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 NEWSROOMRemarks12.08.25Thune: Even Democrats Admit Obamacare Has Failed“This system does need reform - and a lot of it. It’s too bad Democrats aren’t interested in making any.” 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, I would like to read a few quotes from some of my Democrat colleagues from the past couple of months.“This is from November 6, and I quote: ‘We did fail to bring down the cost of healthcare.’“This is from September 30, and I quote: ‘Now, right now, we have a broken health care system. Nobody can afford health care.’“This one, Mr. President, is from December 3, and I quote again: ‘I think we all agree there’s brokenness to the whole system.’“Again, from December 3, and I quote: ‘As much as we disagree on things, I just want to note the underlying agreement that this system needs a lot of reform.’“Now, all, as I said, Mr. President, of these are quotes from my Democrat colleagues in just the past couple of months.“Every quote is an implicit [admission] that Obamacare has failed.“Back in 2009, of course, Democrats were arguing that Obamacare was going to fix health care.“This was a quote from that time: ‘[A]n historic bill that will finally reform our broken health care system and help millions of our families and small businesses get the coverage they need at a price they can afford. It is about time.’“That, again, a senior senator, Democrat senator, from back in 2009, Mr. President.“Or in the words of the Democrat leader, and I quote again, ‘Who would have thought that we could finally get a handle on the thing that is driving our budget deficit to great heights, which is health care costs, and at the same time do so much good by covering so many people?’“Now, contrast that with the words of the Democrat leader today, Mr. President, and I quote again: ‘[T]he healthcare crisis is so deep and so real.’“‘[T]he healthcare crisis is so deep and so real.’“In other words, Mr. President, Democrats’ great scheme to fix health care, Obamacare, has failed.“So what are Democrats proposing to do this week, Mr. President?“Introduce reforms?“Perhaps try a different approach?“Well, no, that would be wrong, Mr. President, if you assumed that.“They have announced plans to throw good money after bad.“They’ve proposed a clean, three-year extension of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies.“Clean, Mr. President.“No reforms.“No revisions.“Just billions of additional taxpayer dollars to prop up part of a program that has utterly failed to reduce health care costs.“Mr. President, since 2013, premiums for Obamacare enrollees have risen 221 percent.“Two hundred and twenty-one percent.“In other words, this program is doing the very opposite of lowering health care costs.“And as if soaring premiums weren’t a big enough problem, the exchanges are rife with potential for waste, fraud, and abuse.“A damning report from the Government Accountability Office released last week found that the exchanges continue to enroll fake individuals, are improperly paying out subsidies, and are failing to ensure payment accuracy, potentially putting taxpayers on the hook for millions or billions in improper payments.“And so I might just show you, this is what the GAO found – the Government Accountability Office, Mr. President – and this just came out literally just this last week. This was a finding … on their part.“That ‘Obamacare subsidies granted without documentation to 90% of fake accounts.’“So in other words, what the Government Accountability Office did is they ran an audit of the exchanges in which these insurance policies change hands, and found that 90 percent – 90 percent – of these fake accounts, Mr. President, were granted subsidies without documentation.“Think about that.“90 percent of this investigation, these accounts they checked – they created fake accounts to see if, in fact, they would get a government subsidy – and they did.“90 percent failure rate in this program.“And so we have spiraling health care costs, a program incredibly vulnerable – as this has evidenced – vulnerable to fraud and abuse, and, again, Democrats are proposing that we do absolutely nothing.“No reforms, no revisions, no safeguards – just billions more in taxpayer dollars.“Mr. President, Republicans have made it very clear that we would like to work with Democrats to address the affordability of health care and find solutions that actually reduce costs. “But as Democrats have made clear with this ‘clean’ bill, they’re not really after health care solutions.“They seem to be okay with a 90 percent fraud rate.“They’re after a political issue to attempt to batter Republicans with during this next election year.“And if that means a proposal to throw more money at a program they know very well, very well, is failing – it’s documented – then that’s what they’re going to go with.“I’ll quote again, Mr. President: ‘As much as we disagree on things, I just want to note the underlying agreement that this system needs a lot of reform.’“Again, the words, Mr. President, of a Democrat senator.“And she’s right.“This system does need reform – and a lot of it.“It’s too bad Democrats aren’t interested in making any.”PrintEmailTweetPreviousTHE NEWSROOMSENATE RESOURCESABOUT LEADER THUNEFacebookXInstagram
