Majority Leader | Remark | Remarks | THE NEWSROOM | Repub...Skip to primary navigation Skip to content×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNE×Close THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUFacebookXInstagramFacebookXInstagramVisit Leader Thune's South Dakota Site Here THE NEWSROOMRemarks Press Releases The Leader Board Op-Eds Videos SENATE RESOURCESRepublican Senators Committees Congressional Record Congress.gov Senate Floor Webcast ABOUT LEADER THUNExxsearchxMENUHomeTHE NEWSROOMRemarks12.11.25Thune: Democrats’ Messaging Bill Won’t Fix Skyrocketing Health Care Costs“Democrats’ so-called ‘plan’ is a three-year extension of the status quo. No reforms. No revisions. No rethinking of the way that Obamacare works.” Click here to watch the video.WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:Thune’s remarks below (as delivered):“Mr. President, later today we will vote on the Democrats’ partisan messaging bill – which is a clean, three-year extension of the Biden COVID bonuses.“And when I say ‘clean,’ all I mean by that is no reforms. Straight-up extension.“Three years of a program without any reforms, any revisions, any changes that would actually help drive down health care costs instead of increasing health care costs and get rid of the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in this program.“The Democrats’ ‘plan,’ that the Democrat leader called it on the floor the other day, it’s their ‘plan.’“Apparently they think that a three-year extension with no reforms, to try and disguise the real impact of Obamacare’s spiraling costs, is actually a ‘plan.’“I don’t know how you can call it a plan.“I came down here yesterday, Mr. President, to talk at length about some of the many problems with Obamacare and the perverse incentives it provides to move employees off of employer-provided insurance and into taxpayer-subsidized plans that have rampant year-over-year increases in premiums.“The perverse incentives that it provides to insurance companies to enroll Americans – some of whom don’t even know that they’ve been enrolled – so that the insurance companies can rake in even more subsidies.“And then, this so-called plan is rampant – and I say rampant – with fraud and abuse.“Mr. President, a Government Accountability Office report released just last week found a whole host of problems, including the successful enrollment of fake individuals, Social Security number fraud, failure to verify or sometimes even request documentation, improper payment of subsidies, and the list goes on.“And I want you to just take a look at this.“This is the finding that came out of that study that was done by the Government Accountability Office, Mr. President.“And here was the conclusion: Obamacare subsidies granted without documentation to 90 percent of fake accounts set up by a government watchdog.“90 percent.“Not 10 percent. Not 5 percent.“I mean, if you had a program that had 10 percent fraud in it, I think that would be a huge red flag, right?“Wouldn’t you be alarmed by that?“I think most people would.“I think most people would go, ‘Wow, that’s a huge number. We need to do something to fix that.’[…]“Think about that. My aching back, Mr. President.“You can’t make this stuff up.“We’re talking about tens of billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse on a yearly basis.“They don’t want to do anything about it.[…]“Well, Mr. President, that’s obviously a huge problem, but I haven’t even gotten to the central problem, and that is that Obamacare has utterly failed to control health care costs.“Since 2013, Obamacare enrollees have seen a 221 percent increase in premiums.“Now, let me just repeat that, Mr. President.“Since 2013, Obamacare enrollees have seen a 221 percent increase in premiums.“221 percent.“That means Obamacare premiums have grown at approximately five times the rate of inflation.“So, so much for making health care more affordable.“Now, Mr. President, this graph, I think, illustrates that.“And actually this understates the problem, because this shows since 2014, in the first year of its inception, when the Obama exchanges went live, there was a huge increase that the insurance companies built in in their premium cost to cover all the things that they had to cover in the new program.“So since 2013, that number is 221 percent, but even since 2014 when the exchanges were fully up and operating, it’s had 129 percent increase in premiums at the same time that the group market – in other words, the large and small group market, where a lot of people get their insurance coverage through their employer – was going up at about half that rate.“68 percent in the small and large group market, which is where about 150 million people get their insurance.“And frankly, the more people we could push into that market, it will not only lower their costs, but it also spreads the risk among a bigger pool, and that ultimately is the way in the long term you want to spread your costs.“But what Obamacare does, because it uses taxpayer dollars to subsidize and pay insurance companies directly, premiums go directly to insurance companies, so insurance companies are making bank. They’re getting rich by this.“But what it does at the same time is there’s no incentive to control costs, and it’s pushing people into that market.“Because if you’re an employer – or an employee, for that matter, because most people respond to incentives – and you are told that you can get into a market where the taxpayers are going to cover it, the employer is going to say, ‘Well, why should I continue to pay for the health insurance coverage for my employees if I can have the taxpayers pay for it?’“And so it’s pushing more and more people out of the group market, this market right here, where there’s a 68 percent increase, still way too much, over the last decade.“They’re pushing more and more people out of that market, into this market, which is double the rate of increase in premiums – and that doesn’t include, as I said, the first year in its inception.“If you … add that first year back in there, that number is 221 percent.“So you’ve got this system that is pushing more and more people into insurance coverage where the rates are skyrocketing, where the payments are going directly to the insurance companies, and where lower-income taxpayers are subsidizing higher-income taxpayers because there are no income limits.“So now you can have people making $500,000, $600,000 a year are getting subsidized by the federal taxpayer, people making $40,000 or $50,000 a year, at a cost to the federal taxpayer, in their bill alone, which is just a three-year extension, of $83 billion.“You tell me in what universe that makes sense.“That’s astonishing.“To have a program where 90 percent of the people who were fraudulently enrolled got approved, a program where the rate of increase is twice the rate in the group market and three times the rate of inflation, the Consumer Price Index, over the same time period.“And the insurance companies are getting rich.“Lower-income taxpayers are footing the bill so more affluent Americans can have coverage.“And the American taxpayer is paying $83 billion just for the three-year extension.“Waste, fraud, and abuse, higher rates, fiscally irresponsible, and the list goes on.“Well, Mr. President, even Democrats have to be well aware of the fact that Obamacare has utterly failed to do what it promised.“As I mentioned yesterday, we had one Democrat senator come down to the floor during the shutdown, and, to his credit, he admitted the truth, and this is what he said.“He said, ‘We did fail to bring down the cost of healthcare.’“That’s a direct quote.“‘We did fail to bring down the cost of healthcare.’“So what are Democrats proposing to do about that failure?“As I said, exactly nothing!“Democrats’ so-called ‘plan’ is a three-year extension of the status quo.“No reforms. No revisions. No rethinking of the way that Obamacare works.“Just a three-year extension of the status quo – which, I might add, was put in place in response to the pandemic!“When they extended these subsidies back in 2022 – it was in August – the pandemic was long over, long over.“You can’t, as I said, you can’t make this stuff up.“So, [Democrats’ bill is] not going to do anything to address the perverse incentives that push Americans out of the employer-sponsored health care system and onto taxpayer-subsidized plans.“It’s not going to do anything to address the perverse incentives that encourage insurance companies to enrich themselves at taxpayer expense.“It will do nothing to address the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in Obamacare.“And most of all, Mr. President, it will do nothing to bring down health care costs.“Nothing.“Zero.“Now, under Democrats’ plan, insurance premiums will continue to spiral, American taxpayers will find themselves on the hook for ever-increasing subsidy payments – and don’t think that all those payments are going to be going to vulnerable Americans.“As I said, the Democrats’ decision to remove any income cap on the Biden COVID bonuses has Americans making as much as half a million dollars, or more, qualifying for taxpayer subsidies. “Half a million dollars.“Do Democrats really think middle-class families should be subsidizing health care premiums for those making half a million dollars?“Mr. President, Democrats don’t have a health care plan.“They want to extend the status quo – a failed, flawed fraud program that is increasing costs at three times the rate of inflation.“Now, on the other hand, Mr. President, Republicans today will offer something that does – does – actually lower costs.“Earlier this week we introduced legislation – drafted by the chairmen of the relevant committees, Senators Crapo and Cassidy – to make structural reforms to the individual health insurance market.“In contrast to the Democrat bill, our bill would actually lower, as I said, Obamacare premium costs.“And it would redirect government savings from the bill into health savings accounts for eligible Obamacare enrollees earning less than 700 percent of the federal poverty level, paired with some affordable insurance plans.“These accounts would help individuals to meet their out-of-pocket costs, and – for many individuals who don’t use their insurance, or who barely use it – it would allow them to save for health care expenses down the road.“So we have two paths here, Mr. President.“One, a plan to start addressing the spiraling health care costs in Obamacare and make structural reforms that would drive down premium prices.“And two, a proposal for a three-year extension of the status quo.“So you tell me who’s serious about actually addressing the affordability of health care.“Democrats may talk about helping Americans.“But their bill is nothing more than a political messaging exercise that they hope they can use against Republicans next November.“And so I hope that after today, they’ll feel like they’ve checked the messaging box and will get serious about actually doing something about the spiraling health care costs under Obamacare.“Republicans are ready to get to work, Mr. President.“I’m not sure yet that Democrats are interested.”PrintEmailTweetPreviousTHE NEWSROOMSENATE RESOURCESABOUT LEADER THUNEFacebookXInstagram
