Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor on how the pain of Obamacare continues to worsen.
Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:
“The pain of Obamacare is continuing to worsen around the country for men, women, and families.
“And this is an important day when insurance companies have to come up with the filings and the plans on what they plan to do for next year with regards to plans that meet the Obamacare mandates.
“Very soon, millions of Americans will find out if they are going to be able to buy an insurance plan in their own communities regardless of the cost.
“We’ve seen that the Blue Cross Blue Shield group in Maryland has proposed rate increases up to 58 percent for next year in the state of Maryland. This is after they went up 24 percent last year.
“How many families can afford such a thing?
“This is a terrifying reality for people on Obamacare today.
“One of the big reasons we’ve been working so hard on health care reform is to improve access to health care.
“What we want to do as Republicans is get rid of some of the excessive mandates, the expensive mandates –things that are driving up the cost of care, and certainly driving up the cost of coverage for that care.
“When prices come down, people are able to afford insurance, and companies are ready to sell that insurance. We have people in Wyoming ready to buy it.
“That’s how you improve access to insurance.
“That’s how you also improve access to care.
“You don’t do it by forcing the prices up and then requiring people to buy coverage –which is what the Democrats who voted for Obamacare did –and that’s what they passed.
“Millions of Americans got letters from their insurance –over 5,000 in Wyoming got that letter –that said sorry, your insurance plan isn’t good enough for government.
“People ought to make that decision for themselves –not Democrats in Washington who voted for the Obamacare law.
“The big insurance company Humana is dropping out of the Obamacare exchange entirely next year.
“Aetna said it’s quitting the individual markets in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, and Virginia.
“Anthem is pulling out of Ohio.
“The list goes on.
“So far there are over 40 counties across the country are expected to have no one selling insurance on the exchange.
“That’s the reality of Obamacare.
“Next year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid have said that about 40 percent of all the counties in America will have just one company selling on the exchange.
“That’s a monopoly.
“What happens when those companies decide to drop out?
“In fact, Democrats say a lot of things about insurance coverage that aren’t really telling the whole story.
“They have talked about the Congressional Budget report.
“The CBO report said that there will be millions of people fewer who will have insurance if the Republican passed bill becomes law.
“News headlines screamed that the House bill would mean millions of people lose their insurance coverage.
“Well, that’s wrong.
“According to the Congressional Budget Office, if you eliminate the individual mandate –the part of the law that says you must buy a government approved program –if you don’t mandate it, a lot of people don’t want to buy it.
“They don’t view it as a good benefit to them.
“They don’t view it as worth their money.
“If people aren’t required to buy insurance, millions of them will choose not to purchase the insurance, especially when they believe it’s not a good deal for them personally.
“I believe Americans have that right –apparently the Democrats don’t believe that Americans have that right.
“That to me is the difference between a Republican approach –which provides for freedom –and a Democrat approach –mandates.
“We want to give people the right to decide what’s right for them and their families.
“The Congressional Budget Office says that 8 million people who get coverage in the individual market would decide it’s just not worth buying.
“They also said there would be another 4 million fewer people on Medicaid next year and if you eliminate the mandate, they aren’t going to sign up for it even when it’s free.
“So insurance isn’t being taken from people –these are people who are making a decision as free individuals –Americans –of how they want to spend their money, and what they want to sign up for or not.
“The legislation that the House passed makes no changes to Medicaid in 2018.
“The Senate is coming up with our own solutions.
“We’re looking at ways to make sure that Americans have access to insurance that works for them – not just what works for Democrats in Washington.
“As we roll back some of the worst parts of Obamacare, prices for health insurance will go down.
“People will have better options than the one-size-fits-all plans that Washington has forced on the American people.
“They’ll have other options that work better for them and their families.
“Our goal is to not do what the Democrats did.
“Obamacare kicked people off of insurance that worked for them.
“Our goal is to reform America’s health care system – so insurance costs less and it meets the needs of the people who buy it.
“Republicans’ goal is to focus on care, not just on useless coverage that Obamacare had provided for many with narrow networks.
“Democrats want to talk about people losing their insurance, they need to look at what Obamacare is doing to people right now.
“They need to look at people who are losing their insurance because their insurers are walking away from them.
“I hear Democrats say that they’re worried about whether people with pre-existing conditions can get insurance.
“As a doctor I will tell you –we are absolutely committed as Republicans to make sure that no one with a pre-existing condition is left out.
“Democrats can’t make that claim.
“If there is no one selling insurance where you live –if you have a pre-existing condition and you’re living under Obamacare, you cannot get insurance no matter what any Democrat says.
“No one is willing to sell it to you even if you get a government subsidy.
“Obamacare continues collapsing – and it’s going to bury more Americans who have pre-existing conditions.
“The other day, Senator Schumer admitted Obamacare is not providing affordable access to care.
“I think that’s an important admission from the minority leader.
“Now it’s time for him and for Democrats to join with Republicans in the Senate.
“Join us in providing Americans with the care they need, from a doctor they choose, at lower costs.”
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