Video of the speech is available here.
Floor Speech of Sen. Chuck Grassley
Obamacare’s Failures Must be Addressed
Delivered Thursday, March 9, 2017
Obamacare has been a case of over-promise and under-delivery. People were told their premiums would go down, and that if they liked their doctor, hospital or health care plan, they could keep all of it.
The reality is much different. Obamacare is hurting more people than it is helping. I have heard from many Iowans about the tremendous premium increases and the high deductibles and copays that make Obamacare not worth it.
One farmer said his health insurance premium went from $20,000 to $30,000 in one year. Another family said their Obamacare premium increased 144 percent over three years. The 2017 premium for three people was over $24,000.
And families that did manage to purchase Obamacare insurance found that they could no longer afford to use it because of sky high deductibles and copays. Another Iowan said his policy on his family of three increased from $15,000 a year to $23,000 in one year. The deductible for the plan is nearly $6,000. Very few people can afford that.
Obamacare is not working. According to Avalere, one-third of the country will have only one insurance carrier offering Obamacare plans next year. Since that analysis, another insurance company has pulled out of Obamacare, leaving some parts of the country without any insurance companies for folks to choose from.
So many insurance companies have dropped out of Obamacare that there are places in the country where people have a subsidy but no insurance plans to buy. That is like having a bus ticket, but there is no bus to take you anywhere.
Even those who were strong supporters of the health care law, like the Democratic Minnesota governor, have said the ACA “is no longer affordable to many Americans.” The problem with Obamacare is it did nothing to address the underlying causes of the high cost of health care – that is, what it costs for a hospital or doctor to purchase and maintain medical equipment, purchase medicines, carry malpractice insurance, and the like.
Rather than address the actual cost of care, President Obama chose to bypass real health reform for an unsustainable entitlement and bureaucratic mandates which have priced people out of the health insurance market rather than provide them with affordable and quality coverage. It is time to deliver more accessible, more affordable healthcare to Americans.
Obamacare has failed on both these points. It is time to reduce the role of the federal government in the healthcare system. It is time to spend less and get better quality care. I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to work with us. They know the ACA is falling apart.
They are trying to distract attention from the ACA collapse by using scare tactics. It is time for the Democrats to step up instead of doubling down. It is time for statesmanship, not gamesmanship. It is time for the Democrats to stop defending the unaffordable care act and deliver to Americans what was promised. I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Trump administration to deliver affordable healthcare to all Americans.
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