Drug Quality and Security Act - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, last week I came to the floor to discuss the negative impact that ObamaCare is having on the people of New Hampshire. I shared dozens of compelling stories from my constituents, who are telling me that they are seeing their coverage canceled and they are seeing their premiums rise. These sad stories continue to arrive in my in-box every day, and these are real people. They are having great difficulty with not only the Web site but structural problems that exist with the law itself. They deserve to have their voices heard on the floor of the Senate. I will say, as one of my constituents said to me: Lives in New Hampshire are depending on it.

Last week President Obama said he was sorry to those who are now receiving cancellation notices. But a simple apology falls short because the structural problems we are now seeing with this law, including the cancellation notices that too many of my constituents are receiving, were problems that many in this Chamber, even before I got elected to the Senate, warned about before the law was passed.

Here are some of the stories I want to share from people in New Hampshire and how they are being impacted by this law.

Jeanne in Meredith wrote me she was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 1/2 years ago. She was laid off from her job of 20 years and then went on COBRA. Jeanne traveled to Mass General in Boston to receive care and when her coverage ran out she worked with her insurance agent to receive coverage that she could afford and that would allow her to continue with her subsequent treatments without any interruptions. She has now told me that what she has worked out in the plan she had has been canceled. She wrote me:

I liked my plan. And I not only liked my doctors, I consider them my lifeline. If I purchase a plan under the Exchange, I lose access to all my doctors in Boston, and I am finding that I will also lose my oncologist in Nashua as well. This can't be happening.

Lori in Littleton wrote me. She told me she and her husband recently were notified that their coverage will be canceled. When she learned about the new plan that was being offered to comply with ObamaCare, she said:

We were shocked that the cost would be $400 a month more than we are currently paying. This is way beyond our budget. So we began to explore the so-called Exchange to shop for all of our choices. Once again, we were very frustrated to learn that New Hampshire has a monopoly with only one carrier [on the exchange].

What I have also heard from my constituents is concerns that they are receiving notices that their premiums are rising as a result of ObamaCare. Sara in New Castle wrote me that her premiums for a high-deductible plan that complies with ObamaCare will be double her current premium. Moreover, Sara said that she ``will no longer be able to go to Portsmouth Hospital. My primary physician, gynecologist, eye doctor, and children's pediatrician are all excluded from the ACA plan that I will be forced to purchase by the end of 2014.''

She finished the letter she wrote to me by saying: ``No, my family is not better off with the ACA.''

John in Pembroke wrote:

The new law is called the Affordable Care Act. What a hurtful joke that is to hard-working Americans. My existing policy is being canceled. After I called Anthem to inform them they must have misheard the President and the other supporters of the ACA, they told me that my existing policy did not meet the standards for the new law. I was shocked. The new higher plans from Anthem in the best case scenario are more than double my existing plan.

David in Nashua wrote me that recently he saw his coverage canceled like too many others. He wrote:

When working with Anthem to get a plan that will have the closest coverages and plan services with similar deductibles and copays, I was disheartened to learn it will cost me an additional $110 per month--about 40 percent more than I was paying.

He continued:

To get comparable services to what I had it will cost an additional $45 per month. All said, I am looking at an increase of $155 per month.

David said he is looking at a 57-percent increase in costs and an additional $1,800 per year.

He said to me:

This is grossly unacceptable, has been misleading from the words conveyed by the President and downright frustrating to have to deal with such a problem.

A couple from Amherst, NH, wrote me and said:

..... because of the Affordable Care Act our health insurance plan is being canceled and the least expensive plan, either within the exchange or outside of it, will more than double our cost. The least expensive plan we can obtain will increase our monthly premium from $582 to $1,183 per month. Our annual premium under the new health care law will increase from $6,984 to $14,196--an increase of [over $7,000] per year.

They further wrote to me:

President Obama promised us that if we liked our plan, we could keep it. But ours has been canceled. President Obama promised us that if we liked our doctor we could keep our doctor.

President Obama promised us that under the new health care law we would save $2,500. But our premiums will be increasing by over $7,000 a year.

A couple from Center Sandwich also contacted me. They said their rates will double and cost them an additional $7,000 per year.

They wrote:

We are both in our second careers and in our 50s, working hard and doing two jobs. Blue collar couple who are very healthy. Under this so-called Affordable Care law, our rates are going to double!

Scott from Concord wrote:

I currently have a great family plan through my work. This plan costs me $240 per month. On January 1st this plan will cost me $600 per month. I can't afford to pay such a high premium. Now I am forced to get a plan that has a 50% greater deductible, and much higher co-pays.

I also heard from a mother from Manchester. She has a little girl who is scheduled to have surgery at the beginning of January. As any mother would be, she is worried, and now she has been told her plan has been canceled. She wrote:

I looked, and my current plan is not available through the Exchange. I will have to purchase a plan with a high deductible. The new plan will cost over $1,200 per month, increasing my premium which is currently just over $1,000 per month. The new plans, through the Exchange, have a smaller network of doctors, so I could be losing my doctors too.

Finally, I am hearing frustration and concerns from my constituents about the Web site.

David in Bedford wrote:

My wife and I are semi-retired and have been trying since October 1 to obtain health insurance through HealthCare.gov. We have also used the telephone option but we were unable so far to obtain coverage.

He finished this message to me by saying:

We are very concerned with being without coverage on January 1, 2014.

I heard a similar concern from a resident in Greenfield who also expressed deep concern about private information put on the Web site. I heard the same from a registered nurse from Milford. She expressed frustrations about how the exchange is working.

There are many more pieces of correspondence I have received from my constituents. I will not share them all on the floor today, but their voices deserve to be heard. Because of this law, people in New Hampshire are losing the coverage they thought they could keep. They are getting premium increase notices, which they cannot afford to pay, that are attributed to ObamaCare. Finally, as I have previously said on the floor, some people are having their hours cut because it defines the workweek as a 30-hour workweek. Unfortunately, the people who do want to continue to work more hours are being harmed.

As I have done before, I come to the floor today to call for a timeout on ObamaCare. We need a timeout because we are seeing that the problems with this law are much deeper than a Web site. We hope those problems will be fixed. Of course, they have not yet been fixed. The Washington Post reported today that they may not even be fixed with what the administration has represented--at the end of this month.

That said, what about the canceled policies, the premium increases, and the lost hours? It is time to have a timeout where we do what should have been done in the beginning. Instead of passing a law of this magnitude on a partisan basis, people need to come together to address health care, rising costs, access, and the issues the American people want us to take on. This law is not the answer, and the American people--and the people of New Hampshire--deserve better.

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