“On almost every aspect of real health care reform, President Obama and Democrats in Congress took the wrong approach, and they made it worse.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The following are the remarks, as prepared, of U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) at today’s Heritage Foundation’s “Obamacare On Trial: The Impact Of The Court’s Rulings” event:
“The Supreme Court will be hearing arguments over three days next week about the constitutionality of President Obama’s health care law.
“This is a moment many of us have been awaiting for the past two years.
“From the time the law was signed, I’ve been going to the Senate floor nearly every week with a doctor’s second opinion about the law. I do this as someone who has practiced medicine for 25 years.
“Nancy Pelosi said, first you have to pass it, then you get to find out what’s in it. Well, the more people learn about the law, the less they like it.
“As a physician and a Senator, I want to focus today on the aspects of the law affecting patients and their doctors. I want to talk more about the policy and the politics rather than the legal arguments.
“Some of us have warned since the very beginning that this law was a bad idea and would do more harm than good to Americans’ health care.
“This law is bad for patients, it’s bad for providers – the nurses and the doctors who care for those patients – and it’s bad for taxpayers.
“That’s because the original flaw of Obamacare, the one it cannot get past, is that it mistakes access to coverage with access to care.
“President Obama might be able to order you to buy insurance, but he cannot get you care if you can’t find a doctor or hospital to go to.
“The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that this country will face a shortage of 63,000 doctors just three years from now in 2015. The law provides for thousands of new IRS agents to make sure you have health insurance, but it fails to deal in any meaningful way with the shortage of nurses and doctors to actually take care of you.
“Seniors face additional roadblocks to care because the law cuts $500 billion from Medicare — not to save and strengthen Medicare, but to start a whole new Washington program for someone else. Over time, the actuary for the Medicare program expects up to 40 percent of Medicare providers will become unprofitable because of the cuts in Obamacare, meaning they may have to drop out of the program entirely.
“How far will a senior citizen have to travel, or how long will they have to wait for a doctor’s appointment, if 40 percent of the physicians stop seeing patients with a Medicare card?
“President Obama is weakening Medicare when he should be strengthening it.
“The President’s plan also falls short in helping the uninsured. For many of these people, President Obama’s solution is to put them on Medicaid – a program for low-income Americans. Already nearly half of all doctors won’t see patients on Medicaid because of very low reimbursement rates for Medicaid services.
“The Medicaid card may provide what the President calls coverage, but it doesn’t provide what the patient calls care.
“And finally, the health care law hits all of us through increased costs that will have to be paid through higher taxes.
“When he was running for President, Barrack Obama promised that his plan would cost “$50-65 billion a year when fully phased in.” The latest projections now say that in its first decade of full implementation, Washington’s total spending from Obamacare will reach $2.6 trillion – four to five times what the President claimed.
“Senator Tom Coburn and I released a report earlier this week. The report is called “Warning: Side Effects, A check-up on the federal health law.” The report shows that the Obama health care law will provide fewer choices, higher taxes, more government, and less innovation.
“It’s bad for patients, bad for providers, bad for taxpayers. That’s the Obama health care law in a nutshell.
“And that’s why back home in Wyoming, and as I travel across the country, I continue to hear from Americans who want Washington to take its hands off their health care.
“The very idea that some Washington bureaucrat can apply a one-size-fits-all solution to your health care is not what Americans want or expect.
“Nothing should come between you and your doctor.
“Not a government bureaucrat.
“Not an insurance company bureaucrat.
“Nothing.
“Obamacare is the most extreme example in our lifetimes of big liberal expansion of government.
“That doesn’t mean our health care system was perfect two years ago before this law was signed. I can tell you, as a doctor and as a Senator, that there is plenty we can do to improve access to care in this country. There is also plenty we can do to reduce the costs of health care — for government, for employers, and for patients.
“We know the kind of patient-centered reforms we need.
“Reforms like making it legal for Americans to buy health insurance from companies across state lines. Giving Americans who purchase their own insurance the same tax benefits as big companies. Ending junk lawsuits that drive up the cost of everyone’s care. And restoring Americans’ freedom over their own health care decisions.
“But Obamacare doesn’t do any of those things.
“On almost every aspect of real health care reform, President Obama and Democrats in Congress took the wrong approach, and they made it worse.
“That’s why I joined other Republican Senators in signing on to amicus briefs challenging the law on several points. The Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling in June. There are probably dozens of permutations on how the justices split and how it handles questions like severability. But essentially there are four possible outcomes.
“The Court could declare the whole law constitutional. It could declare the whole law unconstitutional, which is obviously the preference of Republicans in the Senate. It could split the difference and strike just part of the law, such as the individual mandate. Or it could decide that it lacks jurisdiction until the mandate takes effect in 2015.
“Those are basically the choices, and each of them would lead to a different political response.
“If the Court picks the first option, and says the law passes constitutional muster, or it decides to punt the decision for another couple of years, Republicans in Congress will fight to repeal the entire law legislatively.
“If the Court declares the whole law unconstitutional, Republicans will move to replace it with a valid law that actually makes the reforms we need. Commonsense reforms much different from the massive and disastrous health care takeover President Obama and the Democrats in Congress jammed through against the wishes of the American people.
“If the Court issues a split decision and strikes down, for example, the individual mandate, but says the rest of the law can stand, then Republicans will move to repeal what’s left of the law.
“With Harry Reid in control of the Senate, there won’t be any legislative action before the elections in November — we know that. We also know that the Court’s ruling will have an effect on the elections, though the exact effect will be debatable. And clearly the results of those contests will determine our success in repealing and replacing Obamacare.
“Now, we’ve seen already that the law’s supporters on the left are trying very hard to influence both the Court’s decision and the political response. They’ll be out holding demonstrations in front of the court next week and they’ll be setting up media interviews with people who say they’ve been helped by the law.
“Well how many people across the country are alive today because they got the care they needed without interference from some Washington bureaucrat?
“My wife Bobbi is a breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed by a screening mammogram at age 49 — the cancer had already spread. The mammogram saved her life.
“What happens to other women when a government panel decides to insert itself into the discussions and decisions between a patient and her doctor? Preserving access to care for those patients is what drives Republicans to repeal the President’s health care law.
“Over the next eight months, we will see a battle in this country over whether health care should be patient-centered or bureaucrat-centered.
“If the court rules in favor of the law, I believe President Obama’s popularity will plummet even further. When all is said and done, I think that in November the President’s health care law will be an anchor around the necks of Democrats.
“One study recently found that support for Obamacare cost Democrats the House in 2010. I expect that if President Obama and Senate Democrats keep betting on the law in their campaigns this year, they’re going to suffer the same fate.
“Because at the root of the political issue is the simple fact that the law remains overwhelmingly unpopular with the American people. There’s a new poll on this practically every day.
“One this week by the Washington Post and ABC News found that not only does a majority oppose the law, but two-thirds think the Supreme Court should either strike down the mandate, or kill the law entirely.
“Some polls even found that when people have talked with a doctor or nurse about it, they are even less likely to support the law. The more information people get, from better-informed sources, the more people understand what a bad law this is.
“And people are even more opposed than they were when it first passed. That’s sort of staggering. Normally, once a law passes people get used to it and it becomes more popular. Especially with an entitlement program where people are getting something from the government.
“That’s what Democrats were counting on. David Axelrod, President Obama’s top political adviser, said, “I think that health care, over time, is going to become more popular.” Chuck Schumer said the same thing. The exact opposite has happened.
“When I ask people at town halls how many of them think the President’s health care law will cost them more money, every hand goes up. When I ask how many think the quality and availability of their care will go down, again, every hand goes up.
“The goal of improving access to health care in this country was an admirable one. The plan President Obama and Democrats in Congress came up with was horrible.
“He is now stuck with defending his health care law, but it’s a tough case to argue to the American people.
“I predict that after this election Republicans will have the seats we need to strike down this bad law. If the Supreme Court doesn’t do it, voters will.
“Either way, we must end President Obama’s experiment before it does additional harm to our country. We need to provide real reform that gives people the care they need, from the doctor they want, at a price they can afford.
“Thank you very much.”
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