Called and texted and tweeted their opposition to an abomination of a health plan, that plan is not going to be on the senate floor this week. Thanks to grassroots america, it is so appropriate at this hour. I also want to make clear that weve got a bottom line for the next two weeks. Weve got an incredible amount of heavy lifting that weve got to do to make sure that working families and seniors get a fair shake from the American Health care system. I say that because, as we speak, Senate Republicans are at the white house strategizing with the president. The horse trading has already begun, and the Senate Republicans have a slush fund paid for by working families that contains hundreds of billions of dollars that can be used for sweetheart deals that would get them the 51 votes needed to pass this horrendous health bill in the United States senate. Now ill turn to what we need to focus on in the next two weeks at town hall meetings, civic group lunches, discussions with Rural Health Care providers, and that focus has got to be to highlight what this flawed republican bill really means and how it cant be fixed, no matter how much money the Republican Leadership throws at these problems. This bill is a health care smashandgrab designed to benefit the fortunate few, and its paid for by hundreds of billions of dollars in reductions from medicaid. Tax breaks for the wealthy that Senate Republicans are so anxious to dole out theyre willing to make them retroacti retroactive. Contrary to what Senate Republicans say, their tax changes dont create jobs; they do create tax windfalls. Exhibit a under their bill, you have a milliondollar capital gain in february, and if this bill passes, that lucky person would get a 38,000 tax break. Many of these gains go directly into the pockets of americas 400th most affluent families, while disabled kids, those with opioid addictions, and families where a baby boomer has the misfortune of having a stroke and needs nursing home care face the prospect that the Crucial Health services they need, services that are life and death for them, wont be there because of this flawed health bill. Next i want to point out that over the next two weeks were going to lay out how this legislation would send costs into the stratosphere for millions and millions of americans. Start with older people who are about to get hit by what i call a doubleage tax. If this bill goes through, Insurance Companies will have a green light to charge Older Americans more than they charge younger people, as if that doesnt raise their costs enough. Older americans are also going to be forced to pay a higher share of their income on health costs because the Senate Republican bill shrinks their tax benefits as they age. Older americans need more health care. They cant afford to skimp out on barebones insurance. So many of our older people are going to see their premiums nearly quadruple. And it is not just Older Americans who are going to see their costs jump. Right off the top, hundreds of thousands of middleclass families across the country are going to lose tax cuts for health care because the republican bill snatches away their eligibility. And when it comes to the private Insurance Market, this bill is centered on a plan to push americans into bargainbasement health coverage. After all the talk about deductibles and outofpocket costs being unaffordable, this republican proposal ties middleclass benefits to highdeductible, lowvalue Insurance Plans. Its a sleight of hand to make it look like consumers are getting a better deal and lower premiums. But heres the reality, mr. President of course you can make premiums go down if you force people into insurance that only covers bandaids and a bottle of aspirin. When people get sick or suffer an injury, theyre going to read the fine print on their insurance. And with this legislation, if it were to pass, they would see skyhigh deductibles and cutrate coverage. We would face for working families the prospect theyd get buried under medical debt because their insurance doesnt cover the care they actually need. Finally, not even people who get their insurance at work mr. President , those folks probably thought they were home free in this debate. Not even folks who get their insurance at work are safe from the Senate Republican health plan. Four million americans are going to lose their employersponsored Insurance Coverage just next year, if this bill goes through. Tens of millions of americans could once again face some of the worst Insurance Company abuses annual and lifetime limits on coverage. Those are limits that the Affordable Care act banned. But republicans are proposing to bring them back. And lets be real clear, mr. President. You bring them back you bring them back, and you dont protect people from skyrocketing costs, it means that if they develop cancer, they could bust through their coverage limit and, once again, wed go back to the days in america where those folks were forced into personal bankruptcy. Because millions of people without coverage will be unable to pay for the coverage they need, people with employerbased insurance are going to get hit with a hidden tax in the form of higher premiums. So if an american listening to this is considering early retirement, think again. The costs could well be too high. If you are thinking of leaving your job, becoming an entrepreneur, and starting your own business, you can think again especially if you have specific medical needs, your costs could be higher under this plan. And then theres the generation of adults in the workforce today, people who are middleclass, who are doing everything they can to support their families and save whenever possible. They may not be thinking about the expense of longterm care, but the fact is, growing older in america really costs a lot. Because of this bill, millions of people will no longer be able to count on medicaid being there to cover their longterm care in a nursing home or at home where theyre most comfortable later in life. So, mr. President , i want to close by way of saying that what we have to do now is to make sure that to beat this destructive republican bill this is the only way to do it is for americans to keep tweeting, keep sending letters, keep finding rallies to attend, tell your stories about how youre going to do worse with this bill, and then tell your friends stories and your families stories. It is a virtual lock that this bill is going to come back around. So so i close today by way of saying groots grassroots america, by speaking out, the fact that they did that and did all that work that ive described as to why this flawed bill is not going to be voted on in the United States senate this week, but we need everybody over the next two weeks, seniors and working families and people all across this country, my message is we need you to stay out because that is the only way we will finally stop this bill in its tracks. I yield to our friend from maryland, senator cardin. Mr. Cardin mr. President , i want to thank senator wyden for his leadership on this issue and so many issues. His position on the Senate Finance committee as the ranking democrat. He serves this body very well, and hes done that today and outlined the fall of the Health Care Bill that was presented just a week ago by the Republican Leadership and what it would do to our Health Care System. Mr. President , i just want to acknowledge that i am very proud to have been in the congress when we passed the Affordable Care act. Millions of americans today have coverage that didnt have coverage prior to the enactment of the Affordable Care act. Im also proud about the quality of that coverage. That coverage has guaranteed benefits so that individuals know that they will be covered for their needs. No preexisting conditions, no caps. And it is affordable, and we made sure that it was affordable for the people of this nation. Ive listened to the debate from some of my republican colleagues about how the Affordable Care act is collapsing under its own weight. Nothing could be further from the truth. The problems that we are experiencing with high increases in individual marketplace is caused in part because of the actions of the Trump Administration to try to undermine the Affordable Care act. Let me just give you an example in my own state of maryland where carefirst, the largest carrier in the individual marketplace, sought about a 50 increase in individual rates, and they were very direct. At least half of that increase is a result of the uncertainty of the Trump Administration putting the costsharing payments into the budget. That raises the premiums for all of those individuals in the individual marketplace. And the uncertainty as to whether the Trump Administration is going to enforce the requirements that people buy insurance, which means only the people who have the higher risk are likely to buy the insurance, raising the price for those who want to buy insurance. So when we talk about the fact that there is increased costs beyond what we think is reasonable, recognize that its the actions of the Trump Administration that is causing a large part of that premium increase. Which brings me to the bill that was unveiled last week by the Republican Leadership. It moves us in the wrong direction in trying to fix the problems. It does that because it decimates the Medicaid Program, which has been the largest expansion of coverage has been in the Medicaid Program. This bill was significantly cut back, as c. B. O. Has scored, a total of 22 million individuals who have insurance today will lose their coverage, but it does more than that. It does that for one reason. Not to make health care more affordable. It does that in order to give tax cuts to the very wealthy. So, mr. President , i am glad that we now have a little cooling off period. We are not going to come back to the bill for about another ten days, it looks like. And i just want my colleagues to know, as proud as i am of the Affordable Care act, i acknowledge that we can make it better, and i hope democrats and republicans will Work Together to move in the right direction on improving the Affordable Care act. Let me just give you some examples. We know theres a high cost on the premiums, higher increase than we would like. Why dont we join together to make sure that there is predictable costsharing provided to the companies that are in the individual marketplace . That would reduce the uncertainty and reduce the premiums in the individual marketplace. Why dont we Work Together, democrats and republicans, to increase the subsidies that we provide to low and middleclass families so that the premiums will be more affordable . We intended to do that under the Affordable Care act, but after we got the cost scoring, we had to trim that back. So lets Work Together, democrats and republicans. Those two changes, those two changes alone would deal with the concern that in the individual marketplace, were seeing large premium increases. Together, we can solve that problem. And why dont we work for more competition . I have heard my colleagues talk about the fact that some of the Insurance Companies are leaving and some arent, mainly because of the uncertainty of whether they are going to get their rightful payments for costsharing, but we can do something about that. Why dont we democrats and republicans come together and say that there should be a public option with no public subsidy. So to level the Playing Field of competition. That way we are guaranteeing to every market in the country that there will be coverage for the people in your community. That encourages more competition. That gives stability in the marketplace. We could do that together. And then democrats and republicans, lets Work Together to bring down the overall cost of health care in this country. We made proposals that why are we paying more for prescription drugs, twice as much as our canadian friends . Because they have an organized market and they negotiate as an organized market. Why dont we come together and say lets take the entire market that we have for the government paying prescription drugs, have one negotiation that would significantly bring down the costs of prescription medicines . And why dont we build on efforts that we have done for Collaborative Health care for valuebased reimbursement that will significantly reduce the costs. We have seen that in Mental Health in addiction. We can see the same savings in kidney care and in diabetes and heart disease. So, mr. President , there are ways that we can improve the Affordable Care act. Democrats are ready to work with republicans to get that done. What we wont do is make this Current System worse. Were not going to cut the Medicaid Program in order to provide tax cuts for the wealthy, but join us in improving the law to make premiums more affordable in the individual marketplace, to bring more competition into the program and to drive down the overall cost of health care in this country. Thats what democrats stand for, and were ready to work today with republicans in order to get that done. I would encourage our colleagues to Work Together, and lets improve the Health Care System. Mr. Wyden would my colleague yield for a question . Mr. Cardin i yield to my friend. Mr. Wyden i know my friend from maryland is a real expert on this whole matter of private insurance, going back to your days in the state legislature and i was director of the gray panthers. I think what youre saying is that it is critically important that we get more predictability and more certainty in the private Insurance Market. And what im struck by is, of course, this is the private sector. This is not the government. This is the private sector. And the president has been basically pouring gasoline on the fires of uncertainty in the private Insurance Market because he is always in or out on this question of costsharing and the private insurers then say we cant really predict what our rates are going to be, and maybe weve got to pull out or maybe we have to raise rates. Could you just highlight again your thoughts with respect to more predictability and more certainty . Its such an important point. After my good friend from maryland has made that point, i know the senator from delaware is interested in the same subject. Mr. Cardin mr. President , senator wyden is exactly right. I have met with the largest insurer in maryland and have gone over their rate requests for this year, and they told me directly that the largest amount of their premium increase request is based upon the uncertainty. They dont know whether the costsharing is going to be put in the budget or not, and they have to make their decisions on rates now. Not knowing that, they have to cover themselves, and theyre asking for a rate increase under the concern that that costsharing may not be in the payment. Now, that was not only envision, we thought it was mandated in the Affordable Care act. Now the president s talking about, well, maybe im not going to put it in. We have seen some of those other activities. So if youre an Insurance Company and youre answerable to your board of directors and you know that this payment is how youre able to get low deductibles and copays, but youre not sure youre going to get the federal payment, you know that your consumers, customers are going to want those low costsharing, you have to charge a higher premium just to cover yourself, and thats exactly what was done in maryland. Exactly what was done in maryland. And if we would have had the president of the United States say that moneys going to go in the budget, into the program because thats what congress intended, we would have had significantly lower rates in maryland in the individual marketplace. Predictability is critically important. A senator would the senator yield . Mr. Cardin i would be glad to yield to my senator from delaware. Mr. Carper senator cardin and i serve together on a committee called the environment and public works in the senate. One of the issues we deal with is clean air. This conversation about predictability and certainty that businesses seek is not just in Health Insurance. Its in all kinds of cuts for business across the country. I remember being in a conversation eight, nine years ago with, i think, Lamar Alexander, senator alexander of tennessee was with us. We met with the c. E. O. s of a number of utilities across the country. And senator alexander and i were pushing legisl