Health Care

Floor Speech

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, in recent weeks we have seen a lot of hand-wringing on the other side of the aisle over ObamaCare--a little shock here, a little dismay there, and more than a little feigned outrage. What we haven't seen, of course, is anything even approaching a good answer as to why the President told the American people one thing and then did the other or a solution to the national crisis of millions--millions--of Americans, some with very serious medical conditions heading into the holiday season having just been told they would lose their health care plans.

The folks who voted for this law and the President whose name it bears did everything they could to keep these folks in the dark about the realities of ObamaCare for more than 3 years--3 long years. But the problems we are seeing shouldn't come as news to anyone, least of all our Democratic friends, because what we have seen are the utterly predictable consequences of ObamaCare.

The fact is a lot of folks warned about these kinds of consequences coming to pass, but the President's political machine just steamrolled anybody who spoke up--ran right over them. They laughed it all off, dismissed everyone else as naysayers and cynics, when all the while they basically knew--they knew--we were right.

Countless independent experts, health care professionals, and insurance authorities across the country all warned--all of them warned--about what we are seeing right now. So did many of us. If only the Democrats who run Washington had listened. But the President needed their votes for a bill he hoped would define his legacy, so they gambled that their constituents would just learn to live with ObamaCare and forget the false promises. That was the gamble. In other words, Washington Democrats were specifically warned about the consequences we are seeing, and they voted for ObamaCare anyway.

Republicans repeatedly warned about Americans losing their health plans--repeatedly. We repeatedly warned about Americans losing access to doctors and to hospitals. We repeatedly warned about rising costs and skyrocketing premiums. Check the Congressional Record. We warned and we warned and we warned about each of these.

Frankly, we shouldn't have had to do that. It doesn't take an actuary to figure this stuff out, and the issues my constituents now have to put up with as a result of this law are just simply unacceptable.

Kimberly Maggard from Nicholasville wrote that the health plan available to her through the ObamaCare exchange--now listen to this--would cost more than her family's house payment and car payment combined. Kimberly Maggard from Nicholasville in my State wrote that the health plan available to her through the ObamaCare exchange would cost more than her family's house payment and car payment combined.

Here is what she said:

We are just average Kentuckians working and living paycheck to paycheck without any assistance from government programs. I really don't know what we will do if they have to pay that amount out for insurance. We might lose our home ..... our transportation ..... my daughter might have to drop out of college ..... the list goes on and on. What are we supposed to do?

Harriet White from Rockville said that ObamaCare is negatively impacting her family's finances and quality of care. Here is what she said:

The sad truth is that like my coworkers, my deductible has doubled along with my premiums. The only way to be able to adjust is for us to either reduce or stop our 401(k) contributions. This is hardly affordable health care.

Here is what Larry Thompson from Lexington said:

[The] health plan that I've had for 10 years just got cancelled, and the least expensive plan on the exchange is the 246 percent increase--that means hundreds of extra dollars per month we don't have.

Look, all of this is completely and totally unacceptable, and so many of ObamaCare's consequences were basically predicted by Republicans years ago--years ago.

So it is no wonder vulnerable Democrats are dashing for the exits, performing political contortions that would make Houdini blush. But here is the issue: Until these folks are willing to face reality, I doubt it will matter.

One of our colleagues on the other side was asked back in 2009 if she would accept ``100 percent responsibility'' and ``100 percent accountability'' for the failure or success of any legislation she voted for. She said she would. So she and her colleagues now have a choice. They can keep trying to distance themselves from ObamaCare in public while simultaneously protecting it from meaningful change in private--to keep standing by as this train wreck unloads on the middle class--or they can simply accept that they were wrong to ignore all the warnings, and then work with Republicans to repeal and replace ObamaCare with real bipartisan health care reform. That is the choice.

If Washington Democrats are looking for a political exit, that is the only meaningful one available--the only exit. If they are looking for the best policy outcome to do right by the people who elected them, they will reach the same conclusion. That is the good news.

I hope they will get there soon because we have already seen Washington Democrats travel through just about every one of the stages of grief: Denial at first, claiming the law's only problem is that it was just too popular; then anger, pointing fingers of blame at contractors, Republicans, of course, the media--really anyone but themselves, then bargaining, proposing nips and tucks to a law that needs an overhaul instead.

For the sake of our country, let's hope they just speed right along to acceptance--the acceptance that ObamaCare can't work and won't work, and that their constituents deserve better. When they do, Republicans will be right here, just as we have always been, ready to work with them to start over with real reforms that decrease costs and improve access to care. That is what our constituents wanted all along, and that is just what we should give them.

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