[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 145 (Wednesday, September 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Mr. President, I want to turn to the topic of the overall healthcare 
debate that we are having in this country. For the past several weeks, 
I have been home in Wyoming, as you have been home in North Dakota, and 
I listened to the people I am so privileged to represent, many of whom 
I have been privileged to treat as their doctor. Of course we discussed 
their healthcare. As a doctor, I want to make care better and more 
affordable.
  Folks in Wyoming actually know me first as a doctor, so many of them 
call me Dr. Barrasso or John as opposed to Senator Barrasso. People 
back home think of their doctors as members of the family, as friends, 
neighbors who live down the street, who go to the same church, whose 
kids go to the same schools. The local hospital in Casper is right in 
the center of town. People don't want that to change. They want the 
same people giving them care, but they want it at lower costs.
  This holds true for the rest of the country. People are rightly 
concerned. Americans worry that they won't be able to pay for 
healthcare. Republicans are listening to these concerns, and we are 
focused on lowering the out-of-pocket costs for people's healthcare. 
That is why we ended the unfair Obamacare tax penalty. We ended that. 
We recently banned the costly drug price gag clauses so people could 
know what things actually cost and what the best deal was for them.
  Now we are focused on ending something called surprise medical 
billing. It happens. You get huge medical bills that you don't expect 
and you can't easily pay. We are also moving more measures to lower 
drug prices that people actually have to pay.
  Here is the problem: Democrats are rejecting all of our efforts. They 
are proposing costly healthcare--to me, schemes. The Washington Post 
reports that five of the seven Democratic Senators who are Members of 
this body and who are running for President have backed a one-size-
fits-all approach. It is a government-run plan they call Medicare for 
All. The Washington Post reports that a majority of House Democrats 
also back it. They have actually cosponsored it. They want it to become 
the law.
  The Democrats' proposal would take away on-the-job health insurance 
from 180 million working Americans. Let me repeat that. What the 
Democrats are proposing with their so-called Medicare for All--a one-
size-fits-all proposal for healthcare in this country--would take away 
the healthcare that people get on the job that they earned on the job. 
There are 180 million people who get their insurance that way in 
America. The cost of their proposal is $32 trillion--that is 
``trillion'' with a ``t.'' It is an astronomical amount of money. Of 
course, they have to pay for that, as Senator Sanders has said, by 
raising taxes on the middle class.
  These Democrats clearly aren't focused on helping to lower the costs 
of care. They are too busy, in my opinion, with plans to destroy health 
insurance, to destroy union workers' hard-fought insurance benefits, to 
destroy the current Medicare Program for 60 million seniors, and to 
destroy the health coverage that people have earned at work. For what? 
It is all so that government can have complete control over America's 
healthcare system. We can't afford for that to happen. The Democrats 
have admitted that their ObamaCare healthcare law has failed. The 
polling shows that the majority of Americans do not want a one-size-
fits-all healthcare plan for them.
  Now, remember, when it came to the vote on ObamaCare, congressional 
Democrats in the House and the Senate promised that the Obama 
healthcare law would control costs. They actually named it--I think 
completely misnamed it--the Affordable Care Act. It was the 
Unaffordable Care Act. What we have seen is that out-of-pocket costs 
soared and that insurance premiums soared all after the Obama 
healthcare law was signed. For many Americans, health insurance 
premiums have doubled since the signing of the Obama healthcare law. 
Monthly premiums are often more than mortgage payments. This can't 
stand. This simply can't continue. We cannot trust the Democrats to 
roll the dice again with the healthcare of the American people.
  The Republicans are focused on real reforms--reforms that actually 
lower costs and reforms that protect patients with preexisting 
conditions. In July, the Senate's Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions approved a measure to end surprise medical billing. 
It also includes language to bring down the cost of drugs. As a doctor, 
I know patients shouldn't stress over forms. When you are sick, you 
should focus on getting well. Care from an out-of-network provider can 
result in a big bill--called a surprise medical bill--and it can easily 
blow an entire family's budget. Patients should really not be pawns in 
this high-stakes financial chess game, so we are working with President 
Trump to end this unfair practice of surprise medical billing. It is 
the right thing to do for patients and for their families.
  The Republicans are also making progress on lowering drug costs. We 
passed a bill I cosponsored to end the drug price gag rule. As a 
result, patients can always find the lowest priced drug. We are 
continuing to work with the President on this and other issues.
  Still, to make more progress, we need Democratic support and 
cooperation. The choice is clear--to work together to lower costs 
without lowering standards or to follow the Democratic Senators who are 
running for President and follow the House Democrats who are pushing 
for a one-size-fits-all, government-run healthcare for America with the 
loss of choice and the loss of control--all of the concerns that come 
with a one-size-fits-all, government approach.
  It doesn't seem like they are for lowering costs. It seems they are 
for raising your taxes and taking away your control and your choice. 
They are not for improving care. They are for increasing and growing 
the role of government. Remember, the Democrats want to take away 
health insurance from 180 million Americans--working Americans--people 
who go to work every day and have earned their health insurance at 
work.
  At the same time, the Democrats who are running for President are 
promising free healthcare. I was astonished when I heard this from the 
Democrats. They are promising free healthcare for illegal immigrants. 
They want to take insurance away from hard-working Americans and give 
insurance--free--to illegal immigrants.
  What kind of proposal is that? Who is being represented with this 
proposal by these Democratic Senators and other Democrats who are 
running for President? Who do you think is going to pay for all of 
this? Why should we pay more to wait longer for worse care?
  It is not something Americans want or will tolerate. Instead, let's 
give patients the care they need from the doctors they choose and at 
lower costs.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.