New version of trumpcare by the end of the month. Its now june 19, and therk American People are still in the dark about this bill. There is no text. There is no legislative analysis of this bill, no scoring of what the financial ramifications are. The American People, and much of the senate, is in the dark. In the dark about how much costs are going to rise. In the dark about how many people are going to lose insurance. He in the dark about whether a aga preexisting condition will once again be used as a weapon against them by Insurance Companies. If the news reports are to be believed, and thats all you forgot right now, a vote on this massive proposal affecting the lives of virtually all our people is days of ways. No one outside of a group of 13 men, all republican, knows what is being considered. In my view this is as stark an example of legislative malpractice as i can remember. It is time for americans to get loud, do their part, and make sure that their voices are heard on an issue that is so personal and so vital to our people and their families. If and when this bill hits the floor, debate will go by very quickly. By the standards of the senate, it will be over in a flash. So this afternoon i want to be direct with a few key points fot those across this country to remember over the next two weeks. First, the Republican Health care plan is going to raise costs for the typical american. It youre an older person nearing retirement, 55, 58, 61, you are going to get hammered with an age tax if you are going to be forced to pay several times as much as a younger person for Health Insurance. Under the house trumpcare bill, 64yearold senior of modest means are going to see their premiums shoot up by 800 . 800 . Id like to hear somebody try to explain to a lifelong trucker or someone who spent decades cleaning offices to put food on their family stable why that is an improvement in American Health care. These are older people who already struggle to make ends meet, and they have been told for the last seven years that repealing and replacing the Affordable Care act is going toe lower their health care costs. Now they face the reality of trumpcare which says that they will somehow have to spend the bulk of their income on Health Insurance, and in some cases take up nearly all of it. And its not just older people who face this age of tax that will see their costs rise. Trumpcare pcats middle class tax benefits for health care that were put in place under the Affordable Care act. Particularly in rural areas. That means premiums are going to be a much bigger burden on typical middleclass families. The Republican Health plan and the airtight loophole freeng guarantee that protects americans from being discriminated against for preexisting conditions. Working adults 30, 40, 50 years old who thought they were home free with employersponsored insurance, under this bill coulu want to convey some of the worst Insurance Company abuses, annual and lifetime limits on benefits. One new report says that 27 million americans could getld it by annual limits, and 20 million could face lifetime limits. Heres what this means, madam president. If youre a 35 year old, for example, who develops cancer, you could bust that cap in a hurry. If you have to go through expensive surgeries and b chemotherapy, busting those gaps could mean that you face out decades, decades digging out from medical debt. Second, trumpcare is built around 800 billion cap on medicaid. Todays medicaid comes with a guarantee. If you walk and economic tightrope, your sick or injurede you will get the care you need. You cant be denied benefits. But slashing the program by hundreds of billions of dollars in that guarantee, because states are going to have to cut benefits. The best way to understand the consequences of that plan is to look at seniors who need nursing home care. The medicaid nursing home benefits helps pick up the tab for two out of three nursing home beds in america. Because the fact is growing old in america gets expensive. You can do everything right, a lifetime of hard work, scrimping and saving, putting off vacations or big purchases to be financially prudent. But still a lot of people go through their savings. Thats when medicaid steps in for seniors to help cover the cost of Nursing Homes and other longterm care. One year any nursing home now costs more than 90,000 on average. Thats two or three times as much as a year of college education. So if trumpcare slashes medicaid so deeply that seniors are in danger of losing the nursing how home benefit, how our families fighting hard to pay their own bills going to be in a position to take care of older loved ones . Of course medicaid does a lot more than cover nursing homeil care. 37 million kids are enrolled in medicaid, a vital source of support for kids and adults wite disabilities. Medicaid is the only lifeline that thousands and thousands of americans fighting opioid addiction have to be able to put their lives back together. No community anywhere in this country has escaped the Opioid Epidemic. Since medicaid was expanded under the Affordable Care act, it is beating the fight against the Opioid Epidemic by improving access for millions of people to treatment from Mental Health and substance abuse. But with republican plan, enormous cuts, thousands of people could lose their bestov shot to recover from addiction and lead healthy lives. Finally white is especially, especially unfortunate about this legislation is a process for writing this bill. Its been written and close doors. No input from across the aisle,a and particularly from the. American people. Madam president , i serve as the Ranking Member on the Senate Finance committee, and i can tell you our committee has authority over hundreds of billions of dollars in payments for medicare and medicaid and s tax credits. We havent had any hearings. We havent seen a bill. Theres not the traditional process of a Committee Markup where you consider legislation. We are also, the committee, that on a staff level always has tried to work back and forth between democrats and republicans to try to find common ground. But with the majority leader keeping the process locked behind closed doors, chairman hatch and i along with all of the democrats and most of the republicans on our committee have simply been cut out. Back in the runup to the Affordable Care act, one thatat president obama was involved in in 2009, the finance Committee Held more than 50 hearings, roundtables, and we walked through carefully the Health Reform bill. With the legislation was introduced it sat online for six days before it was voted on in the committee. 564 amendments were posted online. More than 130 amendments were considered during the markup, and more than two dozen republican amendments were adopted and the bill passed on e bipartisan basis. Again, madam president , let men highlight it, more than two dozen republican amendments were adopted in the finance committee. As of now there wont be a single democratic amendment adopted in the finance committee. When the legislation went to the floor, the senate spent 25 consecutive legislative days ons Health Reform, the second longest consecutive session in history. Oc thats how the legislative process ought to look at. The committee through the hard work in the open gathered input from the American People, have a chance, democrats and republicans to work together. Thats not whats happening on trumpcare. This is a bill that is shrouded in secrecy, and the public isth kept in the dark. There arent going to be any hearings on the impact its going to have on the millions of people who rely on medicaid for Health Insurance. No hearings on what it means if you have all these loopholes in the guarantee of protection. Now americans have against,ng again discrimination preexisting condition. No hearings asking our is supposed to deal with an age to access walls up most of their income. When this then it Republican Health bill hits the floor, there will be a very short debate before time expires and final votes are cast. Im going to close, madam president , by saying now is thea time for americans to be heard on health care. It is the time for americans to speak out. For those who have a story about how trumpcare will affect their family, you can share it on my website at wyden dot senate. Gov. Or you can use the hashtag america speaks out. Out. I intend to be back here on the floor with my colleagues, many of us will be here often in the hours and days ahead. I want to close my way of saying political change doesnt start at the top and then trickle down. Political change is a bottoms up as americans across the country speak out and speak loudly. Now is the time to do that, because his debate is comingd y fast. Madam president , with that i yield the floor. Madam president . Senator from california. Madam president , i rise to speak on health care, but id like to ask unanimous consent that i be able to conclude my remarks prior to going intois executive session. Is there objection . Without objection. Thank you very much. Madam president , i rise today to speak against the republican effort, what it appears to be thus far, to repeal the Affordable Care act and the process they are using to do it. I have just got to say this is the least transparent process for a major piece of legislation i have seen in my 24 years in the senate. Former Senate Historian don ritchie said that you have torl look back before world war i to find another example of such a secret partisan process for passing a major bill here they send it Health Care Bill in fact, is being written behind closed doors. Theres no draft for public review, no democratic senator has seen the bill. Republican senators all say they havent seen the bill either. When republican senators are asked whats in the bill, unlesy theres lessig of the 13 privileged ones, they said they have no idea. Everyone except the 13 republicans drafting this bill has been excluded. And these 13 senators represent just ten states out of our 50. H Health Experts and Health Advocacy organizations have been shut out. No one representing doctors, nurses, patients, children, the elderly, hospitals, immunity clinics for health plans is able to provide any feedback at all on how the bill would affect people took over the weekend the Los Angeles Times reported that a coalition of more than 15 patient groups, including the American Heart Association, thes march of dimes and the American Lung association, tried to get a meeting with senator mcconnell or his staff, and were told no. Thats unbelievable. The mar think of it. Think of the American Heart Association, the march of dimes, the American Lung association asking to meet with either the leader or his staff and somebody says no . Really to my republican colleagues really believe that groups like the American Heart Association dont deserve an opportunity to weigh in on the Health Care Bill with our health care systemso affects every Single Person in this country . Health care is the last subject that should be addressed behind closed doors, hidden from public view. Yet apparently republicans intend to bring the bill to the floor without a single hearing. Senator mcconnell wants to vote on a bill by next thursday, im told. Thats ten days from now. Well, if theres not going to be a hearing, we shouldnt vote. H i think no hearing, no vote. Its important to point out the contrast between whats happening now and our aff consideration of the Affordable Care act, thats whats known as obamacare. There were 100 hearings, meetings, roundtables, and walkthroughs of the bill between the Senate Finance and the help committee. There were 25 consecutive days, and 160 hours of debate on the senate floor. There were 300 h. E. L. P. Committee amendments including more than 160 republican amendments. Was our process in 2009 and 2010 perfect . No, it wasnt. But it it is infinitely better than whats happening now. This process is such an affront to our democratic system of government. Take for this, senator harris and i represent california. We are at six largest economy i. The world. We represent more than 40 million people. Thats more than 22 other states combined. 14 million californians are covered by the medicaid program. Thats the program at the housei bill says we are going to stop the funding for. 14 million californians, more people than the entire population of night of the ten states represented in the secret health care negotiations. 4 million californians gaineder Health Coverage under the Affordable Care act. More people than the population of four of the ten states represented in the secret t negotiations. Despite the significant effects of any health care, that any Health Care Bill would have on. California, both of its senators have been shut out. I want to work to improvet Affordable Care. I know there are challenges that we need to address, and i want to be part of the process, but theres no opportunity to do sos if the senate bill is anything like the house bill, the effects would be devastating on my state. If the senate bill is like the house bill, heres what it would do. It would take Health Care Coverage away from 23 million working and middleclass families to finance a tax cut r for the richest 5 of americans. This is indefensible. There is no justification for giving millionaires a 50,000 tax break by taking Health Care Away from our most vulnerable citizens. And i dont know of any that are asking for it. Its some kind of blighted political agenda that you can lead the elderly and the sick untended and justify 50,000 taxpayer, tax break for a millionaire. This would in medicaid as we have known it for 50 years by cutting 834 billion. P it eliminates protection for people with preexisting conditions. It defines planned parenthood. F it denies all californians and new yorkers, all of them, taxir credits, unless the states change their laws requiring Insurance Companies to cover reproductive care, including abortion services. Its almost kind of a black male provision. Im going to talk more about the potential changes to medicaid, known as medical, because its startling. Everyone needs to understand that the changes republicans have proposed, and we think are proposing for the senate bill, go much further than repealing the expansion of the program, which was a big part of the Affordable Care act. Its been reported in the media that Senate Republicans are looking at changes to medicaid that are similar to whats in the house bill. There are rumors that the senate bill would delay the drastic cuts by a few years, but regardless, when cuts to the program, they will be devastating. Med now, who does medicaid provide health care to . Its not the wealthy. Its elderly people in Nursing Homes. Its pregnant women. Its children. Its people with disabilities, and its low income adults who typically work but dont get Health Insurance through their jobs. Medicaid covers one in three californians. Two thats 14 million people. It covers one into children. It covers three out of five nursing home residents, where they say three beds would be lost in each home. It covers one in to people with disabilities. Enter something the American People need to understand about medicaid. The majority of medicaid dollars are spent on elderly people and people with disabilities. They are the most in need, and they of the most Serious Health issues. Let me give you one story pick a woman by the name of kristen sac from sacramento wrote to us about her daughter riley who is autistic. Ley is riley is covered by medical ticket provides Critical Services that allow her to lead a more normal childhood. And heres what the mother said. When my daughter riley was born, we quickly learned that she hads difficulty with basic tasks like sleeping and eating. She developed pneumonia multiple times. She was continually sick. After turning three, she was diagnosed with autism. , she is now eight years old, and she is thriving, thanks to medicaid funding support programs like physical therapy, sh speech therapy, and feeding therapy. She is now verbal all of last night. [speaking in native tongue] by Democratic Senators as well as all Senate Session on our website