Hearing of the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee - Opening Statement on 'The State of Health Insurance Markets'

Hearing

Good morning and welcome.

Today's hearing highlights an issue that's incredibly important to all of our constituents. I spent
the summer traveling across Wisconsin speaking directly with Wisconsinites about issues that
are important to them. One common concern my constituents raised was rising health care
costs. That is because the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act did not live up to its name
or fulfill the promises made about it.

President Obama repeatedly told Americans that "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able
to keep your health care plan, period," and "If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your
doctor, period." He also promised that on average, a family would pay $2,500 less per year
under his reforms. Contrary to those repeated promises, millions of Americans lost insurance
they liked and could afford. As networks have narrowed, Americans have also lost access to
doctors they knew and trusted. And premiums have not been reduced, they have skyrocketed.

As states continue to finalize premium rates for 2017, consumers face a striking reality: Health
care premiums are on the rise and marketplaces established under the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, are spiraling out of control. Americans across the country
are worried about how they will be able to afford basic health care, and health insurance
providers are concerned about whether they will be able to remain in the highly unstable
Obamacare marketplaces. Today's hearing will examine the current state of health insurance
markets by listening directly to state insurance commissioners who operate in some of these
marketplaces every day.

Over the past few years, Wisconsinites have faced significant premium increases. Based on
information from the Manhattan Institute, premiums have increased by a factor of 1.8 to 3.1
times, depending on demographics. For example, a 40-year old woman paying $193 prior to
Obamacare now faces a monthly premium of $349, an 81 percent increase. A 27-year-old man
paying $92 prior to Obamacare is now looking at $287, a 212 percent increase.

For 2017, health insurers requested an average 16% increase in premiums for individual plans in
Wisconsin. Nationally, insurers are requesting premium increases for 2017, with one study
estimating an increase of 24.3 percent for plans in the Obamacare individual market. That study
projects a national premium increase of nearly 26 percent in the 17 states that have approved
health care rates for 2017.

Insurers lately announced they would exit the Obamacare marketplaces due to the significant
financial losses they have incurred during the implementation of the ACA. Thus, 2.3 million
Obamacare enrollees--or 19% of all enrollees--could have a "choice" of a single insurer in
2017, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In 2016, only about 303,000 enrollees--or
about 2% of all enrollees--had a single insurer option, Kaiser found. Next year in Wisconsin,
consumers living in Menominee, Polk, St. Croix and Pierce counties will have the "choice" of
purchasing health care from only one insurance company, according to Kaiser.

I am proud to join Senator McCain and others to introduce a bill that would exempt enrollees
from Obamacare's individual mandate penalty if they live in a county with fewer than two
insurers offering ACA plans. Americans should not be penalized for failing to purchase a
product when there is only one or zero companies selling the product where they live.

The American people have been sold a bill of goods. Obamacare marketplaces have been
plagued by lower-than-expected enrollments that have driven premiums up even higher and left
taxpayers on the hook for costly subsidies. I fear these markets are unsustainable. I thank the
witnesses for their testimony and I look forward our discussion.

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