Executive Calendar
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, during the last week I was home in Wyoming, traveling the State, visiting with people, talking to constituents, listening to what they had to say. I had the chance to attend a couple of health fairs in Rawlins, WY, and Mountain View, WY. The health fair is a gathering of the community. It is based on prevention and early detection of problems as ways to help lower the cost of care. For many years, I was the medical director of the Wyoming Health Fairs bringing low-cost health screening to people of Wyoming. At the fair, people come out. There are booths from the heart association, diabetes association, the American Cancer Society. People learn information about diseases, how they work, and how they affect their bodies. It can aid in early detection of problems. People can get their blood drawn and visit with healthcare providers from the community to go over blood results. All of this is aimed at prevention, early detection, and early treatment.
It is interesting that during the same time Democrats running for President have been traveling the country talking about healthcare as well, and specifically Senator Bernie Sanders has talked about ``BernieCare''--Medicare for All.
To me, Medicare for All is going to drive up costs for Americans in terms of taxes, and it is also going to take away the kind of choice people look for when I talk with them at Wyoming health fairs.
I come to you today to talk on the floor about the real problems I see with this so-called Medicare for All, and I come to it as a doctor who has practiced medicine in Wyoming for 25 years, taking care of patients for decades. When I go to health fairs, more people refer to me as Dr. Barrasso rather than Senator Barrasso.
I also want to talk as the husband of a breast cancer survivor. My wife, Bobbi, has had three operations, chemotherapy twice, and is now disease-free for 15 years, but I know how critically important it is as a doctor as well as a husband to make sure that people with preexisting conditions are protected.
I also speak as the son of a 96-year-old mother, and she is a motivating force in our lives. She is a constant reminder to me that we must do everything we can to care for our seniors. So as I have been listening to the Presidential candidates talk about this Medicare for All proposal, whether it is Senators Harris, Warren, Gillibrand, or Booker, all of them back what Senator Sanders has been proposing. I am just not sure most Americans understand what Medicare for All means and what it would mean for them personally. Maybe some of the Presidential candidates don't even want people to know what it means.
Senator Sanders has claimed that Medicare for All is, as he said, ``a struggle for the soul of who we are as a nation.'' Let's be clear. Americans are facing a critical choice. It is a choice between a big, government-run healthcare system and a system that gives Americans access to quality, affordable care that they can choose that is right for them and their families. That, to me, is the choice we are facing.
Medicare for All essentially means a complete government takeover of all healthcare in this country. Central planners in Washington, DC, would then be in control of the healthcare for all of us.
Medicare for All would enroll every American in a government-run healthcare system. It will take away America's healthcare choices. Senator Harris talks about, perhaps, a supplemental plan, but the legislation I have read that has been introduced is crystal clear-- Medicare for All outlaws private health insurance plans. The only exception, Senator Sanders says, is some limited insurance for cosmetic surgery--he says procedures like nose jobs.
With about 180 million Americans getting insurance through work, currently covered through their employers, people who get insurance through work like the insurance they have. All of them will lose their coverage under what is proposed under the Medicare for All legislation. All of them will be forced onto this new government program--every one of them. Never mind that 71 percent of Americans covered through their employer actually say they like their current plan. A single-payer Medicare for All proposal says, basically, if you like your current healthcare plan, you cannot keep it. The government will take it away and make it illegal.
Seniors are going to suffer, too, and, actually, I think seniors may end up suffering the most. I am talking about people who are already on Medicare because this legislation threatens the 60 million Americans who currently get their healthcare as part of Medicare. They get their healthcare today through Medicare. Medicare is already expected to run out of money by 2026. It was confirmed by last month's trustee report, but the Democrats' proposal will even outlaw Medicare Advantage, a program that 22 million Americans currently use for their healthcare. It is called Medicare Advantage because there are advantages to being on this program in terms of preventive care and coordinated care. There is a reason people sign up for Medicare Advantage. All 22 million would lose that as well under the Democrats' Medicare for All plan.
Healthcare programs benefiting military families and children will also be eliminated. Democrats plan to abolish servicemembers' TRICARE and the Children's Health Insurance Plan. All of that goes away under what the Democrats' radical proposal is talking about.
Perhaps the greatest deception of Medicare for All is the suggestion that government-run care would be free. Let me say to the American people: Do not be deceived. Do not be deceived. Americans will pay a very high price. Medicare for All has been estimated at a 10-year pricetag of $32 trillion. There is only one way to even try to pay for this massive plan and that is to dramatically raise everyone's income taxes to the point where they may need to pay double. That is what is being proposed.
So the result will be less freedom, lower quality of care, and longer lines as people have to wait to get to a doctor, because Washington will be controlling the doctor-patient medical decisions--and, mark my words, Washington will ration care. Rationing means delays and delay means denial of care. Government-run healthcare is notorious for producing long lines, long waiting periods, delay in care--even urgently needed care.
The government-run system has failed where they tried to put it in place in Vermont, in Senator Sanders' home State. They started it and ended up having to eliminate it. They couldn't afford it. It wasn't working. It was too complicated. That is in one State.
We also have the situation of what is going on both in England and Canada right now in terms of costs and limits of care, the denial of treatment, the delay in treatment.
I think people watching may have seen the stories as a result of what is happening in England, where elderly patients are going blind in Britain right now. Why would they be going blind? Because the government is rationing cataract surgery. People can Google ``going blind in Britain.'' It is the British healthcare system that is causing it because of the rationing of care. So Democrats are promoting this Medicare for All. Basically they are saying that ObamaCare needs to be repealed and replaced because it has failed the American people. The solution they are offering is not one that I think would make things better, but it is one that I think would make things worse.
Republicans, at the same time, are working for meaningful, workable solutions that lower the costs of prescription drugs, solutions that increase healthcare choice and transparency, and solutions that expand all Americans' access to affordable care. We want to make sure patients can get the care they need from the doctor they choose at a lower cost.
So instead of proposing higher taxes, which is what the Democrats are proposing, instead of proposing healthcare rationing, which will come with Medicare for All, Democrats need to begin working with Republicans to improve healthcare for all Americans, and they should start by rejecting BernieCare.
Thank you.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source