[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13896-13897]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       OBAMACARE IS FALLING APART

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, this has been an interesting week for 
many of my constituents in Tennessee. Over 100,000 Tennesseeans were 
forced--100,000 Tennesseeans were forced off their healthcare plan. 
They did nothing wrong. It is not their fault.
  What has happened is another of the Affordable Care Act's--or 
ObamaCare, as we call it--providers has said: Guess what. This is too 
expensive to offer a product.
  And they have exited the marketplace.
  Now, what we are seeing is exactly what we in Tennessee told you 
would happen with ObamaCare.
  Why?
  Because in Tennessee, we were the test case back in the midnineties 
for Hillary Clinton's grand healthcare experiment. HillaryCare became 
TennCare in Tennessee.
  We knew that a product that was too expensive to afford was not going 
to be utilized and that eventually providers would drop out of the 
marketplace, eventually the networks would narrow, and eventually 
individuals would have a very difficult time accessing health care.

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  So, through no fault of their own, 100,000 Tennesseeans who are in 
the Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville areas are going to find that they 
have fewer choices in health care. They didn't get to keep the doctors 
whom they wanted or liked or had. They didn't get to keep the 
healthcare plans that they wanted or liked or had. Certainly, they were 
not saving $2,500 per family on their health insurance. Quite the 
opposite has happened.
  What we have before us now are thousands of Tennesseeans who are 
going to have to scramble to find health insurance because a product 
isn't offered. The costs continue to go up. The choices have begun to 
be eliminated and narrowed. The networks--the physicians you can go to 
for care--are fewer in number. The hospitals that you have the ability 
to go into to seek that care are fewer in number.
  Why is that?
  It is because the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, as we call it, 
is too expensive to afford, too expensive to have, too expensive to 
use, and--yes, indeed--too expensive for the insurance companies that 
are offering a product.
  It is time for us--yes, indeed--repeal this--to admit that it was a 
mistake, to admit, like Tennessee did years ago, that it is too 
expensive, that it does not work, and to replace it with components, 
items, and ideas--many ideas that we have had in this Chamber for 
years, Mr. Speaker--such as portability with the across-State-line 
purchase of health insurance, liability reforms, and making certain 
that individuals can choose an insurance product and then be able to go 
see physicians where they live. Affordability and access--that is what 
we need in the marketplace. We continue to push those ideas forward.
  To our Tennessee neighbors who are finding themselves without a 
health insurance option, we understand the plight that exists; and we, 
again, say it is time to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

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