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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, this has been an interesting week for many of my constituents in Tennessee. Over 100,000 Tennesseeans were forced--100,000 Tennesseeans were forced off their healthcare plan.
They did nothing wrong. It is not their fault.

What has happened is another of the Affordable Care Act's--or ObamaCare, as we call it--providers has said: Guess what. This is too expensive to offer a product.

And they have exited the marketplace.

Now, what we are seeing is exactly what we in Tennessee told you would happen with ObamaCare.

Why?

Because in Tennessee, we were the test case back in the midnineties for Hillary Clinton's grand healthcare experiment. HillaryCare became TennCare in Tennessee.

We knew that a product that was too expensive to afford was not going to be utilized and that eventually providers would drop out of the marketplace, eventually the networks would narrow, and eventually individuals would have a very difficult time accessing health care.

So, through no fault of their own, 100,000 Tennesseeans who are in the Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville areas are going to find that they have fewer choices in health care. They didn't get to keep the doctors whom they wanted or liked or had. They didn't get to keep the healthcare plans that they wanted or liked or had. Certainly, they were not saving $2,500 per family on their health insurance. Quite the opposite has happened.

What we have before us now are thousands of Tennesseeans who are going to have to scramble to find health insurance because a product isn't offered. The costs continue to go up. The choices have begun to be eliminated and narrowed. The networks--the physicians you can go to for care--are fewer in number. The hospitals that you have the ability to go into to seek that care are fewer in number.
Why is that?

It is because the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, as we call it, is too expensive to afford, too expensive to have, too expensive to use, and--yes, indeed--too expensive for the insurance companies that are offering a product.

It is time for us--yes, indeed--repeal this--to admit that it was a mistake, to admit, like Tennessee did years ago, that it is too expensive, that it does not work, and to replace it with components, items, and ideas--many ideas that we have had in this Chamber for years, Mr. Speaker--such as portability with the across-State-line purchase of health insurance, liability reforms, and making certain that individuals can choose an insurance product and then be able to go see physicians where they live. Affordability and access--that is what we need in the marketplace. We continue to push those ideas forward.

To our Tennessee neighbors who are finding themselves without a health insurance option, we understand the plight that exists; and we, again, say it is time to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

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