[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 24542-24543]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HEALTH CARE WEEK XIII, DAY I

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, when we started the debate over health 
care reform, we knew what the American people wanted. First and 
foremost, they were telling us health care costs are too high and any 
effort at reform would have to focus on driving down those costs.
  This meant our measure for success would be fairly simple: Would our 
reform proposals lead to lower premiums and lower costs or would they 
not? That is why an analysis of the Finance Committee bill over the 
weekend by PricewaterhouseCoopers should give us all pause.
  The report showed that the Finance Committee proposal that is being 
voted on today would increase health insurance premiums dramatically. 
It said this bill would cause health care costs to go up--not down--for 
millions of Americans who currently have health insurance. This report 
confirms what many of us have feared: that the bills we have been 
debating will not reduce costs for the American people, but will 
actually drive costs up--an outcome that is fundamentally opposed to 
the original purpose of health care reform as we all understood it at 
the outset of the debate.
  Specifically, this report shows that premiums for a family policy 
will rise to about $26,000 in the next decade under the plan proposed 
by Senator Baucus--about $4,000 more than they would under current law.
  One of the reasons for this is that new taxes on health insurance 
plans, pharmaceutical companies, and medical device makers will be 
passed on to consumers--something many of us, including the independent 
Congressional Budget Office, have been saying all along.
  The bottom line is this: Americans were asking for step-by-step 
reforms, of the kind I have called for in nearly 50 floor speeches 
since June. The administration's failure to present such a commonsense 
plan is the primary reason that Americans overwhelmingly oppose its 
plans for health care reform.
  Americans wanted lower costs and greater access. They never wanted 
the administration or Democrats in Congress to vastly expand the 
government's role in people's health care decisions, to slash Medicare, 
to raise taxes and health insurance premiums, as well, and to limit the 
health care choices Americans now enjoy.
  The American people are not happy with any of these things, and they 
are not happy with the process they are seeing here on Capitol Hill. 
Americans are understandably unhappy that a handful of Senators and 
White House staffers are about to put the finishing touches on the 
Democratic proposal behind closed doors, especially after the President 
pledged to broadcast negotiations on C-SPAN.
  The administration did not particularly like what 
PricewaterhouseCoopers had to say about the Finance Committee bill. It 
hastily dismissed this report, just as it dismissed commonsense 
Republican proposals and the concerns of ordinary Americans throughout 
this debate.
  Indeed, the administration and its allies seem to view any opposing 
viewpoint in this debate as hostile. It is perfectly obvious why. The 
administration does not want to hear criticism because it does not want 
people to know what its proposals will actually do.
  At a time of nearly 10 percent unemployment, Americans do not need 
higher taxes and higher health insurance premiums. Yet one thing that 
is perfectly clear about the administration's health care proposal is 
it promises higher taxes on virtually everyone in America.
  Here is the breakdown: Under this legislation, if you have insurance, 
you are taxed; if you do not have insurance, you are taxed; if you use 
a medical device such as a hearing aid, you are

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taxed; if you take prescription drugs, you are taxed; if you are a 
business owner who cannot afford to provide coverage for your 
employees, you are taxed. And the Joint Committee on Taxation and the 
CBO have both said that many of these taxes will hit the middle class 
hardest, at a time when unemployment stands at a 25-year high.
  Add all these up and you get a bill that raises taxes, raises 
premiums, and leads to more government control. You can call this many 
things, but it is not what the vast majority of Americans would 
consider reform.

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