Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior
Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, one of the issues that Congress must deal with--and do it very shortly--is the cost of health insurance.
President Obama famously said that ObamaCare would let Americans keep their health insurance if they liked it and that it would also lower their premiums. We know, more than a decade later, that those promises were never true.
We need to lower healthcare costs. It starts with expanding access and competition to high-quality, affordable health insurance through health savings accounts, association health plans, and other consumer- driven health plans. It also requires action to reduce prescription drug prices through pharmacy benefit manager reform. That reform should not be a tough thing to do because we have three separate approaches in the U.S. Senate, with a total of about 60 to 65 Members, in a bipartisan way, supporting the passage of PBM reform.
The evidence for fixing ObamaCare can be found in America's pocketbook today. I recently received a letter from an Iowan, documenting the increases this person has seen in his monthly health insurance premiums, just since ObamaCare became law. Before ObamaCare was signed into law, this Iowan saw zero-percent increases in his health insurance premiums and even saw premium reductions. In the 8 years prior to ObamaCare, this Iowan had a cumulative premium increase of 4 percent. In the 8 years since ObamaCare, this Iowan saw a cumulative premium increase of 87 percent.
Health insurance has gotten more costly under ObamaCare--case in point with this Iowan's story. His monthly health insurance premium, which was once around $800 before ObamaCare, is now over $2,000 a month.
Extending temporary COVID bonuses for wealthy households, where the money is shoved to insurance companies, is not the answer. We need to enact commonsense solutions to bring down healthcare costs.
Recognition of the Majority Leader
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