[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 8, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2731-S2732]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Ms. BALDWIN. I rise today to talk about an issue that is top of mind 
for women in Wisconsin and across this country, and that is healthcare.
  Let's take a look at what we have seen from this President and 
congressional Republicans over the past 2\1/2\ years. There have been 
repeated attempts to repeal healthcare legislatively, which would 
result in the loss of healthcare for millions of Americans. The 
administration itself has acted in a way that undermines the Affordable 
Care Act, which frankly sabotages the guaranteed healthcare protections 
that millions of women and their families rely on. An ongoing lawsuit 
is making its way through the courts that would, if the administration 
had its way, result in overturning or striking down the Affordable Care 
Act.
  Last Saturday was May 4. It was actually the 2-year anniversary of 
House Republicans passing legislation that would repeal the Affordable 
Care Act. I remember that day, and, in particular, I remember watching 
the ensuing celebration, which was conducted at the Rose Garden at a 
press conference, among President Trump and Speaker Ryan and others. 
There was literally backslapping and high-fiving going on because they 
had taken the first step toward taking people's healthcare away. It was 
hard to believe.
  Just a few months later, we saw three courageous Republican 
colleagues in this Chamber--Senators McCain, Murkowski, and Collins--
join every Democrat in this Chamber in voting against repealing the 
Affordable Care Act. They listened to their constituents. They listened 
to the families in their States.
  I, too, voted to defeat that legislation that would have repealed the 
Affordable Care Act, and I have done likewise on a number of other 
particularly partisan efforts by President Trump or congressional 
Republicans that would have taken away some of the protections that the 
people of the United States and Wisconsin enjoy. I did so. I voted no 
on those efforts because the people of my State didn't send me here to 
take their healthcare away. They actually sent me here to work across 
party lines and make things better.
  Throughout that summer--that was the summer of 2017--individuals 
across this country stood up, and they called their elected 
representatives with one simple message: Protect our care. When 
congressional Republicans failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the 
Trump administration kind of doubled down and went to work, really 
undermining and sabotaging our healthcare system, rewriting some of the 
rules on guaranteed healthcare protections that millions of people rely 
on.
  For example, the administration ended something that we called the 
cost-sharing reduction payments. These were payments that helped lower 
out-of-pocket expenses for people participating in the Affordable Care 
Act exchanges, and this was a critical component. So when that was 
done, it meant that there were higher out-of-pocket costs for almost 
90,000 Wisconsinites.
  The Trump administration also slashed funding for outreach efforts to 
help people know about the open enrollment periods and to know that 
they needed to sign up for the healthcare that is offered on the 
Affordable Care Act exchanges.
  Trusted navigator programs, like those in my State, have had their 
funding cut by nearly 90 percent in the past 3 years. These navigators 
programs are so helpful to people--particularly people in rural areas--
because they help to guide people through the process of obtaining 
affordable, comprehensive, healthcare protection and coverage. It means 
that when these programs are sabotaged, fewer people each year will be 
able to get the help they need to find and enroll in health insurance 
on the exchanges.
  The administration is also promoting something that I call junk 
plans. These are junk insurance plans. Why do I call them that? Because 
they are relieved of really having to do what you buy insurance to do. 
They do not have to cover people with preexisting conditions. They can 
say no, or they can charge a rate so high that no one could possibly 
afford it. They could have an annual limit or a lifetime limit, or they 
could simply carve out the preexisting condition and not offer coverage 
for it.
  These junk plans also have no obligation to cover any of the 
essential health benefits as identified in the Affordable Care Act. In 
Wisconsin, none of these junk plans are required to cover maternity 
care--none of them. This takes us back to the days before the 
Affordable Care Act, when no plans in Wisconsin's individual 
marketplace covered maternity care. Beyond just encouraging individuals 
to sign up for these bad and very limited policies, the administration 
supports allowing taxpayer dollars to subsidize these plans. So 
American taxpayers are potentially footing the bill for junk health 
insurance--some of which isn't really worth the paper it is written on.
  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office just announced that, as a 
result of these activities--the sabotage--2 million more people will be 
without health insurance by the year 2020. That is just around the 
corner. After the Affordable Care Act went into effect, we saw more 
Americans than ever before gain access to health insurance. But 
according to the Congressional Budget Office, during President Trump's 
tenure in the White House, 1 million more people each year will have 
lost health insurance.
  The Trump administration is literally taking us backward on this 
matter, and American families are paying the price. I wish I could say 
it stops here, but there is more.
  President Trump and Attorney General Barr are now taking sides in a 
case that is pending in the Federal courts. They are taking the 
position that the court should strike down the entire Affordable Care 
Act. This lawsuit threatens to take away guaranteed health protections 
and raise costs for Wisconsinites and, frankly, for all Americans who 
have preexisting health conditions.
  In Wisconsin, there are more than 2 million people in our State with 
some sort of preexisting health condition, and they would stand to lose 
their guaranteed protections. It would once again give insurance 
companies the power to charge women higher premiums than men or to deny 
health coverage for women who get pregnant because it is considered, by 
the way, a preexisting condition.
  Over the past few weeks, I have been meeting with Wisconsinites who, 
frankly, want to know why the President is working so hard to repeal or 
strike down or overturn their care, raise costs, and take away their 
protections. They are really frightened. They are frightened that if 
this lawsuit succeeds, insurance companies will again be able to deny 
coverage or charge higher premiums for the more than 133 million 
Americans who have some sort of preexisting health condition.
  I got to hear from Lindsey in Milwaukee, WI. Lindsey is a breast 
cancer survivor. She will be on hormonal therapy for another 2 years, 
and she will continue to need MRIs, mammograms, and blood work each 
year to be sure

[[Page S2732]]

that her cancer has not returned. Lindsey is worried that if the 
Affordable Care Act is repealed or overturned in court, she could lose 
her healthcare coverage because of a lifetime maximum, or she could be 
charged more because she has a preexisting condition.
  Just recently, I met with Grace in Green Bay. Grace is 15 years old, 
and she has been living with type 1 diabetes since she was just 2 years 
old. In order to manage her disease, she needs insulin and various 
other medical supplies that cost $1,500 per month. Right now those 
supplies are covered by her family's insurance, but Grace understands 
that, without the Affordable Care Act, her insurance company would 
again have the power to charge her more or deny her coverage because 
her diabetes is a preexisting condition, and she could also be at risk 
of reaching her lifetime limit.
  Grace and her mom are worried about the Trump administration's 
lawsuit to ask the court to strike down the Affordable Care Act. She is 
worried--they are worried--about Republican attempts to 
eliminate protections for people with preexisting conditions, and they 
know that President Trump has no plan to protect people with 
preexisting conditions. He never has, and I suspect he never will.

  The House recently passed a resolution that calls on the Trump 
administration to reverse its position on repealing the entire 
Affordable Care Act. Last year I heard several Senate Republicans 
promise to protect people with preexisting health conditions. More than 
one of my new Republican colleagues campaigned on it in 2018. Here is 
their chance to prove it. Let's vote on this resolution in the Senate 
so every Senator in this body can be on record protecting healthcare 
for people with preexisting conditions. It is time. It is time for 
Senate Republicans to take a stand against President Trump's sabotage 
so we can start working in a bipartisan way to expand coverage and 
lower healthcare costs.
  As I have said in this Chamber many times before, the people of 
Wisconsin want both parties in Congress to work together and to make 
things better by making healthcare more affordable and taking on rising 
prescription drug costs. I heard from countless Wisconsinites who are 
struggling to afford the prescription medication that they need to 
live, and prices keep going up year after year.
  Jackie from Muskego was diagnosed with an incurable blood cancer in 
August of 2015. She takes a drug called REVLIMID for her cancer, and 
her medication costs her up to $21,000 per year just to stay alive.
  Since the beginning of 2017, Celgene has increased the price of 
REVLIMID by nearly 25 percent.
  President Trump campaigned on lowering the cost of prescription 
drugs, but so far we are not seeing any results. It has been all talk. 
Instead, with his tax bill, President Trump gave drug companies a huge 
corporate tax break as they continued to increase the cost of 
prescription drugs.
  Pfizer, for example, got an estimated 11 billion dollars in tax 
breaks. Then, they announced that they were raising the list price of 
41 of their prescription drugs that they manufacture. You know, it is 
time to take action, to hold these drug companies accountable, and it 
is why this week I am introducing a bipartisan plan with Senator Braun 
of Indiana to require basic transparency and accountability for drug 
companies that increase their list prices.
  Drug corporations are making prescription drugs more and more 
expensive with no systematic transparency for taxpayers. Meanwhile, 
American families, taxpayers, and our healthcare system are footing the 
bill for these price increases, and then are forced to pay more still 
at the pharmacy for the medications they need.
  We need greater transparency. We need greater accountability for drug 
corporations that are jacking up the costs for families in need of 
affordable, lifesaving treatments.
  I wanted to thank Senator Braun for working with me on this effort, 
as well as Senator Murkowski for joining this effort, because both 
Democrats and Republicans agree that prescription drug costs are too 
high in this country. So let's work together to bring relief to 
American families.
  I strongly believe that if both parties look past the partisan debate 
in Washington, we can find common ground on solutions that work for the 
American people, and I stand ready to work with any of my colleagues in 
the Senate on solutions that help to lower costs and expand healthcare 
coverage for our constituents.
  I yield back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.