Healthcare

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on the subject of healthcare, last week, insurance companies in the State of Virginia announced that health insurance premiums would be much higher this coming year. More than 100,000 Virginians who rely on these plans are staring at a proposed 2019 premium that will be 15 percent or 27 percent or 64 percent higher, depending on which insurer they use. In filing their rates, the health insurers are pointing to the actions of the Trump administration and congressional Republicans as major reasons for the premium increases. The Trump administration and our Republican friends in Congress are the reason these premiums are going up, according to insurers. They suggest that is one of the reasons.

Remember, President Trump canceled payments for the cost-sharing program, which reduces premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for low- income Americans. Republicans in Congress repealed the healthcare coverage requirement, which the CBO itself predicted would raise premiums by 10 percent more each year than they would otherwise be and result in millions more people without insurance.

Sometimes our Republican colleagues make a mistake and speak the truth and admit that they are to blame in good part for these premium increases. Former HHS Secretary Tom Price said he ``believes that [repealing the individual mandate] actually will harm the pool in the exchange market, and consequently, that drives up the cost for other folks.''

This is not Chuck Schumer, a Democrat; this is the Republican former Congressman, the Republican-appointed HHS Secretary saying that Republican acts are causing premiums to go up.

The sabotage doesn't end there. As we speak, the Trump administration is finalizing a rule that would expand the availability of junk insurance plans that would force higher premiums on people with preexisting conditions, impose an ``age tax'' on older Americans, and once again could subject Americans to the devastating effects of medical bankruptcy.

Make no mistake, all of this sabotage by Republicans has consequences. TrumpCare is already heralding double-digit premium increases in States across the country. The rates in Virginia are bad, and the rates in Maryland may be worse. Maryland insurance companies are announcing 2019 rates today, and one PPO plan is asking for a 91- percent increase--91 percent.

For the sake of a political vendetta--again, the hard right: Repeal ObamaCare; show it doesn't work--Republicans are taking it out on millions of American families by making the rates higher to prove a political point so that Donald Trump can do a few more tweets. It is not going to stick. It is not going to work. The American people know who is in charge. The Republicans have the Presidency, the House, and the Senate. The buck stops there when the rates go up.

President Trump and Republicans promised Americans a better, cheaper healthcare system. Remember, President Trump said that he is going to ``take care of everybody''--those are his words--and deliver ``healthcare that is far less expensive and far better.'' President Trump simply has not delivered. President Trump talked and talked and talked about making healthcare better and cheaper as he ran and while he has been President, but in every respect he has failed to deliver. In every respect he has made the problem worse.

Simply put, President Trump has dropped the ball on healthcare, and the public knows it.

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