[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8262]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          OBAMACARE RATE HIKES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from West 
Virginia (Mr. Mooney) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, it has now been more than 5 
years since President Obama signed his landmark achievement, which he 
called the Affordable Care Act, into law. At that time, the President 
and the Democrats in Congress promised that their massive Federal 
takeover of our healthcare system would lower costs on American 
families. Affordability was its central selling point.
  But 5 years later, they must face the facts. Their law, which they 
forced on the American people, is a failure.
  According to yesterday's much-anticipated Congressional Budget Office 
reports--an independent agency--insurance premiums are expected to 
increase even more significantly next year than they did this year.
  One insurer in New Mexico, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, called for a 
50 percent increase in premiums. And New Mexico is just the tip of the 
iceberg. Tennessee is also seeking an increase of 30 percent.
  The average West Virginia family--the State I am blessed to 
represent--pays about the same as the residents in the State of New 
York, which is $17,105 a year on their health insurance. That is $271 
above the national average.
  We cannot pretend that the Affordable Care Act is anywhere close to 
``affordable.'' ObamaCare adds taxes, regulations, and unfunded 
mandates onto the American consumers. The limited choice in health 
insurance plans is harming families and their budgets.
  In my district in West Virginia, there is only one insurance provider 
through the exchange. And this one plan is asking for a rate increase 
as high as 21.6 percent.
  President Obama has routinely and blatantly forced his failed 
policies on the American people. According, again, to the independent 
Congressional Budget Office report of February 4, 2014, ObamaCare has 
killed 2.5 million jobs a year.
  Who are these 2.5 million Americans who have lost their jobs thanks 
to ObamaCare? They are disproportionately low-wage workers. The people 
who are hurt the most by ObamaCare are the same ones who ObamaCare was 
supposed to help. What we really should call it is the ``Non-Affordable 
Care Act.''
  West Virginians who get their healthcare insurance through their work 
are paying some of the highest rates in the United States for premiums 
and deductibles, according to a report from The Commonwealth Fund. The 
33,421 West Virginians who are currently enrolled in ObamaCare cannot 
afford to have their rates hiked yet again.
  Many Americans are left wondering how much more will we have to pay 
each year because of the Non-Affordable Care Act. To make matters 
worse, the Non-Affordable Care Act has added $1 trillion in tax 
increases. This is money taken out of the pockets of hard-working 
American families.
  The top Democrat leader here in Congress famously said on March 10, 
2010: ``We have to pass the Affordable Care Act to find out what's in 
it.'' You should know what it is before you vote on it--come on. Well, 
it has been 5 years since the bill was shoved through Congress, and the 
American people deserve better.
  We must halt ObamaCare's takeover of the U.S. healthcare system and 
pass commonsense reforms that lower costs for hard-working families and 
expand access to health care. The State of West Virginia and the Nation 
need lower costs and personal control over healthcare decisions, not 
more Federal Government intervention.
  The budget that was recently passed by the House and the Senate 
repealed ObamaCare--including all of its taxes, regulations, and 
mandates--and ObamaCare's outrageous requirement that the taking of 
unborn human lives be covered as so-called ``health care.''
  Republican healthcare plans pave the way for patient-centered 
healthcare solutions. We need to focus on reform that will help 
reconnect doctors and patients and give patients better care through 
more options.
  The goal of patient-centered healthcare reform is to empower the 
patients. Republicans in Congress have multiple proposals to address 
the healthcare issue. Republicans propose increasing competition and 
transparency in the health insurance market and stopping frivolous 
lawsuits against doctors and hospitals.
  Americans should not be forced to buy into something that simply 
doesn't work. The Non-Affordable Care Act does not work. The estimated 
premium increases that were announced yesterday are yet another example 
of the failings of this bill and this President.

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