Political Quotes

“I rise to talk to this body again about healthcare and the cost of healthcare. This has been an issue and an ongoing dialogue for a long time around the Senate and around Congress. It is an issue that was supposedly settled when the Affordable Care Act was passed, but, ironically enough, my Democratic colleagues have now joined Republicans in saying they want to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. They are not using the term ``repeal and replace''; they are just saying they want to do Medicare for All. Built into that is completely taking out the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with something different. So, ironically, in some ways, we are in the same spot. We have both come to the same realization that the Affordable Care Act didn't pass-- it actually did pass, but it is not working. So now the challenge is what to do with healthcare. We are now trying to break into pieces what we can actually do together to get this done, beginning with the cost of prescription drugs. I continue to hear from Oklahomans all over the State about how hard it is to deal with the cost of prescription drugs, how rapidly the costs are increasing, and how sporadic the cost changes really are. They will have a drug that costs a small amount one month and come back a month later and find a dramatic increase for the exact same drug.…”