[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 7463]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               OBAMACARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, here is the headline too many 
Kentuckians had to wake up to this morning: ``Health insurance rate 
hike requests average 17 percent in [my home State].''
  The story noted that these double-digit premium increases continue a 
national trend of hefty hikes as insurers adapt to a market reshaped by 
President Obama's signature health care law--in other words, more 
unaffordable premium increases, thanks to ObamaCare.
  It was unfortunate to hear some of ObamaCare's defenders try to 
pretend otherwise and blame these rates on something like uncertainty 
over Kynect's future. As the story notes, ``the only company that will 
offer plans statewide on the exchange next year said the requested rate 
increase has nothing to do with the end of Kynect.'' Yesterday I shared 
stories from Kentuckians who continue to suffer under this law.
  Thanks to what we learned last night, I am afraid we will be hearing 
even more. ObamaCare's defenders need to own up to what their partisan 
law is doing to the middle class and not waste another moment trying to 
deflect attention elsewhere. They need to work with us to relieve the 
pain of ObamaCare and start over with real care.

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