Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act

Floor Speech

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Madam President, I rise today on behalf of the 18,000 Nebraskans who have contacted me to express their concerns with the negative impacts of Obamacare.

Rather than addressing these problems in last night's State of the Union address, the President doubled down on the failed policy.

Well, the President has had his chance to speak. Now it is time for my constituents to have their voices heard.

The law is hurting my constituents. It is hurting middle class families. We now know that millions of Americans have lost their private health insurance.

Many who have successfully enrolled in the exchange have been forced into plans that do not meet their families' needs. These plans often cost more but cover less.

Treatments, even for those battling cancer, have been delayed.

We learned this month that a woman named Josie Gracchi--who was diagnosed with breast cancer--recently lost her doctors. She was forced to postpone her scheduled biopsy and follow-up treatment. The reason: Josie's insurance rolled over into a new plan in an exchange under Obamacare at the start of the New Year.

Seniors are losing their trusted doctors, too.

Americans are disclosing deeply personal information--including their health care histories and Social Security numbers--to a flawed website ripe for hacking.

If truth in advertising rules applied to Obamacare, it would be banned as an unfair and unreliable product. Let me give you an example. We were all told that this massive law would dramatically expand coverage for the uninsured. Yet a recent Wall Street Journal article cites a McKinsey study that undermined this promise.

Only 11 percent of consumers who bought new coverage under the law were previously uninsured, according to a McKinsey & Co. survey of consumers thought to be eligible for the health-law marketplaces.

One reason for people declining to purchase plans was affordability. That was cited by 52% of those who had shopped for a new plan but not purchased one in McKinsey's most recent sampling, performed in January.

As it turns out, the "Affordable Care'' Act is hardly affordable, and the vast majority of those who purchased insurance through the exchanges already had health insurance.

Last week the CEO of Aetna, a major insurance company, said Obamacare was not attracting enough uninsured people to work. He said more premium increases are on the horizon.

"Are they going to be double-digit,'' he said, "or are we going to get beat up because they're double-digit or are we just going to have to pull out of the program?''

And recently Moody's downgraded health insurers from stable to negative based on uncertainty related to Obamacare. The downgrade is a result of the administration's series of unilateral changes, which only invite even more uncertainty.

This pervasive uncertainty is also plaguing our small business owners, who are struggling with the onslaught of new regulations. Americans see selective delays for some, but not all. Hardworking men and women--our entrepreneurs--are the backbone of our economy. Any sort of meaningful economic recovery will only come when they have the confidence to grow and expand their businesses and that requires certainty.

Obamacare robs them of that certainty, and as a result the unemployed are robbed of jobs.

It's not just those searching for work who suffer from Obamacare's heavy regulatory hand. Our senior citizens are at a loss as well. The Washington Post recently described challenges facing Medicare Advantage patients because of Obamacare.

Obamacare has cut over half a trillion dollars from Medicare. Now, insurers are terminating physician networks.

According to The Post:

Insurers say they must shrink their physician networks because they face billions of dollars in government-payment cuts over the next decade--reductions that are being used partly to fund insurance coverage for millions of people under the federal Affordable Care Act.

And it is not just our seniors, it is also the young.

A recent study by the American Action Forum found that it would be cheaper for 86 percent of young adults to forgo coverage.

The study concluded:

Even after mandate penalty is fully implemented, a majority of young adult households will find that it is financially advantageous for them to forgo health insurance, pay the mandate penalty, and personally cover their own health care expenses.

Without the participation of young, healthy people, we are told the whole system will collapse. Then what?

To add insult to injury, some Obamacare proponents want taxpayers to pick up the tab for insurance companies assuming the whole system might, in fact, collapse.

Instead of calling this a "bailout''--which is what it is--they use terms that could only be coined in Washington--terms like "risk-corridors,'' ``reinsurance funds,'' or "risk-sharing protection.''

The White House may even preemptively alter portions of this program for big insurance companies before the law falls apart. I believe American taxpayers have paid enough. That is why I cosponsored Senator Marco Rubio's Obamacare Bailout Prevention Act.

The President and big insurance companies should not be permitted to force taxpayers to pay for the mess they created. Nebraskans have no interest in any more bailouts. And they certainly cannot afford to pay for these sky-rocketing premium spikes. Just ask my constituent from Lincoln, who wrote me recently to share her story.

She said:

I spent 2 hours on the phone with Healthcare.gov. The Supervisor said she was going to try and reapply and reinstate my plan beginning January 1, 2014.....

After an hour long process everyone but my 15 year old son was approved for healthcare. So, then she tried to apply again..... An hour later the system `crashed' and she asked me to call back later.

So I called back yesterday. I had to go through an hour long process again for signing up..... at that point, all Three of my children were completely denied coverage.

My husband and I are seriously scared..... if something catastrophic happens our family will be ruined without healthcare for our children.

These hardworking middle class families need relief. They are over-taxed and over-burdened. People are scared. The law has not brought what the President promised. The cost of this flawed law is depriving Nebraskans the opportunities to build their own futures and pursue their dreams. Scrapping this law should be a priority for the Senate, the White House, and the country. It certainly is a top priority for me. We must repeal and replace this failed law now. Anything short of that is just irresponsible. Our constituents are counting on us--let's not disappoint them.

I yield the floor.

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