This is a constructive amendment that saves millions and millions of dollars in Medicaid. The fraud in Medicaid prescriptions is out of this world. It can be fixed. This amendment will prohibit prescriptions for recreational drugs for…

Mr. President, this amendment saves $6.5 billion over the next 10 years for what it does on fraudulent Medicaid prescriptions-- $6.5 billion--$650 million a year on fraudulent prescriptions. It also creates a prohibition so that erectile…

I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To reduce the cost of providing federally funded prescription drugs…

I thank the Senator from New Hampshire. As I contemplate what is happening at 62 years of age and looking back through my life, this is undoubtedly the greatest assault on liberty this country has ever had. It is not direct; it is…

Mr. President, what needs to be fixed in this bill is a whole lot more than that, but this is a great attempt to try to solve a problem. Let me describe a scenario, what is getting ready to happen. Every State is cutting Medicaid…

Yes, they will pay the fee. They will pay the tax and say it is easier. Consequently, the young people in our country, because we do not have a big enough payment under the ``individual mandate,'' are going to say it is smarter for me to…

I thank the Senator for his question. If you look at Thomson Reuters and several others who have studied the health care field, the estimate for defensive medicine costs is $250 billion a year. It is not just that we order tests that…

What happens to all this? What is the ultimate? The ultimate is failure of the insurance market.

If I may, I would like to add one other thing here. Think about it. We are talking about the cuts that are set to go. But since there is no tort reform in this bill, we spend $250 billion on defensive medicine and liability costs continue…

That is everybody in this country who has private insurance, either through their employer or the individual market.

All I will tell you is, the best guess of CBO--wonderful people, but they can only make decisions within the parameters they are given. There is no question private insurance, individual and family insurance, is going to go up, but…

Mr. President, we just heard from Senator Roberts about the medical devices. I think he pointed out very clearly that there is kind of another hidden tax in this legislation of some $20 billion on medical devices. I think it is important…

Mr. President, President Obama repeatedly promised during the campaign that no one making under $250,000 per year would see their taxes increase. However, the Democrats claim to spend $2.6 trillion in new health care at a time when the…

I ask unanimous consent we dispense with the reading of the amendment. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is as follows: (Purpose: To exclude pediatric devices and devices for persons with…

Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 3588 and make it pending. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will report. The bill clerk read as follows: The Senator from Oklahoma [Mr. INHOFE] proposes…

I share my colleagues' concerns about what's in the bill, but I'm also concerned by what's not in the bill and, frankly, that's money to fund the settlement of the so-called Cobell lawsuit. As my colleagues on both sides of the aisle know…

I think there are two reasons. One is because there is large support of those who wrote this legislation by those who benefit from suing doctors. That is pretty straightforward. And the doctor's only defense is to order tests which they…

What it is going to do is exacerbate the cost shifting going on with Medicare and Medicaid right now, which means insurance rates for everybody else in the country are going to go up.