[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12362-12363]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               OBAMACARE

  Mr. HELLER. Mr. President, last summer the Supreme Court narrowly 
upheld as a tax the massive government takeover of health care in 
America, known more commonly as ObamaCare. Since then, as the law's 
provisions have slowly been implemented, the size and scope of this 
colossal monstrosity have become clear.
  I opposed the ObamaCare bill from the very beginning as a Member of 
the House of Representatives serving on the Ways and Means Committee. 
Back then Americans were told that Congress needed to pass the bill 
before they could know all that was in it, but the more the American 
people learn about it, the less popular it becomes. In fact, news 
reports tell us the administration is now looking for help from 
Hollywood celebrities to push a bill that many Americans clearly do not 
support. That tactic has been used before. In the 1950s and the 1960s, 
Hollywood and some athletes were used to sell and glamorize tobacco 
products. Today, Hollywood and some athletes are being asked to peddle 
the Affordable Care Act, perhaps to make up for past sins.
  While the American people grow more uncomfortable with this law, the 
administration has allowed $54 million to be spent on ``navigators'' to 
help push people toward this program. Reports have suggested that there 
will be 175,000 of these so-called navigators, whose job it is to 
facilitate this law. Add that to the 16,000 new IRS agents who are 
being hired to implement ObamaCare, and it has become even clearer now 
just how flawed this law is. It is being widely circulated that the 
administration is willing to spend nearly $1 billion on advertisements 
to entice the American people into buying something they do not want.
  The President's recent decision to delay for another year the law's 
mandate on employers and small businesses is more compelling evidence 
that the ObamaCare approach to health care reform is not working and is 
only going to make matters worse. It is remarkable that the same 
administration that pushed so hard for this health care takeover is now 
hesitant to put in place the very measures contained in the law, but I 
think the administration has a very good reason to be hesitant.
  Since ObamaCare's inception, middle-class families have seen their 
premiums skyrocket by an average of $2,500. Nearly 75 percent of small 
businesses in this country have been forced to fire their employees or 
cut their hours and turn full-time employees into part-time workers. In 
fact, just last month 322,000 workers were forced into part-time 
employment. So the administration has created quite the balancing act 
for middle-class families: At the same time they are dealing with 
increased health care costs and higher premiums, they are confronted 
with reduced work hours and the threat of being forced into part-time 
positions. I say that is an unacceptable situation in which to put the 
American people.
  Clearly, at a time when we are approaching 5 straight years with an 
unemployment rate over 7.5 percent, ObamaCare's job-crushing provisions 
are only making things worse for our economy, and that is why the 
administration is having second thoughts.
  No one argues that the health care system in this country is perfect. 
There are absolutely steps we can take to increase access to high-
quality, affordable health care. But ObamaCare's massive expansion of 
the Federal Government's role in the health care industry is not 
turning out to be the solution its supporters said it would be. That is 
why the architects of the legislation are cherry-picking which parts of 
the law to enforce, delaying some of its key provisions. It is obvious 
this legislation is well on its way to collapsing under its own weight, 
and that will only further hurt the American people and cause even 
greater damage to our economy.
  I have a three-part test that I have told my constituents about 
countless times. It is a test that I apply whenever I evaluate 
legislation, and it is called the more-higher-less test. When 
legislation hits my desk, I evaluate whether that bill will lead to 
more competition, higher quality, and less cost--hence the more-higher-
less test. If the bill passes the test, then it is a bill I will 
consider supporting.

[[Page 12363]]

  That test is rooted in my belief that the American free market system 
has created the world's greatest economy and allowed innovation and 
creativity to thrive. Competition is the key to improving our health 
care system, not burdensome regulations and mandates, especially when 
they are selectively enforced by government bureaucrats.
  Perhaps the Obama administration has the same concerns about 
ObamaCare that I have, and that is why they would rather not fully 
enforce it until after the next election. But if that is the case, they 
need to make the tough decisions to address the problems instead of 
pretending those problems do not exist.
  When I was recently back in my home State of Nevada, I toured a 
medical school and spoke with a number of bright, hard-working students 
who expressed serious concerns about the effects of ObamaCare. I told 
them that one of my biggest fears was that the law would turn them all 
into government employees and it would put a bureaucrat between them 
and their patients.
  Instead of a system like that, we need to reduce the cost of health 
care services by enacting meaningful tort reform, making insurance more 
affordable, and providing market-based solutions to meet consumer 
needs. We need to create an atmosphere that will foster economic growth 
and job creation instead of punishing the middle class with higher 
health care premiums and fewer hours at work.
  I can understand the Obama administration's decision to delay the 
employer mandate that is crushing small businesses across the country. 
That is why so many of us opposed the law to begin with. But the 
American people deserve far better than a cherry-picking, tax-
increasing approach to health care reform. American families should not 
have to juggle higher health care premiums with the threat of losing 
their jobs or losing hours at work. They deserve commonsense solutions 
that will reduce costs and increase access to high-quality care. 
ObamaCare clearly is not that solution.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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