Senate Republicans: ‘Obamacare Is Unraveling’

Republicans Spotlight How Obamacare Is Failing Families
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “[T]his much is clear. Obamacare is a direct attack on the Middle Class. It hurts the very people it was supposedly designed to help. It raises costs, crushes choice, and is now crashing down all around us. It simply isn’t working.” (Sen. McConnell, Floor Remarks, 9/08/2016)

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): “For the first time in history, we had a major entitlement reform that was done on a totally partisan basis, and we said at the time it would fail. It is unravelling as we speak. . . Maricopa County, where the majority of our constituents live--guess what--one provider, increases of 65 percent, 100 percent, 200 percent. It is amazing.” (Sen. McCain, Congressional Record, S. 5292, 9/06/2016)

SEN. JOHNNY ISAKSON (R-GA): “As to my State of Georgia, I want to read you a few facts. Just last month after Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, and Cigna announced they would leave Georgia's marketplace, Blue Cross filed its third premium increase for the third time this summer--an increase of 21.4 percent. . . The numbers do not lie. ObamaCare is forcing insurance carriers to leave the market, eliminating competition and choice, all the while placing the burden of higher costs on the backs of working taxpayers in this country.” (Sen. Isakson, Congressional Record, S. 5307, 9/07/2016)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): “What exactly are consumers on the exchanges facing for this coming year? For starters, they are facing huge premium increases--36 percent, 43 percent, 19 percent, 22.9 percent, 89 percent. Those are some of the average rate hikes that Americans are facing around the country. . . Just imagine if an individual's mortgage payment increased at a similar rate. . . I have heard from at least one South Dakota family whose health insurance payments exceeded its mortgage payments.” (Sen. Thune, Congressional Record, S. 5308, 9/07/2016)

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): “One-third of America will have only one ObamaCare insurer in 2017. . . Here is USA Today of August 30, and the front page says: ‘Health care choices choked further.’ More than 2 million people could be bumped from insurance plans in 2017. . . [T]he President looked the American people in the eye and said: ‘If you like what you have, you can keep it.’” (Sen. Barrasso, Congressional Record, S. 5230, 9/06/2016)

SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R-AZ): “It is one thing to have coverage, but when you get to the hospital and find out that you have to get care and your deductibles are through the roof, your copays are through the roof--putting aside the premiums you are paying. This competition that is supposedly there isn't in Arizona. Premiums have skyrocketed as have copays and deductibles.” (Sen. Flake, Congressional Record, S. 5293, 9/06/2016)

SEN. DAN SULLIVAN (R-AK): “Similar to Arizona, Alaska is going through the same thing. We are now down to one health insurance provider in the entire State. It started with five, and we are now down to one for the entire State of Alaska. Similar to Arizona, our premiums and deductibles are going through the roof.” (Sen. Sullivan, Congressional Record, S. 5293, 9/06/2016)

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT): “[T]he American people have long recognized the truth: ObamaCare isn't working and it never will. This isn't a matter of opinion. This is not just political rhetoric in an election year. By its own standards--and the standards of those who drafted, passed, and implemented the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare has been a historic failure.” (Sen. Hatch, Congressional Record, S. 5310, 9/07/2016)

SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER (R-TN): “The reality is that ObamaCare is unraveling at an alarming rate. . . Unfortunately, I don't need to look any further than my home State of Tennessee to see how bad things have become. When Tennesseans woke up on August 24 and read the front page of our State's largest newspaper, they saw this headline: ‘Very Near Collapse.’ . . [It] was our State insurance commissioner's description of the ObamaCare exchange in Tennessee . . . This November, when Tennesseans are signing up for 2017 ObamaCare plans, there will be fewer plans to choose from, and they will be much more expensive.” (Sen. Alexander, Congressional Record, S. 5315, 9/07/2016)

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): “Premiums are up 31 percent this year in Louisiana, but premium increases are rising as high as 67 percent in Arizona. There is a 69-percent premium increase in Tennessee, and that is consistent across the nation. . . The situation we are in is that people are either going to be insurance poor or they will be forced to go without insurance. There is an incredible irony. The bill which passed, the Affordable Care Act, had the stated goal of making health care affordable. It is becoming so unaffordable that people are going without insurance.” (Sen. Cassidy, Congressional Record, S. 5316, 9/07/2016)

SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-WV): “In my home State of West Virginia, for many, this law has been nothing short of devastating. . . These working families are being faced with sky-rocketing premiums, copays, and deductibles. . . In my State and across this country, we have little, if any, choice in insurers. . . The provider and hospital networks have shrunk and insurers have shifted away from options to give patients the choice they were promised and that they counted on, and they are now being pushed into much more restrictive plans.” (Sen. Capito, Congressional Record, S. 5317-8, 9/07/2016)

SEN. DEB FISCHER (R-NE): “In Nebraska, health care plans under ObamaCare will see premium rates rise more than 30 percent. Nearly every week, I hear new stories of the pain caused by this law. It breaks my heart because it has led hard-working people to the brink of despair. . . Karen in central Nebraska shared that most of her paycheck goes to her plan's premium and deductible costs. She is faced with two terrible options: quit her job to qualify for more government subsidies or opt out of insurance coverage and then pay the penalty.” (Sen. Fischer, Congressional Record, S. 5318, 9/07/2016)

SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): “I personally spent the last 3 weeks touring our State, from Hahira to Hiawassee, and I can tell you that I get one question out of every group to which I speak, and that is this: What can be done about ObamaCare? My premiums are going up. My insurance was canceled. It said that I could keep my doctor if I wanted to. It said I could keep my insurance company if I wanted to. Yet I lost my doctor and I am losing my insurance. . . We are still talking ObamaCare today, Mr. President, because it is a complete disaster.” (Sen. Perdue, Congressional Record, S. 5364, 9/07/2016)

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