Health Care Reform
Floor Speech
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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of my colleague from Arkansas and prior to him those of my colleagues from Missouri and Wyoming--we will be hearing in a minute from my colleague from Nebraska--all of whom are expressing sentiments that are conveyed to them by their constituents in their individual States about the very real and very personal impacts ObamaCare is having on them.
Last night, in the President's State of the Union speech, he sort of glanced over that issue. It is kind of the equivalent of a driveby. He sort of acknowledged the law. He said it is not going to change and if Republicans have better ideas, then come forward with them.
We just heard the Senator from Missouri, Mr. Blunt, list 10 or 12 things that we think could be done that would be dramatically different and would be a dramatic improvement in a very different approach from what is included in ObamaCare, which is a heavyhanded, government-driven solution to health care, which essentially puts the health care in this country, which is one-sixth of our economy, under political control here in Washington, DC.
As a consequence, what we are seeing out there are higher premiums, higher out-of-pocket costs in the form of deductibles and copays, canceled coverages, and fewer choices when it comes to doctors and hospitals. That has been the real-world impact of the passage of ObamaCare. The President said when he was running for office he was going to reduce health care costs by $2,500 per family. We now know they have gone up, since he has taken office, by about $2,500 per family, and they continue to go up all the time.
We hear consistently from our constituents in our individual States, and those stories that are being shared this morning are good examples again of the real-world impact of this law and why it is so important we go back, start over, and do this the right way, with reforms that actually address the issue of creating more competition, more choice for individuals, allowing market forces in the world of health care as opposed to having this overreaching government approach, which clearly has not worked.
The one thing I and many of us got up and talked about when ObamaCare was being debated was the fact that there was not anything in there that constrained utilization or that put downward pressure on costs. So costs keep going up. That keeps getting passed on. Taxes keep going up. They keep getting passed on. What does that mean? For middle-class families it means higher premiums and higher deductibles, higher copays, and in many cases fewer jobs because that is the impact it is having on the economy, and it worsens the very thing the President says he is most concerned about; that is, the issue of income inequality. Because when you are driving up the cost for consumers in their daily lives--and I would say health care for most people is a very significant cost and I would add energy to that--but those are a couple of things where we have seen policies that have made it more expensive for middle-class Americans to make ends meet. Health care is certainly an example of that.
I would like to share a couple examples from my State. Of course, as has been mentioned earlier by my colleagues, we hear these stories in the form of emails, letters, phone calls coming into our offices. Lest anybody think what we do is done in a vacuum, these are not abstract issues. These are very real personal experiences that people across this country are having.
This is a letter from a constituent in Harrisburg, SD, which is a growing community near Sioux Falls, SD. It is a growing, vibrant community. The letter says:
My wife and I have been fortunate to have become small business owners and entrepreneurs. So far, we have been successful of living the American dream for the last 3 years and have seen great success at what we do.
Unfortunately, with ObamaCare, we are needing to make choices I never thought we would have to make.
Based upon the rates for health insurance, we would be paying approximately $800 out of pocket per month. Essentially, we are thrown in to make an additional house payment per month, or face a penalty at the end of the year and not have health insurance.
This constituent goes on to say:
Needless to say, I am very disappointed and upset right now. I feel I am being taken advantage of because I am a small business owner and wanted to live the ``American Dream.''
This next statement is from another constituent who is from Rapid City, and this is in the form of a letter regarding the President's broken promises. He says:
Bottom line is the president lied to us. He said if we like our policy we can keep it. He said we would be saving around $2,500 a year. Wrong on both Accounts.
He then concludes:
When our policy expires it will be cancelled and we will have to pay almost triple what we're paying now.
Those are examples from my State of South Dakota, and my colleague from Arkansas shared some examples from his State. I know my colleague, my neighbor from Nebraska, Senator Johanns, hears many of those same stories coming from his State. He represents people very much like those I represent in South Dakota who in many cases make their living the same way and are experiencing the economic consequences of a bad policy, a failed policy, a bad law that was rushed through here, and they now--the American people--unfortunately, are experiencing the adverse impacts of that in their own personal economic lives and, in a broader sense, on our economy nationally. Higher costs, canceled coverages, fewer choices in the form of doctors and hospitals, and fewer jobs for American workers whom we want to get back to work, that is the real-world experience.
There is a better way. The Senator from Missouri talked about many of those ideas. I hope the President would work with us to repeal this bad law and start over in a way that makes sense for the American people and for our health care economy in this country.
I yield the floor.
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