On the recordJune 13, 2018
Mr. President, we have begun the period of time in the year when insurance companies start to declare what their intention is with regard to rate increases, and the news is not good for American healthcare consumers. I am going to be joined on the floor today by a few of my colleagues to talk about what the impact of these radical increases in premiums is going to be for our constituents. The news is not good, but, frankly, it is no surprise because for a year and a half now, the Trump administration has been waging a very deliberate assault on the American healthcare system, trying to sabotage it as retribution for the country not agreeing to overturn the Affordable Care Act, which now enjoys widespread popularity across the country. This deliberate campaign of sabotage--beginning the first day Trump got into office with an Executive order, leading up to these last 2 weeks in which the Trump Justice Department is trying to rule that protecting people with preexisting conditions is unconstitutional--has had an impact. It has had an impact. I want to quickly run through what we have seen thus far with respect to premium increases all across this country as a result of the Trump administration's and Republicans' campaign of sabotage. First is in Maryland. The highest increase we saw in Maryland--these were announced about a month ago--was one plan announcing a 91-percent increase--in 1 year, one time, a 91-percent increase.…





