[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9865]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    BETTER CARE RECONCILIATION BILL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, 7 years ago, the Democrats forced an 
unfair healthcare system on our country that they called the Affordable 
Care Act. It turned out to be anything but that.
  They told Americans that it would lower their premiums, but ObamaCare 
has increased premiums by an average of 105 percent in the vast 
majority of States on the Federal exchange since 2013. Unless we act, 
we can expect similar trends for years to come.
  They told Americans that it would expand choice in the healthcare 
marketplace, but ObamaCare has left Americans in 70 percent of U.S. 
counties with little to no options for insurance this year. Unless we 
act, we can expect things to get worse.
  They told Americans that it would allow them to keep their doctors, 
their plans, and their ability to make the smartest healthcare 
decisions for their families. Instead, ObamaCare forced millions off 
the plans they liked and forced millions into plans they either did not 
want or could not afford. Unless we act, more Americans will be left 
trapped, forced by ObamaCare to buy insurance but left without the 
means to actually do so.
  This is the ObamaCare status quo as millions of Americans have come 
to know it. It is unacceptable. It is unsustainable. The American 
people need better care, which is exactly what we are working to bring 
them.
  Through dozens of meetings and through conversations with every 
Member of our conference, we have had the opportunity to discuss many 
different ideas and approaches for bringing relief from ObamaCare. 
Ultimately, we found there were a number of areas in which we all 
agreed when it comes to what the critical issues we need to address are 
and how we can do that. Those solutions are what make up the draft 
legislation that was released last week and that we will continue 
working to consider now.
  Better Care will preserve access to care for patients with 
preexisting conditions, strengthen Medicaid, and allow children to 
remain on their parents' insurance through the age of 26.
  Better Care will lower costs from where they are under ObamaCare by, 
among other things, eliminating taxes on the middle class, by giving 
Americans more power to control and reduce their medical costs and out-
of-pocket expenses, and by giving States significant new tools to drive 
down premiums.
  Better Care will free Americans from onerous mandates under ObamaCare 
by repealing the employer mandate that reduces hours and take-home pay 
for too many workers and by repealing the individual mandate that 
forces Americans to buy unaffordable ObamaCare insurance, freeing them 
to make the best healthcare decisions for their families on what types 
of plans they want and can afford.
  Better Care will help stabilize insurance markets that are collapsing 
under ObamaCare by first implementing stabilization policies and then 
carefully transitioning away from ObamaCare completely so that more 
families are not harmed by its collapsing markets.
  As one major insurer observed just today, this bill ``will markedly 
improve the stability of the individual market and moderate premium 
increases.'' That is from a major insurer today.
  We should keep working so that we can move forward with robust floor 
debate and an open amendment process here on the Senate floor. I would 
encourage all 100 Senators to participate because the American people 
need better care right now, and this legislation includes the necessary 
tools to provide it.

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