[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 39 (Thursday, February 27, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1164-S1165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today as the 
Democrats continue to scare the American public when it comes to their 
healthcare.
  This week's Democratic Presidential debate the other night in South 
Carolina was a free-for-all. Their frontrunner, a man I believe to be a 
dangerous democratic Socialist, Bernie Sanders, is in the spotlight, 
and he seems to be in the lead. Socialist tax-and-spend policies remain 
on full display.
  The top policy priority of the Democrats would destroy healthcare 
freedom in America. They are proposing a complete government takeover 
of our Nation's healthcare system--a complete government takeover. They 
call it Medicare for All, but let's take a look at what that actually 
means. It means that 180 million Americans who get their health 
insurance through work would lose that insurance. They would lose that 
health insurance. Washington bureaucrats would be in control of 
healthcare.
  The Sanders proposal has a price tag of $34 trillion--$34 trillion 
with a ``t.'' It would bankrupt the country and everyone in it. The 
only way to even try to pay for it is with massive, across-the-board 
tax hikes, and Bernie Sanders said he is willing to do it.
  Do not be deceived when they first talk about targeting the rich 
because the tax increases would hit working families and even people 
making $29,000 a year. That is according to Bernie Sanders' own math. 
And taxes are likely to double. Medicare for All would deliver a 
crushing blow not only to family budgets but I believe to the entire 
economy. It would end America's success story.
  Thanks to Republican tax and regulatory relief, we have a record-
setting economy, record low unemployment, record job growth--7 million 
new jobs. Wages are rising. Middle-class wages and blue-collar wages 
are going up. It is a worker windfall, a blue-collar boom. A record 61 
percent of Americans say they are better off financially than when 
President Trump took office. People are confident about the future, and 
the President's job approval is at an alltime high.
  Still, the 2020 Democrats don't seem to get it. You don't hear a 
positive word about the economy. Instead, Democrats seem to attack one 
another and try to move further and further to the Left. During the 
debate last week, the crowd actually booed a defense of free markets.
  Some Democratic candidates are proposing a scaled-back version of 
Medicare for All that they call a ``public option,'' but this proposal 
would create a

[[Page S1165]]

government health plan to compete with work-sponsored health insurance. 
Don't be fooled--that public option would hurt patients across the 
country, especially people living in rural areas. It would disrupt 
insurance coverage, slash funding for doctors and hospitals, and would 
force local hospitals and clinics to close. Simply put, a public option 
is a pit stop on the road to 100 percent government-run healthcare in 
America.
  Clearly, Democrats are ignoring their own voters. Union workers 
across the country are telling Democrats: Don't touch our hard-earned 
healthcare benefits. People don't want radical healthcare schemes, 
which is what the Democrats are proposing. People care more about their 
pocketbooks. They want their own healthcare, but they want it at a 
lower cost. That is what I hear every weekend at home in Wyoming.
  Americans are struggling to pay for insurance premiums for doctors, 
for hospitals, and for prescription drugs. According to a new POLITICO-
Harvard poll, 8 in 10 Americans--89 percent of Democrats and 76 percent 
of Republicans--want us to lower their healthcare costs. Seventy-five 
percent say we must lower the costs of prescription drugs. I agree. The 
Kaiser Family Foundation reports that nearly one in four people is 
having trouble paying for their prescriptions. But Socialist policies 
are the wrong medicine. They will only worsen the problems.
  Republicans are listening to people's concerns. We have commonsense 
solutions to lower out-of-pocket costs without lowering standards. I am 
a doctor, the husband of a breast cancer survivor, and the son of a 97-
year-old mother. Let me assure you, Republicans will always protect 
vulnerable Americans, especially people with preexisting conditions. 
The Republican healthcare agenda is about giving patients more choices 
and better healthcare. It is about improving healthcare access and 
affordability.
  Working with President Trump, we are already providing much needed 
relief from costly ObamaCare taxes. These unfair taxes hurt working 
families, they hurt small businesses, they hurt seniors, and we have 
ended them.
  Now we are working to drive down drug costs. As part of this effort, 
in December, I joined six Republican Senators to introduce the Lower 
Costs, More Cures Act. This legislation would limit out-of-pocket drug 
costs for people with Medicare Part D plans. We also ended the drug 
price gag rule to help patients find more affordable drugs. We are 
working to end surprise medical billings. These unexpected, 
unreasonable, and unaffordable bills undermine families' finances. It 
is an intolerable practice, and it must stop.
  Republicans are delivering better healthcare. Still, to make more 
progress, we need Democrats to work with us. It is time to come 
together. It is time to cooperate. It is time to find common ground. I 
will tell you, taking away health insurance from 180 million Americans 
who get it through work is not common ground. There is no common 
ground. That is the direction of the Democratic Party. We need to find 
common ground. Taking insurance away from 180 million Americans who get 
it from work and then giving free health insurance to illegal 
immigrants and raising taxes from Americans to pay for it is not common 
ground.
  Let's work together to give patients the high-quality care they need 
from a doctor they choose at lower costs.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call roll.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.