Health Care Reform

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Well, I thank my good friend for yielding. I appreciate his references to songs. It's striking a tune with me tonight.

You know, you named a lot of States who are getting a lot of sweeteners. A lot of States are being paid off, bought out, you know, buyouts, it really comes down to corruption, I think. If we see this type of deal-making out in the private sector, you know, most people would wind up subpoenaed and in jail for this type of deal making.

There are three things that, you know, States like Pennsylvania--we don't have any of those sweeteners that I know of that have been, those deals have been made obviously. But I think there's a lot that we need to continue to look at in this bill and walk through it and find out, and not just this bill. I think part of what we have to look at--some time in months to come we're going to be dealing with an omnibus budget. And I have to say there's probably going to be some deals in there that folks who vote ``yes'' on this health care bill, we're going to be able to draw some lines and call--use the President's word from one of his joint sessions, and call folks out of deals that were made.

You know, there are three reasons that America needs to be alarmed. There are many reasons actually. But tonight I'm going to hit my remarks, first remarks on just three reasons of why this is not good for America. That's based on my experience, not 15 months in Congress, but 28 years working in health care, serving people who are facing life-changing disease and disability.

And frankly, my concerns tonight, I want to address just three basic areas: Cost, care, and corruption. And the cost? Well what's this going to cost us? Well, the President has said if you're in an individual plan, a nongroup plan, you can count on your premiums going up 10 to 13 percent. Well, I thought one of the ideas behind health care reform was to bring down the cost of health care for all Americans. But we're guaranteeing, the President has put his word on the line, that if you're in an individual plan, you can count on 10 to 13 percent increase in your premiums. And I think that's just to start with. Where it goes from there I don't think we really know.

We have costs in terms of cost to the States, the expanded roll is taking medical assistance to 133 percent of poverty. You know, States, there are States, many like Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was the last State to settle its State budget this past year. And there were a lot of potholes, a lot of gaps in that budget, things that needed to be funded that they couldn't find resources to do. And now, the Federal Government's going to spend, reach into the Federal taxpayers, all Americans' pockets, and pay for expanded medical assistance rolls to start with. But guess what? That goes away within short order. And where are the States going to fill that gap? Because you expand that entitlement, it's not coming back, and it's going to create all kinds of problems for our States.

One of the costs I wanted to focus on because my good friend mentioned about my background as a manager

within rural hospitals has to do with what does this do to rural hospitals? All hospitals. But I think the hospitals who will be hit first will be rural and urban underserved to begin. They'll feel the pain of this first. And one word, in short order, will be bankruptcy. Now let me explain why.

Today Medicare pays 80 to 90 cents for every dollar of costs. Medical assistance pays 40 to 60 cents for every dollar of cost. You know, the primary reason--there's a lot of reasons, actually, commercial health insurance is so expensive, including a lack of tort reform across the Nation. But I think the most pressing reason why it's so expensive is the Federal Government, the fact that the government creates these entitlements that they can't sustain, and then they're systematically underfunded. And so what do we do if have we have expanded medical assistance roles, if we have these, I know they're not calling it a public option but, frankly, if they're going to find for-profit and not-for-profit insurance companies and do this Federal nationwide negotiation with them to have them really compete with other insurance companies, well, I don't know anyone that competes with the Federal Government and wins.

And so the only way that they're really going to be able to provide premiums that will get the blessing of the health czar or whatever bureaucrat is now going to be overseeing our health insurance--today I found out somewhere that they're going to be hiring like 16,000 new IRS employees to determine whether our health insurance meets the criterion or not.

You know, the only way that they're going to get blessed is if the premiums cost less. The only way to have premiums cost less is to pay less, is to pay comparable to probably somewhere between Medicare and medical assistance rates. What that will do to all hospitals, but starting with rural and urban underserved, it will bankrupt those facilities.

You know, a hospital today, if it's healthy, if it's having a banner year, it's making a 1 to 3 percent margin. And out of that margin they're paying, hopefully they're giving some type of cost-of-living increase every year to keep the best and the brightest, because if somebody's going to use a scalpel on me, that's who I want, is the smartest person around. Or to invest in new lifesaving technology because we believe in innovation in this country. We are a country of innovators.

Now, you start cutting, taking those--and not all hospitals are making 1 to 3 percent margins. There are many hospitals across this country that are in the red and are not surviving now and are on life support. So we implement this Obamacare plan, and we're allowing them to bleed to death financially.

And if you want to impact access to quality care in a negative way, close rural hospitals. In my district, we have probably somewhere between 20 and 24 hospitals in my congressional district. You close any one of those and what you wind up with is a commute that makes a difference between life and death. And that's wrong. And that's just on the cost side.

And so I appreciate this opportunity tonight. I think it's very important that the American people continue to weigh in on this. This is not a done deal. We have the opportunity to stop this, to do what the American people are asking for, and that is to start over. And the more that we inform people about the problems in terms of the costs, the care, and the corruption with this proposal that the Democrats have, I think the safer the country will be. And I yield back.

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. I just wanted to follow up with a little feedback that goes well beyond this Chamber.

Certainly we know that if ObamaCare passes, we won't start to see the benefits in any way, and I happen to believe they're not benefits until 2013, 2014. Outside feedback. What's happening out in the country beyond this Capitol Hill?

There are three States that have already--Virginia, Idaho, and Utah have already passed laws to nullify ObamaCare's mandate that everyone purchase health insurance. Other States are following suit.

Arizona has a referendum on the ballot for November saying ``no'' to a mandate that every American should have to be required to purchase health insurance; ``no'' to the fact that an IRS agent can come evaluate whether you have or have not purchased that and then fine you or tax you.

Virginia's attorney general has already threatened legal action against the deeming process that is being used and touted and so discussed in this process.

Washington has no idea now how to deal with Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and now we are creating a new entitlement that will accelerate, frankly, our path to ruin.

I want to share one quick feedback from a gentleman, a businessman. He and his dad have a business in Port Allegany, Pennsylvania. They make a product they are just so proud of. It helps with the car industry, and they do a great job, and they want to expand. They want to hire new individuals. They want to create prosperity. They want to grow. But, in fact, what has happened is that so much uncertainty has been created with this health care that they can't do that. They compete with China. They compete with South America. And now they can't compete because of this uncertainty.

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