[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 208 (Wednesday, December 10, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H5122-H5123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        OBAMACARE ISN'T WORKING

  (Mr. James of Michigan was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Mr. JAMES. Mr. Speaker, today I rise for the families in my district 
and across America who are getting crushed by medical bills they never 
saw coming. Enough is enough. It is time we put patients back in charge 
of their own healthcare.
  Let me tell you what is happening out there, Mr. Speaker. The average 
family health insurance premium now tops $24,000 a year. That is more 
than a lot of folks pay in their mortgage or rent. That is insane.
  Barack Obama stood right here in this Chamber and promised us 
affordable care. He said that if we like our doctor, we can keep him; 
and if we like our plan, we can keep it.
  That was determined to be the biggest lie of 2012.
  What we got instead was the most expensive healthcare system on the 
Earth with hospitals and insurance companies cashing in while working 
families foot the bill.
  In the last 25 years, medical costs have gone up over 121 percent, 
and since ObamaCare passed, healthcare spending has exploded another 
60-plus percent. Even Bernie Sanders admits that the status quo isn't 
working.
  Just last week Kelly from St. Clair Shores called my office. Her 
family of four is staring at a $40,000 bill because of a medical 
emergency under the so-called Affordable Care Act. Eileen in

[[Page H5123]]

Shelby Township is as healthy as can be. Yet her premium just jumped 
$10,000 this year. That is the ACA in a nutshell: You are in trouble if 
you are healthy, and you are really in trouble if you get sick.
  This is what affordable care looks like in their world. This isn't 
what care is in the real word. Mr. Speaker, everywhere else you see it 
works when patients and people make their own decisions.
  Mr. Speaker, if you need a plumber at 2 a.m., there is no problem. He 
is at your door in 1 hour, Mr. Speaker. If you show up at the ER, 
though, Mr. Speaker, bring a book and a sandwich because you are going 
to be there for a while.
  Michigan has the longest wait times on average of any State in that 
immediate region and some of the longest wait times in the country. If 
you want a flat-screen TV, Mr. Speaker, you can have one delivered to 
your doorstep in hours. However, a lifesaving dialysis machine will 
cost you $30,000 and might take you weeks to get.
  Do you know why, Mr. Speaker?
  It is because government doesn't meddle in television manufacturing 
and people have choices.
  Mr. Speaker, you can fix your eyes for $1,500, but if you need your 
heart fixed, it will cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars.
  Do you know why, Mr. Speaker?
  It is because people have choices.
  Here is the truth: Every single time Washington gets its mitts deeper 
into healthcare, prices go through the roof and care gets worse.
  That is why I introduced the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act. The 
Patients Deserve Price Tags Act is pretty simple. Before a person walks 
into a hospital or to a doctor's office, he ought to be able to know 
what the heck something costs: No more games, no more surprises, and no 
more $47 aspirin.
  This is bipartisan, bicameral, and commonsense stuff. In literally 
every part of life elsewhere, buying a car, groceries, or a cell phone, 
you know the price before you swipe your card and before you put your 
hard-earned cash on the register, Mr. Speaker. You can shop around, 
find a better deal, and walk away if it is too rich for your blood. It 
is your choice, Mr. Speaker. Only in healthcare do they hide the price 
until after you have already gone on the table, Mr. Speaker. Then they 
send you a bill that ruins your life and puts you in debt.

  While hospitals and insurance companies rake in record profits, 
American families are drowning in medical debt, more medical debt than 
credit cards, car loans, and everything else combined. My bill ends 
this nonsense and gives the power back to you, Mr. Speaker.
  Every hospital in America will have to post their real prices online 
in plain English where everyone else can see them. If they don't hold 
the prices, we fine them and hold them accountable to the people. Fines 
will actually mean something.
  Mr. Speaker, insurance companies will have to give you a straight 
answer online, on the phone, or in the paper about exactly what your 
care is going to cost you before you get it. For the first time, they 
will have to publicly post their real rates and drug prices, too.
  Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and that is all the people demand.
  Mr. Speaker, the people back home know how to spend their money 
better than the Federal Government. We give them a price, and they will 
find the best deal. Give them the power, and the prices will come down. 
That is how the real world works.
  We are keeping a promise that should have been kept a long time ago: 
real transparency, real competition, and real power will be back in the 
hands of patients.
  I am asking every one of my colleagues to join our bipartisan bill, 
Republican and Democrat, to stand with the families getting hammered by 
these bills.
  Mr. Speaker, cosponsor the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act. Let's 
finally give the American people, all of the people who sent us to 
represent them, honesty and the control they deserve.

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