[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13478-13479]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday I noted that all of us wish 
to reform health care but that we need to do so without sacrificing 
what Americans like about our current system. They like the freedom, 
they like the choice, they like the quality of care, they like the 
options, and they like the efficiency. I also noted that the kind of 
government takeover of health care that some of our Democratic friends 
are contemplating could lead to a decline in every one of those things. 
This morning, I wish to explain in a little greater detail how it could 
happen.
  The first point I wish to make is that the very concept of a 
government option is itself misleading. What starts out as an option 
could quickly become the only option. This is clear to anyone who 
realizes that, unlike market-based health plans, any government-run 
plan would have unlimited access to taxpayer money and could use that 
money to subsidize the cost of services, and artificially lower prices 
would make the government-run plan more attractive to individuals and 
businesses. Some say this could be avoided by creating ``safeguards'' 
to ensure a level playing field for the market-based insurers and a 
government plan. But no safeguard could create a truly level playing 
field, and any safeguard could easily be eliminated once a government 
plan is enacted. A government plan would also be able to operate at a 
loss--a loss the taxpayers would have to cover one way or another.
  Government could also keep health care costs artificially low by 
paying providers less than private insurers do, just as it already does 
with both Medicare and Medicaid. At first blush, that may actually 
sound appealing, but as we know, there is no such thing as a free 
lunch. Let me explain.
  Right now, doctors and hospitals make up the difference between what 
a procedure costs and what the government is willing to pay for it by 
passing those costs on to private insurers. But doctors and hospitals 
would likely get even less under a new government health plan, so they 
would shift even more costs on to private insurers, who would then 
raise rates for individuals and businesses even higher than they were 
before. Once these higher rates take effect, employers would be all but 
certain to start encouraging workers to enroll in the government-run 
plan.
  As a result of all of this, it is easy to see how private market 
health plans would become more and more expensive and thus less and 
less affordable and accessible. At some point, private health plans 
would likely be crowded out altogether, and government care would be 
the only option left. That is where the delays and the denied care 
would begin to kick in. Under a government system, Americans would have 
no choice but to accept all the bureaucratic hassles and the endless 
time spent on hold waiting for a government service representative to 
take their calls. They would also have to deal with all of the 
restrictions of care that inevitably follow. What is being advertised 
as an option will eventually lead to delays--delays in testing, delays 
in diagnosis, and delays in treatment.
  So the question Americans need to ask themselves is whether this is 
the reform they really want. Do we really want a government takeover of 
health care, because that is what a so-called government option would 
lead to in very short order. Americans need to realize that when 
someone says ``government option,'' what could really occur

[[Page 13479]]

is a government takeover that soon could lead to government bureaucrats 
denying and delaying care and telling Americans what kind of care they 
can have.
  The irony in all of this is that as a result of a government takeover 
of health care, the private plans tens of millions of Americans 
currently enjoy will eventually only be available to just a very few 
wealthy Americans--to those who are able to pay for more health care 
than they currently have and like. According to a recent study, 119 
million Americans would lose the private coverage they currently have 
as a consequence of a government plan. The best options would only 
remain available to a select few.
  Over the last few months, we have seen government getting involved in 
virtually every aspect of our economy. Washington is suddenly running 
the banks and the auto companies. Now it is thinking about running 
America's health care. The results, I am afraid, would not lead to the 
kinds of reforms Americans really want in their health care. Instead, 
it would lead to a system that most Americans would deeply regret.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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