[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9439]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, we have been debating ObamaCare's 
failures and what to do about them for so many years now. We have heard 
so many distress stories from constituents who have been hurt. 
Thankfully, the Senate will soon have the chance to turn the page on 
this failed law.
  As I said yesterday, the entire Senate Republican conference has been 
active and engaged on legislation to move beyond the failures of 
ObamaCare for quite some time. We have had many productive discussions 
on the way forward. We are united in our belief that the American 
people deserve better than ObamaCare's unsustainable status quo.
  While it is disappointing that our Democratic colleagues decided 
early on that they didn't want to work seriously with us on finding 
solutions, Senate Republicans remain focused on the following: 
stabilizing insurance markets, which are collapsing under ObamaCare; 
improving the affordability of health insurance, which is spiking under 
ObamaCare; freeing Americans from ObamaCare's mandates, which force 
them to buy insurance they don't want; strengthening Medicaid for those 
who need it the most; and preserving access to care for patients with 
preexisting conditions.
  Insurance markets are collapsing under ObamaCare. We want to 
stabilize them. ObamaCare's champions said that the law would bring 
more healthcare choices, but for far too many, just the opposite has 
occurred. In the years since ObamaCare's passage, we have read story 
after story about co-ops collapsing, insurers fleeing, families losing 
the plans they liked, and trusted doctors and hospitals slipping out of 
reach.
  Today ObamaCare is nearing full collapse. Americans in nearly one of 
every two counties could find themselves left with just one option 
under ObamaCare next year--which of course really isn't a choice at 
all--or even worse, find themselves without any option, period. This 
long-term ObamaCare trend is not sustainable. We have to act, and we 
are.
  Healthcare costs are spiking under ObamaCare. We want to improve 
affordability. ObamaCare's champions said that the law would make 
healthcare more affordable, but for too many just the opposite has 
occurred.
  In the years since ObamaCare's passage, we have received so many 
calls and letters from families who have been hit with soaring out-of-
pocket costs and skyrocketing premiums. In fact, a recent Health and 
Human Services report showed that premiums in the individual market 
rose by an average of 105 percent since the law was fully implemented 
in 2013.
  Today the situation continues to spiral out of control. Americans in 
States across the country could find themselves facing more double-
digit premium increases next year--as high as 30 percent, we learned 
just yesterday, in Washington State or 32 percent in North Carolina or 
40 percent in Maine.
  Another recent report found that nearly 2 million Americans who 
selected an ObamaCare plan ended up canceling their coverage after just 
a few weeks, and the most common reason they cited for doing so was 
that it was too expensive. This long-term ObamaCare trend is not 
sustainable. We have to act, and we are.
  Americans are being forced to buy insurance they don't want under 
ObamaCare. We want to free them from that mandate. When ObamaCare's 
champions pushed their health law on the American people, they enacted 
onerous mandates that forced too many families into plans they didn't 
like or couldn't afford. In the years since ObamaCare's passage, we 
heard from Americans who decided it was simply more affordable for them 
to take their chance and pay the fine and go without insurance 
altogether.
  Today ObamaCare's collapse is making the situation even more unfair. 
Insurance markets are collapsing, leaving Americans with fewer options. 
Health costs are spiking, making many of the remaining options even 
more expensive. That means Americans could be left trapped, forced by 
law to purchase ObamaCare insurance but left without the means to do 
so. This long-term ObamaCare trend is not sustainable. We have to act, 
and we are.
  These are just a few of the major areas that Senate Republicans are 
focused on as we continue working on legislative solutions to move away 
from ObamaCare. In doing so, we will also work toward strengthening 
Medicaid and preserving access to care for patients with preexisting 
conditions--two areas of concern for many across the Nation.
  I regret that Democrats announced early on that they did not want to 
be part of a serious bipartisan process to move past the failures of 
this law. Their ObamaCare law is collapsing all around us. It is 
hurting Americans. It will continue to hurt even more if we allow the 
unsustainable status quo to continue. So we have a responsibility to 
act, and Senate Republicans are working together, guided by the 
principles I mentioned, and acting on behalf of Americans, who deserve 
better than the status quo, better than continuing the pain of 
ObamaCare.

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