(WASHINGTON) — In this week’s Republican address, Montana Sen. Steve Daines talks repealing Obamacare.
According to the senator, the Senate will soon be voting to repeal the health care law, and he hopes Republicans will replace Obamacare with “state-led solutions that put patients back in the center of the health care equation.”
“When the federal government takes over our health care system and puts the whims of Washington bureaucrats over the needs of hardworking American families, prices go up and the quality of care goes down,” said Daines. “After five years of seeing President Obama’s experiment with Americans’ health care result in failure and embarrassment, the American people know that it’s time to stop putting more Band-Aids on something that’s so far beyond repair.”
Daines also said, “Obamacare isn’t working. The American people don’t want it.”
Read the full transcript of the Republican address:
I’m Senator Steve Daines, and I have the great honor of representing Montana in the U.S. Senate.
Open season for health insurance enrollment began early this month, and millions of Americans will spend the next few weeks working to find affordable health coverage for themselves, for their spouse, and for their children.
But for too many hardworking American families, 2016 is proving to be yet another disappointment.
Premiums are rising once again – and in states like Montana, folks purchasing plans from the Obamacare exchanges are getting hit with double-digit rate increases.
Take Cindy from Missoula, Montana – like all Americans, President Obama promised her lower health care premiums under Obamacare.
But when Cindy opened her mailbox this past month, she saw a letter from her health insurer telling her that next year, she will face a staggering 40 percent increase in her health care premiums.
Obamacare is just one more bill she can’t afford.
Sadly, those impacted the hardest by these steep rate increases are those who can least afford it.
The Congressional Budget Office recently projected that 20 million people would sign up on the Obamacare exchanges by 2016, yet only half of that number is enrolled today.
The last thing uninsured Americans need is a heavy tax penalty to force them into purchasing sub-par health care coverage.
They need access to affordable care. But Obamacare not only takes uninsured Americans in the wrong direction – it’s failing to reliably provide the basic coverage that Americans deserve.
Of the 23 co-ops established under Obamacare, all but one lost money in the last year.
In fact over the past few weeks, more than half of our nation’s health insurance co-ops have collapsed – forcing more than 700,000 Americans across the country to find new health insurance options.
It’s just another example of how Obamacare is not only costing taxpayers billions of dollars, it’s failing to provide the American people with reliable access to affordable care.
Americans are once again forced off the health care plans they liked and away from the doctors they trusted.
When the federal government takes over our health care system and puts the whims of Washington bureaucrats over the needs of hardworking American families, prices go up and the quality of care goes down.
After five years of seeing President Obama’s experiment with Americans’ health care result in failure and embarrassment, the American people know that it’s time to stop putting more Band-Aids on something that’s so far beyond repair.
In the coming weeks, Republicans will work to ensure that the voice of hardworking moms and dads, union workers and tribal members, and all families who face higher costs and substandard care is heard.
We will uphold our promise to the American people and vote to repeal President Obama’s broken health care law.
Growing up in Montana, I was fly-fishing before Brad Pitt made it cool in the movie A River Runs Through It, which was filmed in southwest Montana.
I know that when your fishing line gets tangled up, you’ve got two options.
Sometimes you can take some time, untangle it and cast again.
But other times, it gets so tangled up that the only option is to cut the line and start over.
The American people know that after more than five years of President Obama’s health care law and its tangled mess, it’s time to cut the line.
We need to repeal Obamacare and tie on a new fly.
And we need to replace this broken law with state-led solutions that put patients back in the center of the health care equation.
Last year, when I decided to run for Montana’s open Senate seat, I promised the people of Montana that I would work tirelessly to repeal Obamacare.
In 2014, the American people spoke loud and clear and elected a Republican majority to dismantle the failure that Obamacare has become.
Obamacare isn’t working. The American people don’t want it.
I have a message for all Americans working day in and day out to provide for their families and achieve the American dream.
We are working to protect you from rising health care costs. And we are working to ensure you receive the quality health care you deserve.
We are fighting for you and I promise we won’t stop until we have health care that works for all.
Thank you and God Bless.
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