people who are already on 
Medicare because this legislation threatens the 60 million Americans 
who currently get their healthcare as part of Medicare. They get their 
healthcare today through Medicare. Medicare is already expected to run 
out of money by 2026. It was confirmed by last month's trustee report, 
but the Democrats' proposal will even outlaw Medicare Advantage, a 
program that 22 million Americans currently use for their healthcare. 
It is called Medicare Advantage because there are advantages to being 
on this program in terms of preventive care and coordinated care. There 
is a reason people sign up for Medicare Advantage. All 22 million would 
lose that as well under the Democrats' Medicare for All plan.
  Healthcare programs benefiting military families and children will 
also be eliminated. Democrats plan to abolish servicemembers' TRICARE 
and the Children's Health Insurance Plan. All of that goes away under 
what the Democrats' radical proposal is talking about.
  Perhaps the greatest deception of Medicare for All is the suggestion 
that government-run care would be free. Let me say to the American 
people: Do not

[[Page S2543]]

be deceived. Do not be deceived. Americans will pay a very high price. 
Medicare for All has been estimated at a 10-year pricetag of $32 
trillion. There is only one way to even try to pay for this massive 
plan and that is to dramatically raise everyone's income taxes to the 
point where they may need to pay double. That is what is being 
proposed.
  So the result will be less freedom, lower quality of care, and longer 
lines as people have to wait to get to a doctor, because Washington 
will be controlling the doctor-patient medical decisions--and, mark my 
words, Washington will ration care. Rationing means delays and delay 
means denial of care. Government-run healthcare is notorious for 
producing long lines, long waiting periods, delay in care--even 
urgently needed care.
  The government-run system has failed where they tried to put it in 
place in Vermont, in Senator Sanders' home State. They started it and 
ended up having to eliminate it. They couldn't afford it. It wasn't 
working. It was too complicated. That is in one State.
  We also have the situation of what is going on both in England and 
Canada right now in terms of costs and limits of care, the denial of 
treatment, the delay in treatment.
  I think people watching may have seen the stories as a result of what 
is happening in England, where elderly patients are going blind in 
Britain right now. Why would they be going blind? Because the 
government is rationing cataract surgery. People can Google ``going 
blind in Britain.'' It is the British healthcare system that is causing 
it because of the rationing of care. So Democrats are promoting this 
Medicare for All. Basically they are saying that ObamaCare needs to be 
repealed and replaced because it has failed the American people. The 
solution they are offering is not one that I think would make things 
better, but it is one that I think would make things worse.

  Republicans, at the same time, are working for meaningful, workable 
solutions that lower the costs of prescription drugs, solutions that 
increase healthcare choice and transparency, and solutions that expand 
all Americans' access to affordable care. We want to make sure patients 
can get the care they need from the doctor they choose at a lower cost.
  So instead of proposing higher taxes, which is what the Democrats are 
proposing, instead of proposing healthcare rationing, which will come 
with Medicare for All, Democrats need to begin working with Republicans 
to improve healthcare for all Americans, and they should start by 
rejecting BernieCare.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Ohio.