[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14174-14175]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               HEALTHCARE

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I would like to turn to healthcare. For me, 
healthcare has always been the most important issue. It goes back to my 
days when I was director of the Oregon Gray Panthers. I have always 
felt, as a general proposition, that it is extraordinarily important 
for us to pursue bipartisan approaches in this space. I have focused on 
that, and, frankly, I got a lot of welts on my back to show for it.
  I was very proud last night to be able to work with Chairman Hatch, 
and we have, in effect, announced the beginning of an agreement to deal 
with the Children's Health Insurance Program, a bipartisan approach, 
and do it in a responsible way. Obviously, there are other steps to go, 
but I think it reflects, again, a big, important issue in polarized 
political times--the Finance Committee trying to find common ground.
  The reality is, the principles around which healthcare reform has 
traditionally been based are still pretty valid. I believe, as the 
ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, that healthcare is a 
basic human right. I also believe our colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle have valid points as well about having a role for the private 
sector in the delivery of healthcare. So I have long used those kind of 
bedrock principles to guide me with respect to healthcare, and that is 
why I wanted to come to the floor today to talk about what was just 
announced by Republican Senators--Republican Senators

[[Page 14175]]

only--to make one last attempt to roll back Americans' healthcare 
before they lose the opportunity to take advantage of the special rules 
that would allow partisan-only approaches, and they expire at the end 
of the month.
  As I said, my focus--as was the case last night with Chairman Hatch, 
and we are far from done here--was to find common ground with respect 
to a critical program for children.
  Earlier today, our colleagues, Senators Graham, Cassidy, and Heller, 
introduced a partisan bill that, in my view, might be the most harmful 
version of TrumpCare yet, so I wanted to take a few minutes this 
evening to explain why this type of legislation is still a bad deal for 
American families.
  This legislation that has been authored by the three Republican 
Senators gives a super block grant--a blank check--to the States so 
that they can do whatever they want to Americans' healthcare. Based on 
everything else I have seen this year, that is going to mean an awful 
lot of pain for vulnerable people and an open door to the worst abuses 
of insurance companies, which had been relegated to the history books 
when the Affordable Care Act was passed. My view is that this is 
probably the largest healthcare devolution in history, which is pretty 
much sending it to the States and saying: Have at it.
  First of all, the bill ends Medicaid as Americans know it today. This 
year's debate over healthcare made one matter clear--that Medicaid 
matters. It pays for the healthcare of America's most vulnerable and 
serves as a safety net for the people who might not think they will 
need it. It covers nursing home care for older Americans who spend down 
their hard-earned savings. It pays for addiction treatment services for 
those who are struggling with opioids, as millions of Americans are 
today. It helps Americans with disabilities live healthy, productive 
lives in their communities rather than in institutions. That is just 
the tip of the iceberg of the good work Medicaid does for those from 
Portland, OR, to Portland, ME. Under the legislation that I am 
discussing--Graham-Cassidy-Heller--that is gone.
  The plan ends the expanded Medicaid coverage that 11 million 
Americans count on today. It puts a cap on Medicaid and offers hundreds 
of billions less in support from the Federal Government. It is 
essentially telling States ``good luck'' and is asking them to make all 
of the hard decisions about which Americans will get adequate 
healthcare and which people will go without. History tells us that the 
most vulnerable Americans who are without a voice or a powerful lobby 
are inevitably going to be the ones worse off.
  There is one more step that this bill takes that is different from 
previous versions of TrumpCare and similar proposals. Rather than 
reducing the tax credits that help Americans get help, which is similar 
to earlier Republican approaches, this bill just gets rid of them. It 
gets rid of them completely. That means asking States to use their 
Federal health block grants to cover Medicaid, nursing home care, care 
for those with disabilities, addiction treatment, tax credits for 
healthcare, and more--and all from the same pot of money. To me, that 
is a recipe for a healthcare disaster.
  This proposal also opens up loopholes for the big insurance companies 
to undermine key consumer protections--those that bar discrimination 
against those who have preexisting conditions and set essential 
benefits that all Americans are entitled to receive.
  I thought we were done with those days--the days when, in effect, 
healthcare worked for the healthy and the wealthy and when we had 
discrimination against those with preexisting conditions. Basically, 
unless you were healthy and did not have a preexisting condition or 
unless you were wealthy and could pay for your healthcare costs, you 
were really in deep trouble. As far as I can tell, this new proposal 
undermines those key consumer protections that bar discrimination 
against those who have preexisting conditions, and it takes us back.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed for up to 10 more 
minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cassidy). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President and colleagues, thank you for your courtesy.
  During the TrumpCare debate, it was clear that unraveling the 
consumer protections that Americans count on today causes the whole 
system to come apart at the expense of those who need healthcare the 
most.
  I have heard the authors of this bill argue that the States will be 
able to keep the Affordable Care Act or do it their own way, but this 
bill asks each State to do a whole lot more with a whole lot less. That 
does not sound like a prescription for State innovation; it sounds like 
more of the same failed, partisan approach that the public witnessed 
earlier this year.
  I know a bit about State innovation and have enjoyed talking with the 
distinguished President of the Senate about it. I wrote the provision 
that is currently in law that says that States have a chance to do 
better, not worse. What the States have been most interested in up 
until now is something called reinsurance, and the States that have 
been making headway in terms of their getting the green light from the 
Federal Government have used the existing law that I wrote. Yet the 
idea of letting States do worse is a different story, and it sure looks 
to me as if we will be seeing benefits cut and insurance plans being 
worth little more than the paper on which they are written. On top of 
that, Americans in red States should not be subjected to worse 
healthcare than those in blue States simply on the basis of their ZIP 
Codes.
  So I come back to the bottom line in terms of bipartisanship in 
healthcare. I think that the way one makes lasting change in the 
American healthcare system is to find common ground across the aisle. I 
talked about some of the key principles behind it. I mentioned the fact 
that Chairman Hatch and I came together last night on a general 
framework for the children's health insurance bill.
  Now, I have been approached by colleagues about this legislation, so 
I can only assume that means it is going to be pushed forward through 
the deeply partisan process known as reconciliation. That did not end 
well previously, and I am sure going to fight with everything I have to 
block partisan reconciliation tactics in the days ahead.
  I close by saying let's try to pick up on the kind of approach 
Chairman Hatch and I tried to pursue last night--with a bipartisan 
effort on CHIP. Let's try to find common ground. I think healthcare is 
a basic human right. I also think Republicans have valid points with 
respect to there being a significant role for the private sector. I am 
interested in approaches that give all Americans the ability to have 
affordable, good-quality healthcare, and I think that we get it best if 
we pursue bipartisan approaches. I believe many of my colleagues here 
in the Senate share these views, and I hope the Senate will not have 
yet another knockdown, drag-out battle over a partisan reconciliation 
bill that will harm the American people but will instead pick up on the 
kind of bipartisan principles I have discussed tonight.
  I thank the Presiding Officer and Senator Hoeven for the courtesy of 
having the additional time.
  I yield the floor.
  (At the request of Mr. Cornyn, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)

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