Political Quotes

“I rise tonight to talk about the Portman amendment and about the broader substitute that repeals and replaces the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare. Is this replacement perfect? No. I don't think any replacement is. But it is a big improvement over the status quo. The status quo on healthcare is simply no longer sustainable. It isn't working for Ohio. We heard a lot about the middle-class squeeze in Ohio, and it is real. Wages are flat and expenses are up. For most folks, the biggest single expense is healthcare costs. It is the fastest growing expense because of higher premiums and higher deductibles. It wasn't supposed to be this way. In fact, when the Affordable Care Act--ObamaCare--was enacted in 2010, we heard a lot of promises about lower costs. They promised that ObamaCare would bring down premium costs by 2,500 bucks for the average family, but we now know that families have seen their premiums skyrocket. According to the Ohio Department of Insurance, health insurance premiums on the individual market in Ohio have nearly doubled since the Affordable Care Act went into effect 7 years ago. Small business premiums have gone up 82 percent. Premiums for this year are up double-digits, and next year we all expect the same. No one can afford that. To make matters worse, we have seen a sharp increase in deductibles.…”