U. S. Congressman Pat Tiberi (R-OH), Chairman-Designate of the Joint Economic Committee, spoke on the House Floor today highlighting the devastating impact Obamacare has had on families and on the economy and about the need to transition away from government-run health care.

 

 

“Instead of empowering innovators, doctors, patients, Obamacare has implemented a complex scheme that relies on unelected bureaucrats. This chart demonstrates that clearly,” said Tiberi.

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“Obamacare means increased premiums. Ohioans have seen increased premiums by 111 percent since passage of Obamacare. Now in my home state, the average premium is over $5,000.

 

"Certainly, the government can increase coverage with subsidies. They can increase coverage with mandates but what has it done to the underlying health care that is being provided?” he added. “The extent and method by which Obamacare increases coverage have caused huge and unnecessary collateral damage to all others in the marketplace.”

 

Americans should have access to quality, affordable healthcare, but Obamacare is hurting Americans of all walks of life. Republicans have a #BetterWay. Read about the plan here.

 

To watch the entire speech click here or on the picture above.

 

Compare the Obama marketplace enrollment projections vs. reality.

 

View our interactive map showing premium increases by state.

 

"There are several perspectives, important perspectives to healthcare and health insurance. One, value delivered to patients in terms of insurance plan options, choice of doctors, access to treatment and most importantly, health outcome. Two, health insurance premiums and healthcare cost sharing. Three budgetary costs to the federal and state governments. Four, supply of healthcare services include big doctors and hospitals and through medications. Fifth, indirect cost to the economy such as reduced job creation and labor force participation. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) fails on all five counts. 

 

"That's why we're here today -- to start the process of repealing and replacing it. The program is dysfunctional and its costs have become and will become more unsustainable. Supposedly the central objective for passing the ACA was to insure those who did not have coverage. I was there. Yet the increased government sprawl shown in this chart in healthcare is striking. 

 

"The Joint Economic Committee chart from the time of the law's passage illustrates the law's mind-numbing complexity. Unsurprising to anyone skeptical of bureaucratic solutions, the Obama healthcare system has not worked. Instead of empowering innovators, doctors, patients, Obamacare has implemented a complex scheme that relies on unelected bureaucrats. This chart demonstrates that clearly. 

 

"Mr. Speaker, Obamacare means fewer choices. In fact, Kimberly a constituent in my district, recently told me that she had a brain tumor. Virtually no doctors take the marketplace insurance. ‘So I am left to change doctors who I've seen for 30 years and switch to new doctors who don't -- who I don't trust and cannot provide the same healthcare benefits that I've received in the past,’ she said. Traumatic for her. 

 

"Remarkably, the enrollment failure is happening despite penalties on individuals failing to obtain coverage and employers failing to provide it. Even with billions of dollars in subsidies, in my opinion, this illustrates that many would likely prefer to trade their subsidies for more flexibility, the choice of their own doctors, and useful alternatives. 

 

"Obamacare also means higher premiums. Ohioans on the individual marketplace have seen increased premiums by 111 percent since passage of Obamacare. Now in my state, the average premium is over $5,000! 

 

"Republicans agree that the system needs reform but Obamacare cannot be reformed. They argue that parts of the American healthcare insurance system were not working previously and that more people now have health insurance is irrelevant to the decision to repeal Obamacare. Nobody claims that the former system was perfect. I certainly don't. Certainly the government can increase coverage with subsidies and increase coverage with mandates, but what has it done to the underlying health care that is being provided. 

 

"The extent and method by which Obamacare increases coverage has caused huge and unnecessary collateral damage to all others in the marketplace with respect to patient choice of their doctors, the quality of the care that they're receiving, the supply of health care, and certainly state and federal budgets. 

 

"The focus of Obamacare advocates has been almost exclusively on increasing the number of insured by government subsidy and mandates. I get that and I understand that. But not on maximizing healthy outcomes. Those aren't the same things. Health insurance is not an end in itself. Effective treatment of health are problems is. Private investment is so needed to push forward medical discoveries, innovation, accelerate drug development, personalized medicine, harness technology to coordinate our healthcare and help administrate it. 

 

"There is a better way. You'll hear from the other side of the aisle that Republicans have no plan to replace Obamacare. Here are the plans. It's just not true. The goal of Republican plans is not to go back to the way things were before Obamacare, it's to move forward. We want to facilitate a well-functioning market in healthcare and health insurance as well. In the United States we let the marketplace work things out. 

"Republicans want to fix the obstacles and make it better. Portability, patient-centered care, the ability to purchase insurance across state lines, medical liability reform, new mechanisms for small businesses and individuals to power together and negotiate, flexibility for governors and a paint-centered, patient-focused program. The government has a role and a responsibility -- to provide support for those who can't afford it, for those who fall through the cracks. Addressing preexisting conditions is part of our plan. Keeping dependents up to 26 on their parents' plan is part of our plan. 

 

"But the deeper points to recognize are, one, there's no reason why a free market cannot offer insurance to individuals that provide continuous coverage throughout their lives. There's no reason that helping the poor should limit the choices and flexibilities of everyone else, which Obamacare has done, much less interfere with the larger economy. 

 

"Moreover the law has had an impact on employment. I see it every week. Casey Mulligan of the University of Chicago estimated that the ACA taxes will affect nearly half of the working population in America, reducing average wages, hours worked and GDP. Based upon CBO estimates, the overall impact of the ACA on the supply of labor will become progressively worse as time passes. 

 

"Obamacare took certain problems in health insurance – a large of number of uninsured, lack of individual coverage for pre-existing conditions, higher premiums for individuals –and used them as an excuse to create socialized medicine. The repeal of Obamacare will take us off that path. We will provide support away from Obamacare through a transition to improve consumer choice. 

 

"Ladies and gentlemen, I understand the anxiety that many are feeling right now listening to the Democrats tell them that healthcare will be yanked out from under them. When I was a kid, my dad, a steelworker, lost his job. We lost our healthcare. We lost our insurance. I know what that anxiety is like.  I would assure everyone today that's not what we're doing here today. 

 

"I know what we're doing here today. We're empowering patients, we're empowering doctors, not bureaucrats. We're giving them more choices, more opportunities, and a better healthcare system. Mr. Speaker, I ask that we support this resolution and I yield back the balance of my time.