Ahead of Senate Vote to Repeal Trump-Kennedy-Oz Attacks on Health Care, Wyden Urges Support for Lowering Costs and Repealing Red Tape Restrictions
I rise in support of Senator Warner and Senator Ossoff, who are both working tirelessly to lower health care costs for American families. Today, the Senate will vote to repeal a host of harmful policies that Donald Trump, Robert Kennedy and Dr. Oz have unleashed on unsuspecting Americans who are struggling to get by in Trump’s broken economy.
From the day Donald Trump was sworn in, this administration made attacking Americans’ health care its #1 priority. Last summer, Republicans in Congress rammed through their massive bill to give tax breaks to billionaires and giant corporations while making the largest health care cuts in American history.
At the same time, the Trump administration used the byzantine federal rulemaking process to double down on those efforts by finalizing the rule that Democrats are trying to repeal today. The harmful changes made by the Trump administration all come down to creating more red tape and increasing health care costs. That’s the exact opposite of the affordability and simplicity Americans are demanding for their health care.
I’m going to briefly tick through a few of the worst examples to illustrate why these rules need to be junked. First, the Trump rules will increase what American families might have to pay out-of-pocket every year by nearly $1,000. What's the purpose behind that change, other than to take money from Americans already struggling with expensive medical bills?
The rule adds new fees, such as a new “re-enrollment fee” that applies to low-income workers. To be clear, that means if you want to keep your health insurance, you have to pay a fee to the government just for the right to keep what you already have. It also creates mandatory minimum premiums that will cause millions to lose their coverage. Republicans say these fees are aimed at reducing fraud, but there’s simply no evidence to back that up. Any fraud is too much, but the numbers are clear. The vast majority of the fraud in the health care marketplace is conducted by shady brokers who are looking to make a fast buck through commissions from phony enrollments, not working Americans looking to buy health insurance. That’s why I introduced legislation to create tough criminal penalties for brokers who commit this type of fraud. My bill has no Republican co-sponsors. Instead of going after fraud where it exists, Trump and Republicans are creating barriers that will trip up working Americans trying to navigate a health care system that is already too complex.
Beyond fees and higher premiums, the Trump rule also adds new verification checks and enrollment restrictions that amount to a giant heap of red tape. These red tape measures will create 15 million hours of paperwork, and 1.8 million people will lose their coverage as they try to navigate this needless maze. These types of changes are straight out of the playbook of Big Insurance, which creates barriers and bureaucratic hurdles so they can keep more of your money while denying you basic health care. It’s no surprise that Americans are sick and tired of a health care system that gets in their way at every turn.
It’s time for Republicans to do the right thing and join with Democrats to lower Americans’ health costs instead of creating new cost barriers and red tape restrictions.
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