Health Care
Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I stand here with my friend and colleague from Mississippi because he and I both attended, in his home State of Mississippi, a meeting at a hospital where we met with doctors, also met with patients, and met with people from the community while the debate and discussion was being conducted about this health care law. At the time, people were asking all sorts of questions because they had heard the promises. Would this actually lower the cost of insurance by $2,500 a family? That is what people wanted. That is what they expected. The other question: Will I really be able to keep the care I have and the doctor I have if I like it?
Now here we are a couple of years later, the second anniversary of this health care law being passed, and I am here with my friend and colleague from Mississippi, and it just seems to me that the questions that were asked by his constituents, by the doctors in those communities who take care of the patients, by the patients, the hospital administrators whom we talked to that day in his home State of Mississippi--it does seem that many of these promises have been broken.
The costs seem to go up higher than had this health care law not been passed at all. The numbers and the statistics we are hearing now from the budget office on the cost seem to be much, much higher than what the President promised. Parts of this health care law--the so-called CLASS Act--it now comes out were accounting gimmicks, budget schemes to make it seem as though the cost of this health care law would be much less than what American people now know it to be.
So it is no surprise to me--and I see this in Wyoming, and I am sure the Senator sees it in Mississippi, and I would imagine the Senator from Kansas who is on the floor has seen the same thing at home because I know he has gone to hospitals and just--maybe almost every hospital in the State of Kansas as he has traveled around. We are all seeing that this health care law is less popular now than when it was passed. That is what I hear at townhall meetings. When I ask, do you think you are actually going to pay more under the health care law, every hand goes up. And when I say, do you think the quality and availability of your own care at home is going to go down, again, every hand goes up.
So if I could ask my colleague from Kansas if he is hearing the same things. And I see we are also joined by the Senator from Arizona.
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Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, when we look at it, even the administration admits that wasn't true. Small businesses--people who get their insurance in small businesses--will have a difficult time continuing to provide coverage for people because of the mandates that say they have to provide Washington-approved insurance. That is the problem: that people have what they like, and it may be something they want, need, and can afford. Now they are being mandated to have something they may not want, need, or be able to afford.
So, again, we have another broken promise, which is why Senator Coburn, who practiced medicine for a quarter century, as I did, and I have come out with a report, released yesterday called, ``Warning, Side Effects, a Checkup on the Federal Health Law: Fewer Choices.''
That means people cannot choose to keep what they have. There are fewer choices, higher taxes, more government, and less innovation. None of that is what the American people have been promised by the President.
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Mr. BARRASSO. This over 2,000-page law will result in over 100,000 pages of regulations. There is one part of the law where, for a couple of pages--4 to 6 pages--they had 400 pages of regulations and 50 pages of legal guidance.
When we talk to hospitals--I know those of us who visit with hospitals in our States--they say they are spending money on consultants and lawyers to help them understand the law. They say: It is money we ought to spend on patients and equipment and technology for our hospital, to provide care in our community.
I know the Senator from Kansas has visited over 100 hospitals in his State. He has heard the same thing.
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