[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 22, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3019-S3020]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor again today to 
discuss Washington Democrats' one-size-fits-all healthcare scheme. 
Every American needs to know about this very radical plan.
  Democrats essentially want Washington, DC, to take over all of 
healthcare in this country and to abolish private health insurance that 
180 million Americans get through their jobs. Incredibly, this proposal 
offered by Senator Bernie Sanders has the backing of many leading 
Democrats running for President and 109 Democratic Members of the House 
of Representatives.
  So I want to continue the debate today by focusing on the terrible 
impact this radical scheme will have on all of the fine men and women 
who provide healthcare to people across the country. Of course, the 
impact on them will impact the patients for whom they provide care and 
services.
  I am talking about the Nation's dedicated medical professionals, 
especially

[[Page S3020]]

those who serve in our community hospitals. I actually know many of 
these healthcare providers because I am one of them. For many years I 
practiced orthopedic surgery in Casper, WY. I was a medical doctor, a 
physician, and chief of staff at the Wyoming Medical Center.
  When practicing medicine in Casper, WY--or anywhere in the Presiding 
Officer's home State of Nebraska--you really treat patients from all 
over the State. That is because many people in Wyoming live in small 
towns. I am talking about patients in towns like my wife's hometown of 
Thermopolis, WY. My wife's parents are there. When they need specialty 
care, they go to Casper. For those who haven't traveled in Wyoming, it 
is about a 2-hour drive one way when the weather is good.
  My point is, when you work in the Casper hospital, you are actually 
covering a large area in our State, and that is often the case in many 
States. So when I hear that Washington Democrats want to have a one-
size-fits-all healthcare plan, I wonder if they have given any thought 
to people in the Nation's heartland, to people out west. Are they 
considering people in rural communities at all?
  I will state that I think about the people of Wyoming every day. I am 
there every week. The staff at small hospitals who serve rural 
communities like Thermopolis, Rawlins, Lusk, Kemmerer, and at the 
Lovell hospital, where I attended a health fair this past Saturday, 
talking to all of the folks there--their needs are things I am not 
convinced Washington Democrats have any knowledge of or care for at 
all. The people at these hospitals work hard just to keep the doors 
open so that they can continue to care for patients right there.
  So alarm bells go off when I see headlines like the one from the 
Washington Post that said:

       ``Who's going to take care of these people?'' As 
     emergencies rise across rural America, a hospital fights for 
     its life.

  That is the headline in the Washington Post, referring to a community 
hospital in Osage County, OK. The hospital has a sign out front that 
reads: ``A small community is only as healthy as its hospital.'' That 
is the truth.
  Hospitals across rural America are struggling. Many are, in fact, 
fighting for their lives. Still, Democrats are offering a plan that 
will destroy private health insurance in America, which is the 
lifeblood of our Nation's healthcare system; 180 million Americans get 
their insurance this way.
  Democrats want to drastically reduce provider payments which, of 
course, would drive many doctors from practice and shutter many small 
hospitals. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator 
has said a one-size-fits-all system ``would decimate physician 
networks, creating a permanent physician shortage.''
  So how can rural hospitals survive with no financial cushion if 
Democrats' one-size-fits-all healthcare plan passes? Just ask the New 
York Times, of all people. Last month, the Times ran with this 
headline: ``Hospitals Stand to Lose Billions Under `Medicare for All.' 
'' Hospitals stand to lose billions.
  The Times cites a study from George Mason University that found 
Medicare provider reimbursement rates are more than 40 percent lower 
than private insurance rates--40 percent lower. At these payment rates, 
the Times says, ``[s]ome hospitals, especially struggling rural 
centers,'' like those in the Presiding Officer's home State and mine 
``would close virtually overnight.''
  There would be an overnight closure of hospitals under Bernie 
Sanders' and the Democrats' one-size-fits-all scheme for medicine in 
America.
  I am sure a lot of people listening out there are thinking, maybe it 
is all a mistake; maybe Democrats don't really mean to threaten 
hospitals. Well, the fact is, Democrats have long argued that hospitals 
need to close. That is what they have said.
  Look at what Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, who is an architect of ObamaCare 
and a professor in Philadelphia, said on the subject. He actually wrote 
a book outlining all of this. It is titled, ``Reinventing American 
Health Care.''
  He predicted that 1,000 U.S. hospitals would close by 2020. Well, we 
are approaching that year. We haven't closed 1,000 in this country, but 
over 80 have closed, and those are rural hospitals.
  Last year he published an op-ed in the New York Times--the same Dr. 
Emanuel--ominously titled, ``Are Hospitals Becoming Obsolete?'' He 
writes:

       Hospitals are disappearing. While they will never 
     completely go away, they will continue to shrink in number 
     and importance. This is inevitable and good.

  Well, not in rural America--``good,'' he says, that thousands of 
hospitals and patients who rely on them are forced to close their doors 
for good. I disagree fundamentally with this principle and what he is 
saying.
  Of course, all people who practice medicine in small towns want to 
keep the doors open because they know the impact on the lives of the 
people who live in those communities. Just last week I had a chance to 
visit with Dr. Mike Tracy, a family physician in Powell, WY. He is past 
president of the Wyoming Medical Society. He is passionate about caring 
for his patients, and guess what. He doesn't participate in Medicare at 
all. Instead, he provides his services privately by charging his 
patients a set, transparent monthly fee. He does what he does to keep 
his practice open. His focus is on his patients, not on Washington 
paperwork, and his patients are very happy. His practice is successful. 
The patients are happy with the time he is able to sit and be with them 
and look at them and focus on them, instead of the mandates of a 
Washington computer screen.
  So you see, there are doctors like Mike all across the country who 
don't want a one-size-fits-all healthcare system. Many doctors and many 
small community hospitals cannot afford it, and they will not survive 
it. Certainly, many rural communities can't survive it.
  As the Presiding Officer knows better than most, as he has traveled 
his State and as I have traveled mine, if a small community loses a 
hospital, it is harder to attract doctors, nurses, teachers, 
businesses--all of the things that are vital for a community to have. 
So the threat is very real in terms of what the Democrats and what 
Bernie Sanders and the one-size-fits-all healthcare plan would bring to 
our country.
  Let me just tell people who are watching the debate right now: 
Democrats' one-size-fits-all healthcare--what this will mean for you is 
that you will pay more to wait longer for worse care. That is what it 
means. That is what it means to you. You will pay more to wait longer 
for worse care. That is what is at stake.
  We all need to make our voices heard loud and clear: no to Democrats' 
one-size-fits-all healthcare scheme, yes to real reforms that improve 
healthcare and bring down the costs for all Americans.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lankford). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.