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WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Thursday regarding the 1,990-page, trillion-dollar health care bill introduced today in the House:

“This latest bill is the strongest evidence yet that Democrats in Washington are blowing past the American people and pushing ahead with a 1,990-page, trillion-dollar experiment that raises health insurance premiums, raises taxes, and slashes Medicare.

“Americans want common-sense reforms that lower costs and increase access. Instead, Congress has come up with yet another proposal to put more government between Americans and their doctors while spending trillions more with money we don’t have. That’s not reform.”

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the importance of getting it right on health care reform :

“After months of hearing that Americans don’t want government-run health care, Democrat leaders in Washington have made their decision. They’re going to include it in their health care bill, whether Americans want it or not.

“Supporters of the government-run plan say they’re only advocating one more option among many. What they don’t say is that the option they’re advocating would soon be the only option. The others would fade away.

“It’s not that hard to understand. Private health plans would fade away because a government-run plan would use the deep pockets of the federal government to set artificially low prices, or absorb a loss, making it impossible for private plans to compete. Private plans would either become so expensive that only the very wealthy could afford them, or they’d go out of business altogether.

“If you want to know what happens after that, just ask somebody who lives in a country that’s already gone down the road of government-run health care for all.

“What we’ve seen in these countries is what we would see here: rationing, denials, and delay. In the United Kingdom, for example, a government board sets guidelines on who gets to use certain drugs and treatments.

“This means that even if a treatment is effective, it can be withheld from patients because of the amount of money it costs the government. This is what happens when government gets involved in the health care business.

“A government plan won’t come cheap either. We don’t know all the details that Democrat leaders put into their bill behind closed doors, but we do know it will cost over a trillion dollars in the middle of a terrible recession.

• A trillion dollars at a time of near 10 percent unemployment

• A trillion dollars just a few weeks after the Treasury Department said the administration ran up the largest annual deficit in U.S. history

• A trillion dollars at a moment when the U.S. government is financing nine out of 10 new mortgages and already owns most major U.S. auto makers, along with large parts of the finance and insurance industries

• A trillion dollars at a time when government spending accounts for a bigger share of the national economy than at any time since the Second World War

• A trillion dollars when Congress is about to make a public admission that it can’t handle its own finances by raising the debt ceiling

“Now is not the time for a trillion dollar experiment in government health care.

“Now is the time to buckle down financially and to find common-sense reforms in the area of health care that actually save people money by driving down costs.

“Americans asked for lower costs, and they didn’t get it. What they got instead was more government, more spending, more debt. This is why so many Americans feel like they’ve been taken for a ride in this debate, and it’s also why a lot of our friends on the other side are concerned about the bill that’s headed to the Senate floor.

“Americans have issued their verdict. They’ve been clear. They’ve said that enough is enough. No government plan. No more debt. No more government takeovers.

“Democrat leaders may continue to insist on a bill that most Americans oppose. But it’s the wrong approach. A government owned, government operated insurance plan was a bad idea before. It’s a bad idea now.”

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‘Only in Washington would lawmakers propose a health care reform that actually raises costs — and do so in the very same month that the federal government recorded its largest deficit in history and at a time when unemployment approaches 10 percent.’

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday regarding the importance of getting it right on health care reform :

“From the outset of the health care debate, Americans have had one key test for reform: Will it make health care cost less?

“Well, over the past few months, a number of independent groups have reached the conclusion that the legislation we’ve seen fails that test.

“In fact, it would make health care more expensive.

“So, even aside from the issue of whether a so-called public option is in or out of the bill that hits the floor, I think it’s fair to say that this isn’t what the American people bargained for.

“Let’s start with the independent, non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

“The CBO says that proposed fees and taxes on drug makers, medical labs, and medical device manufactures would lead to higher health care premiums for Americans who get health insurance through their employers.

“And it says that premiums will go up for people who choose to buy their own insurance.

“So whether you get insurance through your employer or buy it on your own, your premiums go up.

“The Joint Committee on Taxation, another non-partisan group, also looked at the legislation.

“It says that a proposed excise tax on insurers would also drive up the cost of employer-provided insurance.

“Here are two independent, non-partisan groups looking at the health care legislation we’ve seen. They both conclude it will drive up the cost of health care.

“Americans thought reform was supposed to lower costs, not raise them.

“Yet every day, it seems, we see further confirmation that the plans under discussion would lead to higher costs and more long-term spending and debt.

“One study we’ve seen says the Democrats’ tax on insurance plans would cost families nearly $500 per year in higher premiums starting next year, long before any of the supposed benefits would even kick in.

“Another study says that a family of four in my home state of Kentucky would see their premiums go from about $350 dollars a month to nearly $800 dollars a month.

“Even if these families were eligible for the subsidies in the Democrat bill, their premiums could still be about 50 percent higher than they are now.

“This is mind-boggling. Only in Washington would lawmakers propose a health care reform that actually raises costs — and do so in the very same month that the federal government recorded its largest deficit in history and at a time when unemployment approaches 10 percent.

“Americans thought the whole point of reform was to lower costs. Yet the plans we’ve seen would do just the opposite. And the American people are taking notice.

“Americans are asking us to follow through on the initial pledge to lower health care costs. But that means enacting reforms that would actually lead to lower costs — like getting rid of junk lawsuits and incentivizing healthy choices. Americans want reform.

“Instead, the Administration and its allies in the Senate are giving them higher premiums, higher taxes, and massive cuts to Medicare.

“That’s not reform.”

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Recent Press Releases

1,990-Page Experiment Raises Insurance Premiums, Raises Taxes and Slashes Medicare

October 29, 2009

A Government-run Plan is the Wrong Approach

‘After months of hearing that Americans don’t want government-run health care, Democrat leaders in Washington have made their decision. They’re going to include it in their health care bill, whether Americans want it or not’

October 28, 2009

Reform Should Lower Costs for Families

October 27, 2009