Obamacare Is Hurtling Towards Collapse
‘Higher prices. Fewer options. Diminished hope. That is the legacy of Obamacare for too many. It has been failing the American people for years. It will collapse around them if we fail to act. We won’t make things better if we go backwards with even more federal control. We won’t solve this problem by simply throwing more money at it. Band-Aids just won’t work here. The American people deserve solutions that finally empower them in making more of their own decisions about their families’ health
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following remarks on the Senate floor today regarding the failures of Obamacare:
“Obamacare has been hurtling towards collapse for years. Today it sits on the edge of total meltdown. Unless we do something about that, even more Americans are going to get hurt. These are the men and women we represent — Americans who didn’t do anything wrong, Americans who in too many cases have been hurt by Obamacare already — and we have a responsibility to help before Obamacare comes crashing down around them. I think each of us gets this.
“Yet, too often this central fact seems to get lost amidst the din of cable news soundbites and over-the-top attacks. Too many seem to have forgotten the pain that Obamacare has brought to so many families over the years. Too many seem to have forgotten that even more will be hurt if the Obamacare status quo is allowed to continue.
“I recently shared a letter from a constituent in Lancaster who told me about her struggle to make ends meet under Obamacare. ‘Why is there a law forcing me to pay for something I can’t afford?’ she asked. ‘Either I can eat and pay my mortgage or [I can] pay for insurance.’
“I recently shared the story of a single mom from Berea, a full-time student trying to make ends meet. When she began searching for a plan on the Obamacare exchanges, she told me that she saw a startling picture: high premiums and a staggering deductible. ‘At this rate,’ she wrote, ‘I would honestly be better not to take health insurance at all and hope for the best.
“‘Americans like myself need something better.’
“Premiums have been skyrocketing under Obamacare for years now — by as much as an average of 105% in the majority of states’ federal exchanges. Unless we act, premiums are poised to continue skyrocketing. Customers are now learning what they can expect next year, and the situation is concerning. Obamacare premiums could climb by as much as over 30 percent in my state, over 40 percent in Tennessee, and over 50 percent in Georgia. Unfortunately, these states aren’t alone; this is a trend we’re seeing across our country. To make matters worse, many have been left behind with fewer options as Obamacare has forced insurance options literally out of the marketplace. Unless we act, choices will continue to decline on the exchanges just as they have over the past several years.
“I recently shared a Lexington native’s account about the limited options she’s found on the exchanges. ‘I live in one of the three largest cities in our state, and I had two options for insurance this year,’ she wrote. ’The lowest deductible option,’ she continued, ‘was $10,000.’
“I recently shared a Louisville mother’s pleas for Congress to bring relief from Obamacare’s limited options. ‘Middle class Kentuckians are hurting because of Obamacare,’ she said. ’Residents [have] little choice for health plans’ and ‘our family is not the only one suffering from the high costs of health insurance.’
“‘I hope,’ she concluded, that ’you will push hard to fix our health care system.’
“This year, families in 70 percent of counties had just one or two insurance options on Obamacare. And as a survey out just today showed, the number of uninsured grew in 2017, with nearly 2 million people dropping Obamacare coverage. Now, we’re hearing even more negative projections for next year. In fact, it’s expected that in 2018, thousands could be left without any Obamacare options at all — in states like Nevada and Missouri and Ohio — while thousands more are left with just one choice, which is really no choice at all.
“A new CMS report released just a few minutes ago found that nearly 40 percent fewer insurers have filed to participate in the Obamacare exchanges next year. This reduction in choice is a trend we’ve been seeing under Obamacare and it seems to keep getting worse. Higher prices. Fewer options. Diminished hope. That is the legacy of Obamacare for too many. It has been failing the American people for years. It will collapse around them if we fail to act.
“We won’t make things better if we go backwards with even more federal control. We won’t solve this problem by simply throwing more money at it. Band-Aids just won’t work here. The American people deserve solutions that finally empower them in making more of their own decisions about their families’ health care.
“I regret that our Democratic colleagues have made clear that they aren’t interested in working seriously with us to pursue the types of comprehensive reforms needed to improve health care for hardworking Americans who’ve been hurt by Obamacare. But the Senate Republican conference will continue working to help these families because we believe that they deserve better than Obamacare and its years of failures.”
Related Issues: Health Care, Obamacare
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