[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 115 (Wednesday, July 10, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S4746]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Mr. President, on healthcare, finally, as oral arguments continue 
today in Texas v. the United States, we must not lose sight of what is 
at stake here. Republican attorneys general, with the Trump 
administration's full support and backing, are trying to dismantle our 
healthcare system. They are arguing that millions of Americans--
including 133 million Americans under 65 who live with a preexisting 
condition--should lose their care and their protections.
  The lawsuit that President Trump supports and our Republican 
colleagues refuse to condemn would say to a mother or father of a child 
with cancer: If the insurance company wants to cut you off, tell you 
that you can't get the treatment your kid so desperately needs to live, 
that is OK.
  Where are those Republican voices?
  We all know the statistics, but there is a human cost and a human 
story behind each one. Emilie is one of my constituents, and I shared 
her story on the steps of the Senate yesterday. She was a healthy and 
active, vibrant young girl at age 7, but her life was turned upside 
down after a tragic accident. She fell off a horse and suffered a 
traumatic brain injury. Emilie had to relearn how to walk, how to talk, 
and how to eat--a 7-year-old.
  The biggest challenge Emilie's family faced came when her private 
insurance said to her: Only 60 days of rehab, Emilie, and then you are 
out. It doesn't matter if you still can't feed yourself, and it doesn't 
matter if you can't walk.
  But she was saved because of Medicaid. Medicaid stepped in, and the 
protections for Americans with preexisting conditions prevailed. Now 
Emilie has a great chance in the future. Do we want to tell Emilie's 
parents that we want to just cut this off?
  What is wrong with our Republican friends here? It is the height of 
hypocrisy for Republicans to pledge support for Americans with 
preexisting conditions during the campaign season and then be silent as 
the Trump administration sues to take away all protections.
  I call on Senate Republicans, for the sake of the Emilies and the 
millions like her, to speak out against this reckless lawsuit--a 
lawsuit that would spell disaster for millions of hard-working, fine 
citizens in this country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, we just heard the Democratic leader talking 
about the issue of healthcare and attacking the President and 
Republicans for not being supportive of protections for preexisting 
conditions, and I can tell you that is just not true. I can't think of 
a single Republican who doesn't believe we ought to provide protection 
for people with preexisting conditions.
  Democrats have not acknowledged that ObamaCare has failed, and I 
think we can all see the evidence of that. We have seen skyrocketing 
premiums, copays, out-of-pocket costs, deductibles--all of those things 
have gone through the roof for a lot of people, particularly in the 
individual market--as well as a reduction in the number of choices and 
options. Fewer options and higher costs have been the legacy of 
ObamaCare, so the Democrats know it has to be replaced. The reason they 
know it and you can tell it has to be replaced is that they are already 
out there talking about a proposal--a completely one-size-fits-all, 
government-run, national approach to taking over people's healthcare in 
this country called Medicare for All, at a cost of $32 trillion, which 
I will come back to in just a moment.
  The President and his administration have also acknowledged that 
ObamaCare has failed because of the skyrocketing costs and fewer 
choices and have chosen to try to get that repealed through the courts. 
Either way, we are going to be having a discussion about healthcare 
here and about what is the best system moving forward.
  Republicans, of course, as I mentioned, believe we have to protect 
people with preexisting conditions. Whatever follows in ObamaCare's 
wake, I think there is agreement on both sides of the aisle--both 
Republicans and Democrats--that preexisting conditions will be covered.
  So let's just take that political argument off the table because that 
is all it is. It is nothing more, nothing less, nothing else than a 
political argument made by Democrats when they know full well that 
Republicans are on the record in support of protecting people with 
preexisting conditions.
  The question is, What will we replace it with? We believe, obviously, 
that there is a much better approach that gives people more choices, 
more options, and creates more competition in the marketplace, which 
would put downward pressure on prices.
  The Democrats, as I said, have endorsed and are supporting a $32 
trillion government takeover of the healthcare system in this country, 
which will put enormous costs on the backs of working people in this 
country. I will come back to that in just a moment.