Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of repealing ObamaCare and replacing it with a step-by-step approach that restores choice and competition to consumers. The problems with ObamaCare are legion and have often been reported in the media and identified on the floor of the Senate.

I know we have all heard from our constituents. Hundreds of thousands have written and called all of our offices and, as a matter of fact, I will read one of the letters that came into my office--or at least part of it. It is addressed to me and starts out saying:

I'm sure I'm not the first one to contact you about rising health insurance deductibles. I have had this job for 3 years. The first 2 years my company plan had a $3,000 yearly deductible with no copay.

So he had a $3,000 yearly deductible with no copay. He continues:

Last year, it went to $4,000 with a 20 percent copay.

Again, it goes from $3,000 to $4,000 in annual deductible and it goes from no copay to a 20-percent copay.

This coming year, 2016, it will go to $6,700 with a 20-percent copay.

So in just 3 years it goes from a $3,000 yearly deductible with no copay to $6,700--more than double--with a 20-percent copay.

He goes on:

Even before my current job, I had a Blue Cross North Dakota policy that had a $2,000 deductible and a very fair monthly premium. I have always had good health insurance. Now I have an essentially worthless policy.

I had bone cancer in my pelvis 1 1/2 years ago. Had to go to Mayo and have my left pelvis removed. I have spent the last 18 months learning to walk again. Doctors weren't able to reconstruct it.

I will have twice yearly follow up cancer screenings for the next several years. These follow ups cost about $3500.00 each. So I spend $7000.00 a year, which is all of my deductible.

He goes on:

What are you doing to make changes to this health care act?

He clearly identified what consumers across the country are experiencing. This is just one example. I have many more, as do all of the Members of this body.

As bad as ObamaCare is for them, it is going to get worse. In 2016, consumers will see significantly higher premiums yet again. Premiums for the lowest cost silver plan will increase by 13 percent, and the lowest cost bronze plan will rise by 16 percent on average.

That is not all. The inaptly named Affordable Care Act has led to higher out-of-pocket costs for older, middle, and lower income Americans as well. Today, the average deductible is more than $2,000 and for some it exceeds $6,000, discouraging people from seeking necessary care.

The law is also resulting in fewer choices. Employers are already reducing benefits for many family members. By 2018, more than half of employers plan to significantly reduce benefits for employees' children and spouses.

While many are seeing higher premiums and deductibles with fewer choices, ObamaCare has created dozens of new taxes that ultimately are passed down to small businesses and consumers. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that ObamaCare will increase taxes by $1.2 trillion over the next decade.

The result is fewer jobs. Simply put, employers are already cutting jobs or reducing hours to part time to avoid the higher costs of ObamaCare.

I do believe there is a consensus across the Nation that we need health care reform, but ObamaCare is not the answer. Americans want commonsense reforms--reforms that truly are affordable and that truly do empower patients to make their own choices. In the short run, we need to pass budget reconciliation legislation that repeals ObamaCare, and, in particular, the individual and employer mandates. In the long run, we need to take a step-by-step approach to put individuals, families, and businesses on a path to better reforms. The right approach to health care reform empowers people to make their own choices in selecting health care providers and insurers that is patient centered and respects the relationship between doctor and patient. The way to accomplish that is with a market-based plan that creates more competition and reduces health care costs.

Here is what we could do: To foster competition and reduce health care costs, we can do things like expand tax-free health savings accounts, flexible savings accounts, and Archer medical savings accounts to encourage individuals to save for future health care needs. Combined with high-deductible, low-premium policies, people will be able to meet their immediate health care needs and still be protected in the event of costly, serious illness.

We should provide portable health care plans so that individuals and families don't experience gaps in coverage when they change jobs. These plans could be given favorable tax treatment. For example, they could be treated as tax-preferred accounts so that dollars towards premiums could receive tax-exempt treatment. We should allow health care policies to be sold across State lines. This would result in more choices, more competition, and reduced costs for customers. We should give States more flexibility to manage Medicaid for low-income individuals and families. We should ensure affordable health care options are available to those in need and certainly those patients with preexisting conditions. That means bolstering State high-risk pools to make sure everyone has an opportunity to be covered.

ObamaCare is far from being the panacea it was promoted to be. The sticker shock hasn't faded. On the budget reconciliation we now have a real opportunity to turn the page on a failed experiment so that we can take steps toward replacing it with something the American people want.

I urge my colleagues to get behind the effort so we can start that process.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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