[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9915-9916]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I just want to take a moment because we 
have all been so focused, and there has been so much concern about what 
is going to happen in terms of healthcare in this country. So many 
people have called me concerned about whether they are going to be able 
to continue their cancer treatments or whether their child is going to 
be able to get the operation they need or whether their mom with 
Alzheimer's is going to be able to continue to get nursing home care 
and so on, and I thank everyone who has told their story.
  We have spent 6 months. This debate, this fight, isn't over yet, but 
it started the day after we were all sworn in, in this Chamber, in 
January, on January 4. A process was set up intentionally to be a 
partisan process that took just 51 votes, and instead of the regular 
committee process and working together, a path was initiated. Great 
concern went out across the country about what would be happening in 
terms of healthcare.
  People have spoken up. They have written letters, emails, and made 
phone calls, and marched and told their stories. Today, at least for a 
moment, this Senate will not proceed this week because there are not 
the votes to proceed to what I believe is a complete unraveling of our 
healthcare system. That may come. Certainly, I don't underestimate 
people's abilities to make deals and to create a way to have this 
happen when we get back from the Fourth of July, but at least, in the 
short run, I want to thank everybody who has been involved and spoken 
out about this critically important issue.
  There are lots of things that have been said on this floor and have 
been said publicly about the healthcare system. We do have a situation 
of people buying insurance on the private exchanges where there is a 
combination of things that have been done to create the situation where 
people are paying more, but there are also situations where there are 
problems and not enough competition and areas where people are paying 
too much, and we need to address that.
  One of the biggest cost drivers is the cost of prescription drugs, 
and we desperately need to address that. I hope, when we come back 
after this next week, the Fourth of July, that we will have a 
conversation about the real problems we need to address, to build on 
healthcare, not take away medical care from tens of millions of people 
but to build on successes and tackle the things that aren't working.
  I am very concerned about small businesses. I have introduced a bill 
that would give a 50-percent tax credit for small businesses with 50 or 
fewer employees to help them cover the cost of their employees. We know 
most people who don't have insurance work for a small business or work 
for themselves as a single employer. Let's help them.
  There are things I know we could work on together across the aisle 
that would lower costs and tackle the real problems.
  This is what I also know; that is, when people talk to me about 
lowering cost and addressing healthcare, they are not talking about 
another tax cut for multimillionaires or billionaires. That is actually 
not on their list of healthcare reforms. It is in the bill that is in 
front of us, but it is not on the list when someone says to me: You 
know, I want to bring down out-of-pocket costs so I can afford 
insurance for my kids and, by the way, would you give another tax cut 
to multibillionaires. That is not on the list.
  If we could come together and take the two things off the table, tax 
cuts funded by the second thing, which is cutting medical care for 
seniors, families, and children on Medicaid--if we

[[Page 9916]]

could take that off the table and focus on the real cost drivers, the 
real problems that need to be addressed so that healthcare is more 
affordable, then we would see enthusiasm on our side of the aisle and 
probably both sides of the aisle. I know we can come together; the 
Presiding Officer and I have worked together many, many times on 
issues. We can do this again, but we have a situation where somehow tax 
cuts get involved in every debate. Secondly, addressing Medicaid, which 
is actually saving money for taxpayers, States, and families, is part 
of this in a way that makes no sense.
  I have said it before, but just to illustrate it one more time, our 
Governor and State legislature expanded Medicaid to working families, 
people making minimum wage, and what has happened as a result of that? 
Well, 97 percent of the children in Michigan can go to a doctor. What 
does that mean? That means they cut in half the number of people 
walking into the emergency room who don't have insurance and can't pay. 
Uncompensated care is down by 50 percent, and guess what happens. 
Magically, the State of Michigan is saving money. There is $432 million 
more in the budget--taxpayers' money--and that savings can be used for 
something else important in the State, other than paying for people who 
don't have insurance, can't see a doctor, and have to use the emergency 
room.
  For me, this debate gets all smooshed together with all kinds of 
things that aren't connected to each other. The truth is that Medicaid 
is saving money. More people can go to the doctor and get preventive 
care. Fewer people are walking into the emergency room, which is the 
most expensive way to get healthcare. This is working. For seniors, 
three out of five seniors in Michigan in nursing homes are there 
because of Medicaid healthcare.
  I am not interested in cutting healthcare for seniors, children, and 
working families. I am not interested in a tax cut that is going to 
give the top 400 people in the United States a combined $33 billion in 
tax cuts. But if we want to focus on small businesses, folks who are 
individually buying insurance and either can't find insurance or it is 
too high, count me in. Count me in. That needs to get fixed, and that 
involves making sure that the administration does not continue with 
actions that are raising people's costs on purpose. We need to fix the 
things in the system that aren't working.
  I hope that for the rest of this week, next week, and beyond, we can 
have some real conversations about working together to solve the real 
problems that deal with costs, prescription drug costs, out-of-pocket 
costs for people, and we can do that in a bipartisan way if we are 
focusing on the real problems in healthcare and how we make healthcare 
stronger, better, and more affordable for American families.
  Thank you.
  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. WICKER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________