Ensuring Tax Exempt Organizations The Right To Appeal Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, today, President Obama is heading to Connecticut, where I understand he is going to be addressing the graduates at the Coast Guard Academy. He plans to talk about threats to our national security.

I think many Americans would be astonished to learn the President's planned discussion on national security is going to center on climate change. After all, Americans understand there are much more immediate threats facing our Nation, such as the fall of Ramadi in Iraq and the brutal terrorist attacks by ISIS. These are clear examples of the real threats that must be addressed by President Obama.

I would encourage the President to spend this time today addressing America's most pressing national security threats. The President and his national security team must deliver strong leadership and an effective strategy to fight the terrorists who want to attack our country and kill more Americans. This should be the focus of the President's speech today. This should be our most pressing national security concern.

OBAMACARE

Mr. President, I would also like to talk about an important issue that is facing Americans and they will soon need to be seeing, which is that next month the Supreme Court is expected to announce a decision in the case of King v. Burwell. This is a case that has been brought on behalf of millions of Americans who have been harmed by the President's unlawful expansion of his unworkable and unaffordable health care law.

Sometime before the end of June, the Court is going to announce if the law passed by Congress means what it says or if it means what the President wishes it had said. The law, written by Democrats in Congress, written behind closed doors, only authorized insurance subsidies for one group, and the President had the IRS pay subsidies to another group.

The President gave bureaucrats much more power to control the health care choices and decisions of people who never should have been caught under the law. The Supreme Court should strike down this alarming overreach by the President. If it does, that will give Congress an opportunity to address some of the devastating problems the health care law has caused.

It seems like every week we see another headline about another damaging side effect of the President's health care law. Here is one example from a story yesterday morning, the front page of Investor's Business Daily: ``ObamaCare Rates Will Soar In 2016, Early Data Signal.'' Average 18.16 percent hike proposed. It is an astonishing fact that people are facing--increasing rates, soaring again in 2016.

Insurance companies that sell plans in the ObamaCare exchange are starting to set their rates for next year. There are a series of articles that continue to come out. One says that the top ObamaCare exchange insurers in six different States where the 2016 rate requests have already been filed--and they will come in every State--are seeking rate changes that average 18.6 percent just next year alone. Early reports range from an alarming 36-percent hike sought by the dominant insurer in Tennessee to a hefty 23-percent average increase requested by Oregon insurers. People across the country saw these rates go up at the beginning of this year, and now they are facing it again. They are starting to learn that it was not just a 1-year deal.

There is another story that came out May 7 in the Connecticut Mirror. The article says that insurance companies selling health plans through the State's health insurance exchange are seeking to raise rates next year, with an average increase somewhere between 2 and nearly 14 percent.

You take a look; it is outrageous.

I know the Senator from Connecticut has come to the floor saying that we should be celebrating ObamaCare--celebrating it, he said. Well, with these rate increases for families in Connecticut, it looks to me like the party is over. ObamaCare was supposed to bring costs down. That is what the President promised. He said premiums would go down by an average of $2,500 per year, per family. It has not happened. For an average family who gets coverage through their work, the premiums have gone up about $3,500 since the President took office in 2009.

Why do we still see headlines about premiums going up by 14 percent or even 2 percent? Why are they going up at all? Why are the promises Democrats made about the health care law not coming true? Why are ObamaCare rates set to soar again in 2016? Why are people in places like Connecticut still seeing headlines about their costs going up by 14 percent?

A few weeks ago, the Democratic leader said on the floor that ObamaCare is a ``smashing success.'' He stood right over there and said it--it is a ``smashing success.'' Is there a Democrat who thinks that a 14-percent increase to families in Connecticut is a smashing success or that an 18.6-percent average across the country is a smashing success?

We are going to see this same story about soaring insurance rates repeated all across America. And it is not just the ObamaCare premiums that are causing problems for families. Here is a headline from the Washington Post on Friday: ``Insured, but still not able to afford care.''

``For one in four who bought health coverage, some costs remained too high.'' So they have insurance, but they are still not able to get care. People who have insurance have been avoiding going to see the doctor. That is according to a new study by the liberal advocacy group called Families USA. This was an advocacy group who was a huge supporter of the President's health care law and a huge supporter of the President. Even this group has to admit that coverage does not equal care. There is a difference. The group's executive director is quoted in this article in the Washington Post as saying, ``The key culprit as to why people have been unable to afford medical care despite coverage is high deductibles.'' Well, I agree. Many people's deductibles are too high. The reason the deductibles have gotten so high and so out of hand all of a sudden is that the health care law included so many coverage mandates.

Democrats who voted for this said they know better than the people at home what kind of insurance they need. That is what the President said. The President said: I know better than you do. I know what your family needs. You do not. That is why the deductibles are so high. Insurance had to raise their premiums to cover the cost of all these new Washington mandates. They had to raise deductibles as well. This year, the average deductible for an ObamaCare Silver Plan is almost $3,000 for a single person and more than $6,000 for a family.

People have Washington-mandated coverage, but they still cannot afford to get care. So people are putting off going to the doctor. They are skipping tests. They are skipping followup care because of the high deductibles and copays. Why are people across the country having to put off getting care? Because they cannot afford it. Is that what Democrats mean when they say the law has been a smashing success, when the minority leader comes to the floor and says it is a smashing success? All across the country, Americans are struggling with the cost of health care under this health care law.

There was a study out this morning. In the paper The Hill, Sarah Ferris writes:

``Underinsured'' population has doubled in the United States to 31 million.

One-quarter of people with healthcare coverage are paying so much for deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses that they are considered underinsured.

Thirty-one million Americans.

Rising deductibles--even under ObamaCare--are the biggest problem for most people who are considered underinsured.

Doubled. The number of underinsured people under the health care law has now doubled.

People are paying more as a result of the Democrats' health care law, and they are going to be paying even more next year and the year after that until we are able to do something to stop it.

Republicans are offering real solutions that will end these destructive and expensive ObamaCare side effects. That means giving Americans and giving States the freedom, the choice, and the control over their health care decisions once again. Republicans understand that coverage does not equal care. Republicans understand what American families were asking for before this health care law was ever passed. That is what they are still asking for today.

It is time for Democrats to admit that their health care law did not work--it did not work out the way they promised--and to start working with Republicans on reforms that will give people the care they need from a doctor they choose at lower costs.

I yield the floor.

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