[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 11860-11861]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               OBAMACARE

  Mr. PERDUE. Mr. President, I have one other topic I would like to 
cover, if I may, and that is about the other conversation we hear about 
from back home, and that is ObamaCare.
  We just spent several weeks back home in the State working, and I 
personally spent the last 3 weeks touring our State, from Hahira to 
Hiawassee, and I can tell you that I get one question out of every 
group to which I speak, and that is this: What can be done about 
ObamaCare? My premiums are going up. My insurance was canceled. It said 
that I could keep my doctor if I wanted to. It said I could keep my 
insurance company if I wanted to. Yet I lost my doctor and I am losing 
my insurance.
  I really believe this is a critical issue we need to talk about. 
Americans have never settled for failure. Yet right now people are 
saying that we need to accept ObamaCare, that it is the law. Yet I am 
saying it is collapsing under its own weight. In four decades of 
business, I don't think I have ever seen anything as perverse as 
ObamaCare and the effect it is having not only on our business 
community but on the people back home.
  We are still talking ObamaCare today, Mr. President, because it is a 
complete disaster. It has failed the very people this President and the 
Democrats in this body claimed to champion--the working men and women 
of America. It did nothing to go after overall costs and the spiraling 
nature of health care costs, which continue to explode and are the No. 
1 driver of the fact that in the next 10 years, unless we do something, 
this President has a budget that will add $10 trillion more to our 
current debt.
  ObamaCare did nothing at all to deal with the number of doctors in 
this country. It inserted government between patients and their doctors 
and created a shortage of doctors. Right now we are averaging around 
10,000--we are losing about 10,000 doctors a year under ObamaCare. In 
fact, projections are that a doctor shortage in just the next 10 years 
could top 90,000 doctors. That is staggering.
  ObamaCare raises taxes, increases premiums, and it chokes out our 
choices. Not only that, but deductibles are up dramatically. My home 
State of Georgia is feeling the weight of this failure. 
UnitedHealthcare and Cigna are leaving the ObamaCare exchange at the 
end of the year. Last month, Aetna announced it was joining them.
  At the start of this year--this is an astounding number--all 159 
counties in Georgia had at least 2 carriers to depend on. Now, after 9 
months, 96 of the 159 counties in Georgia have only 1 option. I repeat: 
96 of the 159 counties have only 1 option.
  Georgians are being robbed of health care choices. They are also 
facing even higher premium and deductible costs. Premiums have risen in 
Georgia by an average of 33 percent. Every provider left in Georgia is 
raising premiums by double digits next year. I will highlight a couple 
of them: Blue Cross Blue Shield, 21 percent; Alliant, 21 percent; 
Ambetter, 13.7 percent; Kaiser, 18 percent; Harken Health, 51 percent; 
Humana, 67 percent.
  In 2009, President Obama railed against fewer choices. While selling 
ObamaCare, he said: ``In 34 States, 75 percent of the insurance market 
is controlled by five or fewer companies . . . and without competition, 
the price of insurance goes up and quality goes down.''
  Gee, it sounds like he knew what was coming, except he was 
complaining about that at the time, and today it has gotten worse. That 
is exactly what is happening in Georgia because of ObamaCare. These are 
problems that are not limited to just Georgia. Aetna is leaving 10 
other States as we speak. Today, 31 percent of all counties nationwide, 
comprising almost 2\1/2\ million Americans enrolled in ObamaCare 
exchanges, are more likely than not to have just one choice in 
provider. That is what the President was complaining about in 2009.
  Insurance companies across the country are facing hundreds of 
millions in losses. It means fewer choices and higher costs for 
patients. The GAO recently reported that the pre-ObamaCare plans 
available in most States were more affordable and had lower deductibles 
than the options now available in ObamaCare exchanges. Profound.
  Nationally, premiums have risen by an average of 26 percent. 
Deductibles have risen for individuals with an average income of more 
than 60 percent than when ObamaCare became law. Premiums are up 26 
percent. Deductibles are up over 60 percent. There is no way around it. 
ObamaCare is a Washington takeover of our health care system that isn't 
working for average Americans.
  When they were talking about this back in the day, my comment all 
along was: How do you feel about ObamaCare? I said: Well, if you like 
the way the VA is being run, you are going to love ObamaCare. Those 
words are coming true today. It is collapsing under its own weight. It 
is failing the very people whom the other side claims to champion--the 
working poor and the working middle class of our country who are 
bearing the burden of this nonsense.

[[Page 11861]]

  Monopolies are festering and prices have skyrocketed. As I said, 
ObamaCare is yet another example of liberal policies failing the very 
people they claim to champion. The diagnosis is in. None of these 
problems are going away. That is our problem. In fact, they are getting 
worse. ObamaCare cannot be allowed to stand.
  This is not a question of tweaking it around the edges. It is 
profoundly built incorrectly. We have to repeal the individual and poor 
mandates and pass an alternative that goes after real drivers of 
spiraling health care costs. Instead, we should offer transportability, 
insurability, and accessibility--all the things that were missing prior 
to ObamaCare but have been proposed fixes that have been in for over 10 
years on the Republican side.
  Accessibility is one of the main things to those who want to purchase 
coverage without mandating it. This would ensure that no one is priced 
out of the market, including those with preexisting conditions. We 
should offer more access to health savings accounts to help drive down 
costs and allow for the purchase of insurance across State lines to 
increase competition.
  Finally, we have to address the frivolous lawsuits that have forced 
some doctors to practice defensive medicine out of fear of being sued. 
All these steps are within our grasp. So don't believe those who say 
there isn't an ObamaCare alternative out there. My friend and Georgia 
representative, Tom Price, has championed H. 2300, the Empowering 
Patients First Act, for years. It contains all the solutions I just 
mentioned and more. I am proud to cosponsor that with John McCain in 
the Senate. Our health care system is too important for too many 
Americans and too many to settle for this failure. I wasn't sent to the 
U.S. Senate to settle for the status quo.
  I want to say one thing in closing. In the last 8 years, we have been 
told over and over again that the status quo is the new norm. This is 
one where the American people are telling me and telling you that they 
are not accepting this new norm.
  Mr. President, I yield my time.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PERDUE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________