Barrasso Discusses Western Wildfires and Future of Health Care Reform

Barrasso Discusses Western Wildfires and Future of Health Care Reform

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor on how Americans are dealing with devastating wildfires in the West and hurricanes in the south.

Barrasso also outlined the need for health care reform and how Congress remains committed to helping Americans who have been trapped in the Obamacare death spiral.

Excerpts of Senator Barrasso's remarks:

Wildfires and Hurricanes

"Over the last several weeks, I spent a lot of time traveling around my home state of Wyoming.

"One of the things I've been hearing more and more about -because I'm seeing it daily in Wyoming -has been the incredible forest fires that have been raging in the West.

"There are more than a million acres of land burning in the West, and the smoke is spreading all around the West -certainly in Wyoming -fire as well as smoke impacting people, impacting land, impacting the soil, the air, the water, and impacting life as well as property.

"The damage that is happening is dramatic and in many ways, it's similar to the kind of comprehensive damage and destruction that we're seeing with the big storms that are currently hitting -Hurricane Harvey and then Irma on the way to Florida.

"These are incredible storms, and the people of Wyoming want to express their sympathy and share their sympathy for the people who have lost family members, who have lost property, and the people who are still in danger.

"I also know in Wyoming people are wanting to volunteer, wanting to go to help out -collecting food, supplies, clothing, taking up collections through the churches, through the communities, through the schools, because that's the American spirit.

"Today I come to the floor to express my admiration for the resilience of the people of the West, as well as the resilience of the people of Texas and Louisiana, and all the Americans who are dealing with the disasters that they are facing in their homes.

Health Care Reform

"The other thing I heard a lot about is the concerns that are still out there regarding the Obama health care law.

"A lot of people in the media seem to think that the discussion about that health care law is over.

"I can tell you that for the people in Wyoming -they are still concerned with what we're seeing in terms of the collapse of the health care system, few choices, and higher prices.

"For them, this conversation is not over - and they want to make sure that it's not over in Congress either.

"Because Obamacare is still failing and the American people are certainly still suffering.

"We need to do something about it.

"There was an article by the Associated Press that was in the paper on Monday that really summed up the situation.

"The headline was this: 'Millions who buy health insurance brace for sharp increases.'

"The article goes on to say, 'Millions of people who buy individual health insurance policies and get no help from the Affordable Care Act are bracing for another year of double-digit premium increases, and their frustration is boiling over.'

"The article says that these are mostly middle-class folks - hard-working people who may be self-employed or work for small businesses that can't afford to offer insurance.

"It goes on to say that these millions of Americans 'pay full freight and bear the brunt of market problems such as high costs and diminished competition.'

"That's exactly the situation that people are facing in Wyoming.

"The Obamacare exchange for my state has only one company selling insurance.

"It wasn't supposed to happen that way.

"Democrats in Congress who supported the health care law said that it was going to create more competition and that would bring down the prices and the costs for families.

"In September of 2009, President Obama said that 'without competition, the price of insurance goes up, and quality goes down.'

"So what's the situation now?

"All summer long we've heard about insurers who are giving up, who are pulling back, and who are dropping out.

"Millions of Americans will have less choice when it comes to their health insurance plans in 2018.

"On August 24, the largest hospital system in New York state announced that it was going to stop selling an Obamacare insurance plan it launched just four years ago.

"Now this is the home state of the Democrat leader in the Senate. Somebody that's come to the floor supporting the Obama health care law.

"The company is blaming the flaws of that health care law, and the fact that we haven't been able to do the reforms we need to do.

"The things that I've proposed, the things that make sense to me, the Democratic leader won't allow us to address the many, many flaws of Obamacare.

"Meanwhile, the people of his home state of New York are losing another option for how to get the coverage that Obamacare requires by law for them to have.

"They're not alone. People living in 47 percent of all counties will have only one option for coverage next year.

"That's millions of Americans stuck in an insurance monopoly under Obamacare.

"Monday was the deadline for insurance companies to say what they'll need to charge next year.

"People across the country continue to be very worried about how much more expensive their health insurance will be.

"The lack of competition is one reason for the skyrocketing prices.

"Another big reason for the increase in prices, are actually the tax increases that were put in place when Obamacare was passed.

"The health care law included a trillion dollars in new taxes.

"One of the biggest ones hitting working families is a tax on every health insurance plan that gets sold. It's called the health insurance tax.

"There was a new study last month that found this tax is going to raise prices by about $500 per family next year.

"That's to pay for one of the taxes.

"Republicans wanted to get rid of this tax. That was part of our repeal and replace plan.

"Every Democrat voted no--voted no to removing the tax.

"Premiums are continuing to soar because the health care law is unsustainable, and the taxes are unbearable to hard working families.

"We have got to do something to help people and to reverse the damage caused by Obamacare.

"I voted for the repeal legislation in July, and I'm going to continue to work to replace Obamacare.

"Until that happens, I'm glad to see that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is looking into other ways that we can makes changes to Obamacare.

"The committee is working on ways to stabilize the individual market for next year.

"They're going to hear from governors and state insurance commissioners about giving states more flexibility in dealing with some of the health care law's mandates.

"The committee is also going to be listening to doctors and to patients.

"When I talk with doctors, and nurses, and patients back home in Wyoming, they tell me that the health care system that we've got now under Obamacare isn't working. I see it every day.

"What I hear, and what I see when I was at the hospital, when I go back to my own medical office, is that we need to replace it with something that actually makes health care more affordable.

"That was a big part of the Republican reform effort: let the states do what works for the states and for the people that live there.

"The Obama health care law is still hurting Americans. It's not getting better on its own.

"It is up to us in Congress to do all that we can to help Americans who have been trapped in the Obamacare death spiral."

http://barrasso.senate.gov