[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 17, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1588-S1589]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Healthcare
Mr. BRAUN. Madam President, I have come to the floor several times in
the little over 2 years I have been here, and a common theme--and I
think we all know it as Senators--is that our healthcare system is
broken. It is driven by misaligned industry incentives that promote
opaque, behind-the-scenes pricing maneuvers at the expense of patients
and healthcare consumers.
Increased transparency is the key to fixing our broken healthcare
system. It will allow Americans to have skin in the game and deal
directly with their healthcare providers to make informed decisions.
They cannot do that very well currently.
Pulling the curtain back on a healthcare system to restore market
forces, which aren't really there now, to increase innovation and
competition, particularly in regard to price, quality, and service--you
do that with anything else. A consumer is engaged, they are informed,
and you have many competitors competing for their business.
In order for Americans to regain their sovereignty in a healthcare
system, you need the ability to be able to navigate accordingly.
Congress must act to provide Americans with these tools before we try
to throw more government at a broken healthcare system.
Government pays for a portion of healthcare; more is paid through the
private sector. If we reform it, it makes it less expensive for both
payers. To give you an example, sometimes what you hear here sounds
like it is theoretical, hypothetical. I took on the cause roughly 12,
13 years ago in my Main Street enterprise that was just starting to
grow, doing the things it was supposed to do, and that is
transportation distribution. Then all of a sudden, healthcare becomes a
subset of your business, and about the only solution you would get each
year is, well, you are lucky it is not going up more than 5 or 10
percent.
I heard that too many years in a row. I was sick and tired of that
being what I would have to live with as a CEO who had a healthy,
successful business other than the healthcare component. What did I do?
Healthcare plans are basically made up of three or four features.
You have your deductible. Ours had risen more than I was willing to
take it up any higher. The only way you could buy premiums down would
be to do that or change underwriters every 2 or 3 years. That gets to
be a hassle as you become a larger company, and the profits were so
great then for people who did it, you could end up bringing your cost
down. Well, then you were right back in the old groove of, you are
lucky it is only going up 5 to 10 percent the next year on renewal.
You also have coinsurance. Most people don't worry about that until
they get significantly ill or have a bad accident. That is the
percentage you have to pay once you exceed your deductible.
When you have those variables, you have one other item that almost
everyone loves in their plan, and that is a low copayment. Those
copayments are paid for in the high premiums, but it is because they
constitute nearly 25 percent of most healthcare plans, and that is to
keep skin out of the game for the people who use the system.
Well, I was going to do something different and decided to limit that
expense when you really get sick or have a bad accident, covered
coinsurance through the company, and asked my employees to engage from
dollar one in shopping around and see if that would work.
Lo and behold, it has now been 13 years, and we have been able to
keep a good plan in place, lower family healthcare premium
contributions, and have not had a premium increase. What is it based
upon? It is finding the meager transparency that was out there 12, 13
years ago and enhancing it over time. To give an example, if you pick
up the phone, you get on the web, you will find anywhere from 30, 50,
60, 70
[[Page S1589]]
percent savings. Procedures like MRIs, CAT scans, colonoscopies can run
anywhere from 700 to 3,000 bucks. Your insurance companies seem to
always shove you to the most expensive one. They give you these huge
discounts, take their margin out of it, and it still costs you a
bundle.
When the consumer gets engaged, you will see prices start to come
down. LASIK surgery is the best example, where you have no insurance
involved. Ten, fifteen years ago, that could be up to $2,000 an eye.
Now, it is advertised heavily, providers go after their customers, and
you can probably get it done for as little as $250 to $500 an eye, with
better quality. That sounds like a lot of other areas of our economy
that actually work.
Last Congress, I put healthcare transparency at the forefront of my
agenda and have definitely been the most outspoken Senator that we have
a broken system; put almost all the blame on the industry itself
because it does not give us transparency. It does not want to compete.
The healthcare customer is somewhat to blame because they don't want to
pay for anything. And I don't think the answer is bringing more
government into it until you reform the system.
We need to shine light on the dark corners and the misaligned
incentives embedded in the current system. Among the bills I will
reintroduce this Congress is the Healthcare PRICE Transparency Act.
Every Senator should want to be on that bill to hold the industry
accountable. This will empower patients through transparency. It will
drive competition among hospitals and insurers by requiring them to
publicly disclose their prices so patients can compare between
providers and insurers.
Last Congress, a number of my colleagues joined in my effort to bring
more transparency and affordability to healthcare consumers. I am
excited to reintroduce the Healthcare PRICE Transparency Act soon and
hope all of my colleagues will join in so that we can collectively
lower healthcare costs before we try to get more government involved
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.