Wyden Calls for Republicans to Support Clean Extension of ACA Tax Credits
Watch a video of Wyden deliver his remarks here
As Prepared for Delivery
There is a runaway train barreling toward our country in the form of a massive increase in health care costs for millions of Americans that are tied to the tracks.
Today, the Senate is going to vote on two different plans.
One, offered by Democrats, would save Americans from the health cost freight train and get them off the tracks.
The other, offered by Republicans, amounts to tossing them a hacksaw and wishing them luck as the train speeds into view.
Come January 1st, millions of Americans are going to have to figure out how they’re going to pay for their health care. Families will be making the near-torturous decision between paying their premiums, or paying for rent and groceries. Many will decide to forego coverage entirely.
The Republican plan on offer will be snake oil in a gaping wound. It will spark an avalanche of junk insurance plans designed to enrich insurance companies. A puny savings account to cover the cost of an appendectomy, having a baby, or getting your tonsils out will leave patients up to their eyeballs in debt. The biggest winner under this scheme won’t be Bartley and Carla of Eugene, whose premiums will skyrocket to over $2,200 dollars a month on January 1. The real winner under the Republican proposal will be private insurance companies. Specifically, UnitedHealth Group. But enriching rich donors and giant corporations while everyday Americans foot the bill is par for the course under this failed Republican leadership.
What Democrats are offering instead is a clean extension of the subsidies to keep ACA plans in place.
Every member of this body can agree that health care costs and insurance companies are spinning out of control, and more needs to be done to rein them in. But the solution is not kicking millions of people off their health care until Republicans get their act together to figure out a replacement.
I want to take a moment to talk about Republican claims about fraud in the individual market. All of us here want to root fraud out of the system. But Republicans are cherry-picking statistics or outright distorting the facts to justify kicking millions of people off their health care under the guise of fighting fraud. Independent federal watchdogs recently posed as sleazy brokers to fraudulently enroll Americans in health care plans. That tells me that what’s needed is tough criminal penalties aimed at stopping these unscrupulous brokers in their tracks.
I introduced legislation that would, for the first time, hit brokers who engage in these shady practices with real penalties. Based on how much my Republican colleagues talk about fraud, you’d think they’d be tripping over themselves to support this plan. But none are supporting my bill. That tells me that their rhetoric is just empty talk.
I’ll close with this. The only solution that saves Americans in harm’s way is extending these credits and keeping costs down for families. Once the crisis is averted, it’s high time to look in a bold new direction for our health care, because it’s clear the status quo is not working for American families.
I urge my colleagues to support a clean extension of the ACA tax credits.
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