Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

Last week, U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced legislation that will allow states to opt-out of Obamacare’s major provisions.  

The State Health Care Choice Act (S. 244) specifically allows states to opt-out of the individual mandate, employer mandate, Medicaid mandate and benefit mandates.

Recently, Senators Barrasso and Graham spoke on the Senate floor about how their bill will transfer power from Washington back to states and ensure states have flexibility, freedom and choice.  

Excerpts of Senator Barrasso’s remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate:

“The people of Wyoming overwhelmingly want the opportunity to remove themselves from the heavy burden of the Obama-passed and supported health care law. There are huge expenses. The Medicaid mandate is huge.

“I think States ought to have the right to make decisions about the Medicaid mandate, about the individual mandate that requires everyone to buy government-approved health insurance.

“Governors, having to deal with this Medicaid mandate, are realizing that to listen to Washington, they are going to have to take money away from education. They are going to have to take money away from public services. They ought to have a right to make a decision at the State level as to what they want to do, what laws ought to apply.

“One size doesn’t fit all.  That is why States ought to make a decision about ways to help people in their own State get the care they need from the doctors they want at prices they can afford. This massive health care law does not accomplish that.

“What do the States want? Flexibility, freedom, and choice. I know that is what people in Wyoming want. I think every State ought to have the opportunity to make that decision, and that is why this bill is on the floor of the Senate.”

Excerpts of Senator Graham’s remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate:

“I would like to give the States an opportunity to speak as to whether they want the individual mandate, the Medicaid expansion, and employer mandate that I think adds a lot of cost to businesses that will decrease job opportunities at a time when South Carolina needs every job it can get.

“So what I am hearing from my Governor is, please give me some relief from a Medicaid Program that is drowning my State.

“What we are trying to do, I say to my good friend from Wyoming, is to take the debate on health care to the State level so people can speak up before we lock the country into a plan that I think is going to ruin the viability of the States’ budgets by expanding Medicaid to 150 percent above poverty.

“So this opt-out approach I think would make the debate more meaningful. It is not just about what people in Washington think; it is about what America wants and what Americans think. The best way to get their opinion is to allow them to speak at the State level.

“Our bill is pretty simple. If you think this is a very good idea, let it be tested by your Federal citizens through an opt-out provision.”

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