[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 3, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S377]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 343. Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mr. Barrasso, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. 
Burr, Mrs. Capito, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Daines, Ms. Ernst, Mr. 
Inhofe, Mr. Hagerty, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Romney, Mr. 
Scott of Florida, Mr. Scott of South Carolina, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Young, 
and Mr. Hoeven) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him 
to the concurrent resolution S. Con. Res. 5, setting forth the 
congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 
2021 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal 
years 2022 through 2030; which was ordered to lie on the table; as 
follows:

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. ____. SENSE OF THE SENATE RELATING TO REJECTING EFFORTS 
                   TO PURSUE A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL GOVERNMENT RUN 
                   HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds as follows:
       (1) Medicare for All, Medicare ``buy-in'', and the so-
     called ``public option'' are all one-size-fits-all government 
     run health care systems.
       (2) Approaches such as Medicare for All, Medicare ``buy-
     in'', and the so-called ``public option'' would fail to 
     protect the Medicare program under title XVIII of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) since, according to the 
     Congressional Budget Office, the Medicare program will be 
     officially bankrupt in 2024, at which time Medicare will no 
     longer be able to pay full benefits to seniors and the 
     disabled.
       (3) According to one leading economist, Medicare for All 
     would increase costs to the Federal Government by an 
     additional $38,000,000,000,000 and require significant tax 
     increases on hard-working, middle-class Americans in order to 
     fund this massive new program spending.
       (4) 60 percent of women in the United States under the age 
     of 65 are covered by health insurance obtained on the job, 
     and would be unfairly targeted by these government-centered 
     approaches.
       (5) Under a one-size-fits-all government run health care 
     system--
       (A) more than 180,000,000 Americans covered by health 
     insurance obtained on the job would lose their health 
     insurance coverage;
       (B) if you like your current health insurance plan, you 
     will lose it;
       (C) government bureaucrats would be put in charge of 
     deciding which procedures and drugs would be covered;
       (D) Americans would face increased wait-times or be forced 
     to seek care outside of their communities, especially in 
     rural and underserved areas, because of hospital closures 
     resulting from a government-run health care system;
       (E) Americans would lack access to the latest prescription 
     drug therapies and medical device innovations, due to 
     government price-controls similar to those imposed in the 
     United Kingdom and Canada; and
       (F) the longstanding, bipartisan tradition of protecting 
     Federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions could be 
     eliminated.
       (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate 
     that--
       (1) Medicare for All, or any one-size-fits-all government 
     run health care system, would--
       (A) eliminate private insurance that hundreds of millions 
     of Americans currently utilize;
       (B) increase costs on middle-class families;
       (C) lead to delays in accessing care;
       (D) raid the Medicare program; and
       (E) result in hospital closures and a loss of access to 
     health care services in rural America amidst the COVID-19 
     pandemic; and
       (2) efforts to enact such a proposal should be rejected.
                                 ______