Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services Relating to ``Patient Protection and Affordable Care

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, before she leaves the floor, I just want to say that the Senator from Minnesota has been relentless in terms of standing up for folks who are just trying to get a fair shake on their premiums. I have been doing this since my days with the Gray Panthers, and I know what it means to be persistent. That defines Senator Klobuchar, and I thank her.

I am pleased to be working with Senator Warner and Senator Ossoff-- and I see Senator Kaine here--because all of us want to make sure we lower healthcare costs for American families.

Today, the Senate is going to vote to repeal a host of damaging policies that Donald Trump, Robert Kennedy, and Dr. Oz have unleashed on Americans who are unsuspecting. People are just trying to get by in tough times and are going to get hammered, and from the day Donald Trump was sworn in, this administration made attacking Americans' healthcare their top priority.

Last summer, Republicans in Congress rammed through a massive bill to give tax breaks to billionaires and giant corporations, while making the largest healthcare cuts in American history.

At the same time, the Trump administration used the Byzantine Federal rulemaking process to double down on these efforts by finalizing the rule that all of us on this side of the aisle are working to repeal today. The harmful changes made by the Trump administration come down to one proposition: It is OK to have more redtape, and it is just fine to increase healthcare costs.

That is the exact opposite of our agenda, which is to focus on affordability and making the American healthcare system simpler.

I am going to just tick through a couple of the worst examples to illustrate why these rules need to be junked.

First, the Trump rules will increase what American families have to pay out of pocket each year by nearly $1,000. So the question becomes: What is the purpose behind that change, other than to take money from Americans who are already struggling?

The rule adds new fees, such as a new reenrollment fee that applies to low-income workers. To be clear, that means, if you want to keep your health insurance, you have got to pay a fee to the government just for the right to keep what you have got. Even by Washington, DC, standards--I say to my friend from Montana--that just defies common sense.

They also create mandatory minimum premiums that are going to cause millions to lose their coverage.

Now, Republicans say that these fees are aimed at reducing fraud. There is just no evidence to back it up. My view has been, ever since my days with the Gray Panthers, and my friend from Virginia knows about this--I say any fraud--any fraud--is too much. But the numbers are clear. The vast majority of fraud in healthcare is conducted by shady insurance brokers who are looking to make a fast buck through commissions from phony enrollments, not working Americans looking to buy healthcare.

So I have introduced legislation to create tough, criminal penalties for these insurance brokers. So make no mistake about it, Senator Kaine, there is something we ought to be doing to root out fraud. Let's go after these insurance brokers with tough criminal penalties.

I have been talking to Republicans to ask them to join as cosponsors, and they haven't been willing, really, to give us the time of day. Instead of going after fraud where it exists, Donald Trump and Republicans create barriers that are going to trip up Americans trying to navigate a healthcare system that is just too complicated.

Beyond fees and higher premiums, the Trump rule also adds new verification checks and enrollment rules that amount to an enormous heap of redtape. These redtape measures, according to authorities who have analyzed them, are going to create 15 million hours of paperwork, and 1.8 million people are going to lose their coverage as they try to navigate this never-never land of a maze of healthcare rules.

These types of changes are right out of the playbook of Big Insurance because they create barriers and bureaucratic hurdles so they can keep more of your money while denying working families basic healthcare.

It is no secret that Americans are fed up with a healthcare system that gets in their way at every turn. It is time for Republicans to do the right thing and join with Democrats to lower Americans' healthcare costs, instead of creating new cost barriers and redtape restrictions. They can help those families by voting with us today.

I urge my colleagues to support Senator Warner, Senator Ossoff, Senator Klobuchar, and Senator Kaine. We are all here for one purpose: less bureaucracy, less redtape, lowering premiums for families.

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