[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10375-10376]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I have often come to the floor to 
relay the stories of Kentuckians who have suffered under ObamaCare.
  Under ObamaCare, Kentuckians have seen their premiums skyrocket--by 
an average of 75 percent since 2013.
  Under ObamaCare, Kentuckians have seen their options for health 
insurance plummet. This year, families living in 90 percent of the 
counties in Kentucky will have little or no options of insurers to pick 
from; that is, two options or less.
  We all know the statistics in our own States. We also know the pain 
of ObamaCare is about far more than just numbers on a page. Behind each 
of ObamaCare's unaffordable premium increases, there is a family 
struggling to make ends meet. Behind all the canceled plans and 
restricted choices, there are countless individuals who have been left 
behind by this failing law.
  Today Vice President Pence is traveling to Lexington in my State to 
hear directly from my constituents, including small business owners who 
have struggled under ObamaCare. As the Vice President knows, 
ObamaCare's pain is about more than just skyrocketing costs and 
plummeting choices; its taxes, mandates, and heavy-handed regulations 
hurt too. They have subjected small businesses across the country to 
serious challenges.
  ObamaCare has been hurting the men and women we represent for many 
years in many different ways. I am thankful we finally have an 
administration that seems to care, an administration that has made a 
real effort to actually listen to those who have been forced to endure 
the negative consequences of this failing law.
  ObamaCare has been spiraling toward collapse for years. Today it 
teeters on the brink of total meltdown, threatening to hurt even more 
of our friends and loved ones. We really can't allow that to happen.
  Doing nothing about ObamaCare is simply not an option. That is why we 
have been working hard to move beyond the failures of ObamaCare with 
Better Care legislation. We want to stabilize and reform the collapsing 
insurance markets, we want to put downward pressure on premiums, and we 
want to put upward lift on choice. We want to give States dramatic new 
tools that can drive a new era of improved health outcomes, especially 
for those most in need, and we want to put more affordable insurance in 
reach for Americans ObamaCare continues to leave behind.
  If we sit on our hands, families will continue to suffer. If we let 
this opportunity to move beyond ObamaCare pass us by, what other 
options will there be? One idea from the Democratic leader is simply to 
throw money at insurance companies--no reforms, no changes, just a 
multibillion-dollar bandaid.
  Another idea from many other Democrats is to quadruple down on 
ObamaCare with a government-run single-payer system. It is called 
single payer because there is just one payer--one payer: the 
government. Nearly every healthcare decision would be decided by a 
Federal bureaucrat. Taxes could go up astronomically. The total cost 
could add up to $32 trillion, according to an estimate of a leading 
proposal.
  Now, Americans deserve better than a massive expansion of a failed 
idea. Americans deserve better than a bandaid. Americans deserve better 
than ObamaCare. What they really deserve is better care, and we 
continue to work together to provide it. We are having productive 
discussions about the future of healthcare, just like we should be 
doing, and soon it will be time to move those discussions right out 
here to the Senate floor.
  Once we proceed to the bill, Members--Republicans and Democrats 
alike--will have the opportunity to engage in robust debate and a 
robust amendment process right here on the Senate floor. I am sure 
Members will have other good ideas then, and I hope they will offer 
them. They will certainly have the opportunity to offer them, but if 
the Senate is prevented from even proceeding to the bill, none of us 
will have an opportunity--not Republicans, not Democrats, not anyone.
  I regret that our Democratic colleagues made clear from the outset 
that they weren't interested in working seriously with us to pursue the 
kind of comprehensive reforms needed to truly move beyond the pain of 
ObamaCare, but they will have a new

[[Page 10376]]

opportunity soon. Once we get on the bill, they will have another 
chance to offer their solutions. I hope they will offer more than just 
a bandaid. I hope they will offer more than just a $32 trillion reup of 
a failed idea.
  Whatever they would like to propose, I hope they will take the chance 
to open debate and advance the legislative process--for every Senator, 
for every American.
  Leaving the American people to suffer under the ObamaCare status quo, 
I think, is unacceptable. We have seen the pain in our home States. We 
have seen the heartbreak all across our country. The American people 
are relying on us to bring them real relief, so we will keep working 
hard to deliver just that.

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