Van Hollen: Secret Republican Health Care Bill “a Shame on the Democratic Process”
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We're looking at ways to make sure that anyone with a pre-existing condition is protected. We're looking for ways to stabilize the market and also lower the skyrocketing cost of insurance, and then stabilize Medicaid for the long run, because we need a safe and secure program there. It has to be strong, and it's not strong now.
WOODRUFF:
And it is mean because it will mean 23 million Americans who will not have access to affordable care who would otherwise have it. People with pre-existing conditions will go back to being able to be victims of discrimination by insurance companies. It is why virtually every patient advocacy organization, in fact, I think 100 percent, are against that legislation, and every provider group I have heard from is also against it.
It will provide huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. If you're a millionaire, you are going to get a
WOODRUFF: Well, let's just take a part of that.
BARRASSO: Sure.
WOODRUFF:
BARRASSO: Well, first of all, it's hard to stand here and hear Chris talk about a bill he hasn't seen -- he will see it Thursday -- and make a number of attacks against it, when, in his own
I don't know how somebody with a straight face can call that affordable. And they went up 24 percent last year. And the president of the
Obamacare has failed in
Yes,
A full 20 percent of the increase they're asking for is because the President issued an executive order on the first day of his Administration saying that they wouldn't enforce the individual mandate provision.
You tell people they don't have to join, including healthier people, it means sicker people will pay a lot more. And, by the way, that's why
And, yes, John, I have not seen the
And, finally, John didn't answer your specific question about Medicaid, which has nothing to do with the exchanges. It's a whopping cut. I know his state of
WOODRUFF:
BARRASSO: Well, you know, insurance company executives prior to the election, prior to the November election, were saying they're thinking of pulling out in 2018, so this is nothing new.
Had
WOODRUFF: What about the Republican bill, though, Senator?
BARRASSO: What we're working on it in the
Plus, I was in the state
And as to Chris's point of the individual mandate, it is the most hated part of Obamacare. And the judges that say, how do they count the numbers, they say, if you get rid of the individual mandate, which I am committed to do and the
The core of the Republican bill in the House, and we suspect in the
You tell me how cutting taxes to millionaires and giving them an average tax break of
The
WOODRUFF:
BARRASSO: That's still part of the debate we're having, and the bill will come out Friday.
We want to eliminate all the taxes that raise premiums for people, the medical device tax, the health insurance tax, the tax on prescription medication.
But getting back to Medicaid, Judy, a third of the doctors -- and I practiced medicine for 25 years -- a third of the doctors in this country will not take new Medicaid patients, and major hospitals around the country have said, look, if you have to make an appointment for somebody either with Medicaid or who has traditional insurance, don't give that appointment to somebody with Medicaid -- this is what the
Medicaid is failing. We need to strengthen it for the long term.
I hope that, at long last, we will have a chance to have a debate on this.
WOODRUFF: So, just finally, to both of you, when the public is told that the
BARRASSO: Well, there are a number of different provisions to do exactly that, to help people at a significant high risk of high medical costs.
It's worked successfully around the country. And part of it is to just give more flexibility to the states, so they can make decisions about what insurance can be bought and sold in those states to allow people to get what they want and they need and is right for their family, not what the
And with respect to Medicaid - in
Medicaid already has lots of waivers. It already has lots of flexibility. We're using it in the
But I can tell you we're hearing from Republican governors in states that have, and they're saying do not do that kind of damage to the Medicaid program.
BARRASSO: Somebody may have a Medicaid card, but it doesn't mean they get to see a doctor.
WOODRUFF: Gentlemen, thank you very much. We're going to get our first peek at the bill on Thursday.
Senator
BARRASSO: Thank you for having us.
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