Barrasso on Face the Nation: Discusses Health Care Reform

July 23, 2017

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On Face the Nation, Barrasso Discusses Health Care Reform

"With this resistance movement to President Trump, and the energy in the Democrat party pulling Chuck Schumer, who is the leader, far to the left, to the Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren approach...We know where Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren want to take it, which is to a single-payer Canadian, British-style, government-run program."

WASHINGTON, D.C.--U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) appeared on CBS's "Face the Nation" this morning to talk about the future of health care reform.

Below are key excerpts of the interview:

On What the Senate Will Vote On:

"It's a vote, a motion to proceed to the bill that passed the House. That then comes to the Senate and then we can vote once we get on that bill to amend it in various ways. And lots of members have different ideas on how it should be best amended to replace what is really a failing Obama healthcare plan.

On if the Votes Are There:

"We're continuing to work with all of the members, we're getting much closer to that. We are going to vote this week and I think until the vote is actually on the floor of the Senate, some people may not tell you what they're actually going to do. We all got elected to legislate and that's why we're here. People have campaigned, Republicans over the years, to repeal and replace Obamacare. This our chance and I think it's hard to believe somebody who has won an election can go home and face the voters and say 'I'm not even willing to debate it on the floor.'

On the Open Amendment Process:

"People can offer that as an amendment to what's passed the House. I have a number of things that I think really improve on the House bill. President Trump has said it should be more generous, we have done that. The bill I've been working on in the Senate actually lowers insurance premiums, makes insurance more affordable by 30 percent. It puts Medicaid on a much more sustainable path and, you know, Medicaid was designed initially for low-income women and children and the disabled, but it's changed significantly under Obamacare.

"I was in the Wyoming legislature for five years, that's what legislation is all about. You get a bill on the floor of the House or Senate, and then you start adding amendments. You bring your best ideas forward and then people vote up or down. So as the amendments get added to the bill, in the end, there's a final vote. Do you approve or not approve of the whole amended package and that's what we're trying to do. And that's why I think people run for office, to take tough votes, to legislate and to live with the consequences.

On Calls for Bipartisanship:

"I agree. It should be bipartisan. It should have been bipartisan when Obamacare was passed. It should be now as well for big things that affect the country, it should be in a bipartisan way. But let's set the record straight. With this resistance movement to President Trump, and the energy in the Democrat party pulling Chuck Schumer, who is the leader, far to the left, to the Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren approach. Senator Schumer has been pretty clear up from the beginning, that we should expect no cooperation from him. We know where Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren want to take it, which is to a single-payer Canadian, British-style, government-run program.

"I visited on the floor of the Senate and off the floor with a number of Democrats, and they say we do want to work together but there's a couple things, one is don't touch the mandate. Well, the mandate, the individual mandate that says people have to buy a government product, that's the most-hated part of Obamacare. They also say the status quo is fine for Medicaid. But the status quo today is different from the original intent of Medicaid of protecting the most vulnerable in our society who are now getting crowded out of Medicaid because of the expansion. And they said, oh, by the way, make sure you put more money in to stabilize insurance markets. Well, you know, President Trump just last week once again provided a transfusion to Obamacare, which is in the intensive care unit.

On the AMA's Position on the Bill:

"I'm still a member of the American Medical Association, they've done incredible things for patient safety and healthcare over the years. They were big supporters of the Obama healthcare law, lost a lot of members as a result of that. I think that they're misguided on this because the doctors I talked to at home and the nurses and the patients - I was in Wyoming yesterday - continue to say we need to get rid of this Obamacare. We need to replace it with something that actually lowers the cost, that makes healthcare more affordable. Health is very, very personal and we need to make sure that we do it right."

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