Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the ObamaCare legislation we are dealing with today and in an effort to repeal. I join my colleagues in calling on the President to work with us to reform this very badly written law.

By any objective measure, the President's health care law is a disaster. Six years ago, at Christmas time, I was here on this floor as we held the final debate and held the final vote, after nearly a year of trying to stop this legislation from being forced into law. Unfortunately, it was passed in the most partisan and misguided way on a straight party-line vote after virtually every serious effort to amend it and repair it had been rejected outright.

Since that time, the American people have felt the impact of the law. Thirty of the Senators who forced it through this Chamber no longer serve in the Senate any more. I don't believe this legislation could pass again were it brought before us. Those of us who fought over it at that time raised a number of concerns and warned the American people that this proposal would result in widespread dislocation of the American health care economy, that it would increase taxes on nearly everyone, force people from health insurance plans and doctors whom they have and whom they like, push up premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, cut Medicare services, and, finally, undermine the employer-based health insurance program and market that so many people and families rely upon.

Unfortunately, time and again, we have been proven right. In truth, today we see that the situation is much worse than even we said it would be. The President not only managed to mangle the 2013 rollout of the ObamaCare exchanges, but he repeatedly has delayed key parts of the law because of the entirely predictable problems that have arisen and made selective interpretations of the law necessary to advance the administration's political interests.

The President, or a top administrative official, stated 37 times: ``If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.'' These included numerous national townhalls and weekly Presidential addresses. This statement proved to be PolitiFact's 2013 ``Lie of the Year.''

Since those statements, millions of cancellation notices have been sent out to Americans across this country, including over 100,000 in Idaho alone in 2013, rendering meaningless the President's oft- repeated pledge.

In January, CBO updated its estimate of the effects of the health care law, indicating that over 10 million individuals will lose their employer-based health care coverage by 2021. Further, CBO estimates the law will leave 31 million people uninsured, up from its original 2011 forecast of 23 million people.

We are also learning that the health care Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan Program--the CO-OP program--is failing nationally, despite receiving over $2 billion in taxpayer bailouts. Today, over half--12 of the original 23 public co-ops--have failed. Between October 9 and October 16, 4 co-ops announced they would not offer health insurance in 2016, leaving 176,000 patients scrambling to find a new plan.

The President is also annually faced with the reality of rising premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for health insurance plans. What is his line of argument? He again tries to lower expectations, saying that these costs are not as bad as they initially were projected to be, even though they are still going up.

Throughout the 2008 Presidential campaign, then-Senator Barack Obama repeatedly promised that his health care plan would bring down premiums by as much as $2,500 for the typical family. As President, he continued to make this claim, even after studies demonstrated that the opposite would occur. The truth was that the opposite did occur. Health care premiums have skyrocketed.

For the most recent open enrollment period, the average premium increase for the midlevel silver plans on the Federal exchange is 7.5 percent, more than triple last year's increase. In Idaho, which operates a State exchange, the average premium increase for a Blue Cross of Idaho plan is 23 percent. The average premium for a Regence BlueShield of Idaho plan is 10 percent. And the average premium increase for a SelectHealth plan is 14 percent. This is after year after year of increasing health care premiums.

What is the justification from the insurers? This is the first year prices are based on post-ObamaCare patients, enrollments costs, and mandates. Premiums are skyrocketing.

There are better solutions. To address the increasing costs and decreasing choices, the bill we have before us today eliminates the individual and employer mandates so Americans can once again choose the plan that fits their health care and budget needs.

It also repeals the taxes on employer contributions to flexible spending accounts and expands the availability of health savings accounts, FSAs, and health reimbursement accounts. These accounts are central to a consumer-driven health care system.

But it is not just premiums that are increasing. People are facing higher deductibles and copays as well, sometimes thousands of dollars higher than before. For the lowest cost ObamaCare plans in 2016, deductibles have increased by 10.6 percent for individuals and 10 percent for families.

Let me give just a couple of examples from constituents in Idaho. Daniel from Meridian, ID, recently contacted my office to explain why he and his family are uninsured for the first time in their lives. Daniel is employed and the sole provider for his family. His employer offers health coverage, but the estimated cost of premiums for his family would be over $900 per month. He chose to purchase insurance from the exchange but decided the coverage was not worth a $500-per-month premium and an $8,000 deductible. That is right, an $8,000 deductible.

Daniel is not the only constituent who has contacted my office about the so-called family glitch--an unfortunate but not uncommon flaw in ObamaCare that has left millions of Americans families uninsured.

Bill from Boise, ID, is a small business owner. He purchases his own health insurance and provides coverage to his 45 employees. He saw his premiums increase by 7 percent in 2014, by 12 percent in 2015, and was recently notified by his insurance company that premiums will increase by 25.6 percent in 2016. Bill says these increases, in addition to other regulations and mandates coming from the government, will likely cause small businesses to close their doors.

Lane from Melba, ID, experienced his premiums increase to over $900 per month for his family. Even without preexisting conditions, his plan includes a $3,500 deductible. These cost increases come as individuals are paying more in taxes also as a result of ObamaCare.

People may recall that at the time of the debate, the President stated again and again:

I can make a firm pledge ..... no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase ..... not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes. ..... You will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime.

Well, when we debated the bill we pointed out that there was over $1 trillion--maybe close to $1.5 trillion--of new taxes, most of which were going to fall squarely on the middle class. Yet, during consideration of ObamaCare, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation sent me a letter confirming that there were at least seven specific tax increases in the bill which would raise taxes on middle-income American families.

According to CBO, ObamaCare will cost taxpayers more than $116 billion a year in taxes. The average American household can expect to pay more than $20,000 in new taxes over the next 10 years. In Idaho, my constituents will pay $360 million more in taxes over the next decade, or $6,055 per household.

The legislation we are considering today will solve this problem as well. It will eliminate more than $1 trillion in tax increases and save more than $500 billion in spending. And for all of the additional burdens, mandates, and costs, consumers are finding narrower insurance networks and limited plan offerings. In its recent Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2017, CMS actually stated that an excessive number of health plan options makes consumers less likely to make any plan selection and that standardized options are needed to provide consumers the opportunity to make simpler comparisons. This means these standardizations will once again mandate that insurers offer consumers fewer options.

To sum up, millions of Americans are being forced from plans they like and the doctors and hospitals they know. They face higher premiums and higher deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, they navigate one of the least customer-friendly Web sites ever designed, they are obligated to share personal and sensitive financial information through a network that hackers have called a gold mine for thieves--and, which is managed by the IRS--and, in return, they are paying higher taxes and seeing Medicare benefits cut.

It is time that we in Congress place on the President's desk a solution, a repeal of these onerous and misguided health care policies and a reform of our health care system that will help move us to achieve the true objectives that Americans are asking for--helping to get a proper health care delivery system with a market-based delivery foundation that will help to reduce costs, increase the quality of care, and expand access to care across this country. We know we can do it. But we know now very clearly that ObamaCare is not the solution.

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