Nomination of Patricia M. Wald to be a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board

Floor Speech

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Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, part of our job as Members of the U.S. Senate is to help people who have problems. This has been a very difficult time for many Americans and difficult for me as somebody who wants to be able to help people with a problem.

As my colleagues have indicated, the letters, the phone calls, the conversations, the emails continue to come. The one I wish to highlight to my colleagues is from a person who describes herself as a 62-year-old female retired teacher from Wichita. She says she considers herself a middle-class American.

She indicates in her letter that her current health policy expires at the end of this year, less than a month away. Here is what she says in her letter:

When I inquired why, I was told the policy no longer meets the guidelines under ObamaCare.

Yet, in the previous 2 years, my premiums have increased 25% and 28% respectively to which the answer from [my insurer] was that it was to help pay for ObamaCare.

Now I can't even have that plan any longer.

It had a $500 deductible and $1,500 Max out of pocket expense per year, with a $300 premium per month.

After over 20 hours online, and multiple calls and online chats, I finally was able to see some numbers for healthcare costs from the Obamacare Marketplace, only to learn that the premium is 1.5 times what I currently pay, and the deductible is 4.5 times higher (and it's a different insurer).

A plan [from my current insurer] was double the premium.

I will not qualify for tax credits, as my projected income for 2014, which includes some tax free interest income and social security, places this middle class retired American, over the threshold of any kind of subsidy.

I'm sad that my well laid plan for retirement, now will redirect my earnings to pay for healthcare, much of which I will never use.

At 62 and having had a hysterectomy, prenatal care is NOT an issue I will face, nor will I ever need female reproductive disorder treatment, as those parts are gone, but I will have no discount for not needing those coverages.

So I'm paying a higher premium for other women to have them?

I'm very frustrated at these changes.

It's the middle class that will be hit the worst by this mandate, and I fear that many will opt for the government fine because now they truly won't be able to afford the cost of healthcare.

One more question, how will folks who can't even make the premium payment, ever be able to pay the outrageous deductible?

Honestly, $6,500 out of pocket expenses per person per year?

That's crazy, who will be able to pay that? And then who will end up paying it? This is NOT a solution for the Middle Class Americans!

Surely we can develop a policy, a program of caring for Americans without doing damage to people who already had insurance.

I yield the floor.

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