June 12, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 98 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

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From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Healthcare

  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor of the Senate 
today to remind people what the far-left Democrats want to do with our 
healthcare.
  I am a doctor. I think it is a right people have to know what the 
Democrats are proposing. They are peddling what to me is an extreme 
one-size-fits-all healthcare plan. It is a scheme, as I look at it, 
because, essentially, Democrats want Washington to take over your 
healthcare and my healthcare and the healthcare of all Americans and 
actually control all healthcare in this Country. They want to take 
private health insurance away from 180 million people who get their 
insurance through work.
  Under this system, the health plans that many people like will be 
gone--not just for today, not just for tomorrow, forever gone. There 
will be no more individual plans, just Washington's one-size-fits-all 
plan.
  Democrats have been lining up to support this socialist scheme all 
across the country. Many leading Democrats running for President have 
done so. They back it, and 112 Democrats who are Members of the House 
of Representatives are behind it as well.
  Radical Democrats, led by Senator Bernie Sanders, have decided that 
Washington bureaucrats--not you, not me, not your doctor--should call 
the shots. What care do you need? Washington, DC, bureaucrats will 
decide. How soon will you get the care? Washington, DC bureaucrats will 
decide. Where can you get the care? Washington, DC, bureaucrats will 
decide.
  The problem with this scheme is it will have a dramatic impact in 
this country on patient care. As a doctor with decades of experience, I 
know Washington shouldn't control your medical decisions. That should 
be up to you and members of your family. You should make your own 
decisions after you consult with your doctor, not with a faceless 
bureaucrat.
  For decades, I have given medical health advice on the radio and on 
television. Each time, in giving one of these reports, I close with the 
line: ``Here in Wyoming, I am Dr. John Barrasso, helping you care for 
yourself.''
  Helping you care for yourself--you see, you and your doctor are 
partners working together, and a good doctor will focus on what is best 
for you. Doctors in local communities know who their patients are, and 
they know what their patients need.
  What doctors don't need is a Washington bureaucrat telling them how 
to do their jobs. The point is to protect patient care and to protect 
patient choice. For example, Medicare is a medical lifeline for our 
seniors. Still, with 60 million people relying on Medicare, the program 
is being stretched to the breaking point.
  Waste, fraud, and abuse have made the problem worse. In 2018, the 
Government Accountability Office found $48 billion in improper Medicare 
payments. The government's watchdog wants reforms, and we need reforms 
to protect our seniors, so we must strengthen this vital program for 
our seniors.
  Just think if we pack every American into one government system, 
which is what the Democrats are proposing. They call it Medicare for 
All, which would quickly become Medicare for None. One-size-fits-all 
care will kill the doctor-patient relationship.
  This massive plan is expected to cost a dramatic amount of money. 
Those who looked into this have estimated the cost to be $32 trillion. 
It is a hard number to comprehend. And that is just for the first 10 
years.
  Washington is going to have to find ways--and they will be looking 
for ways--to save money, and we have heard what ways they will be. The 
Wall Street Journal notes that any savings would have to come from 
cutting payments to doctors, cutting payments to providers, cutting 
payments to hospitals, and restricting care. They are talking about 
rationing care--limiting the care that you need, that you want, that 
the government now will say you cannot have.
  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office looked at this. They 
agree. They say ``the public plan might not be as quick to meet 
patients' needs.'' It may not be as quick to meet patients' needs? So 
you are diagnosed with cancer, and they are not going to be quick 
enough to face your needs? Care will be rationed both in treatment and 
in technology.
  Democrats, of course, don't want you to know about healthcare 
rationing. You need to know. You have a right to know. You deserve to 
know what they are proposing. The care you get will be entirely the 
government's call because the Democrats' plan bans all private 
insurance in the country. If you have it through work, you will lose 
it.
  What about paying your doctor directly for services? Well, Washington 
Democrats have a plan for that. They want to put an end to that as 
well. Doctors would have to leave the government-run system. They 
couldn't take care of any other patients who are on that system if they 
entered into a private contract with individual patients.
  Even the Washington Post newspaper admits the plan has problems. The 
Post recently ran this headline: ``No matter what Sanders says, there's 
no Medicare-for-all without tradeoffs.''
  I agree. And the tradeoffs could turn out to be fatal. Democrats' 
one-size-fits-all healthcare means you will pay more to wait longer for 
worse care.
  As a Senator and a doctor, my focus continues to be on improving 
patient

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care. Real healthcare reform is needed in this country. Reforms are 
needed to lower the costs without lowering the standards. Regrettably, 
what the Democrats are proposing lowers the standards and raises the 
costs--the exact opposite of what is so vitally important for all of 
us.
  These are the issues that Republicans are working on right now: 
empowering you to buy coverage that works for you, lowering the cost of 
your prescription drugs, protecting you when you have a preexisting 
condition, and eliminating surprise medical bills. But with the 
Democrats' one-size-fits-all care, you would lose the insurance you get 
through work, and you would lose Medicare Advantage if you are a senior 
who is one of the 20 million people who gets their insurance through 
that program.
  They call it Medicare Advantage because there are advantages for 
seniors who are on it. It coordinates care. There is preventive care. 
Those are the advantages.
  You will likely lose the doctor-patient relationship that you have 
depended on for years and lose the freedom to make your own medical 
decisions.
  I say it is time to reject this one-size-fits-all scheme that would 
make all of us pay more and wait longer for worse care. Instead, let's 
work together to give patients the care they need from a doctor they 
choose, and do it at lower costs.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. CASEY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CASEY. I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.