Medicare Information Act of 2011

Madam President, in February of last year, we had a fairly extraordinary event at the Blair House here in Washington. The President invited a large number of Members of Congress--must have been 20 or 30 of us around the table. He sat there the whole day, and we sat around the table and we talked about health care. It was called the Health Care Summit.

A great many Americans watched that live on television, and because of the Internet and other explosions of new media, they still watch some of the things that were said that day. The reason I know that is because people have come up to me often and talked about an exchange I had with the President of the United States.

The issue was about health care premiums in the individual market. Citing a Congressional Budget Office letter, I said to the President: ``Mr. President, respectfully, your new health care law that you propose is going to increase individual premiums.''

He stopped me and said:

Now Lamar, let's get our facts straight. You are wrong

about that.

He proceeded to explain to me why I was wrong and he was right. With all respect, I believe I was right and even just a little year later, what the Congressional Budget Office was saying then, which was that individual premiums would go up as a result of the health care law, the last 17 months have shown that we were exactly right. This last week the Kaiser Family Foundation released a survey that showed the average family premium for employer-sponsored insurance was $15,000 in 2011, a 9-percent increase over the previous year. Let me quickly say that employer-sponsored insurance is not the same as the individual insurance I was talking about with the President a year ago. But it is the same subject. Republicans were saying that we opposed the health care bill because it would increase premiums, and what we wanted to do was to lower the cost of health care for Americans by going step by step in that direction rather than expanding an expensive health care system that was already too expensive for more Americans, and doing it in a way that would increase premiums for many Americans.

ABC News said the Kaiser Family Foundation report ``underlines that many of the promises surrounding President Obama's health care legislation remain unfulfilled. Though the White House argues that change is coming.''

Even the New York Times on September 27 said: The steep increase in rates is particularly unwelcome at a time when the economy is still sputtering. Many businesses cite the high cost of coverage as a factor in their decision not to hire. And health insurance has become increasingly unaffordable for many Americans.

I reported on this Senate floor my conversations with the chief executive officers of restaurant chains around the country. Together they are the second largest employer in the country after the government, and they employ a great many young people and low-income people, the kind of men and women who are looking for jobs today. What they were telling me was that the mandates of the health care law will make it more difficult for them to hire people. In one specific example, one of the largest of the restaurant chains was saying that he operates his store with 90 employees today, and because of the health care mandates, he will seek to operate his store with 70 employees a day. That is not a way to increase the number of jobs.

But there are other provisions in the health care law that cause premiums to go up, which was the point of my discussion with the President in February of 2010.

The CMS Chief Actuary predicted in 2010, saying that by 2014--still a couple of years away, 3 years away--growth in private health insurance premiums is expected to accelerate to 9.4 percent, 4.4 percent higher than in the absence of health reform.

The President had said in his discussion with me that under the law he proposed, the individual market would cost 40 to 20 percent less. That was also in the Congressional Budget Office letter. But those reductions were overwhelmed by other costs that were identified in the CBO letter that would produce a 27- to 30-percent increase. So the net result, according to the predictions in November 2009 by the Congressional Budget Office, was there would be an increase in individual premiums of 10 to 13 percent.

These individual market premiums, premiums that individuals buy without an employer's help, are not the largest share of insurance policies in America, but they affect roughly 12 to 15 million Americans. That is a lot of people who are having their insurance costs go up.

Aon Hewitt's recently released 2011 Health Insurance Trend Driver Survey reports that for 2011, individual health care plans reported estimated 4.7-percent increases directly due to the new health care law.

Then according to the September 8, 2010 Wall Street Journal article:

Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some

Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming

weeks, complicating Democrats' efforts to trumpet their

significant achievement before the mid-term elections. Aetna,

some Blue Cross Blue Shield plans and other smaller carriers

have asked for premium increases of between 1 and 9 percent

to pay for extra benefits required under the law.

In the same article it says Aetna said that extra benefits forced it to seek rate increases for individual plans of 5 to 7 percent in California, and 5.5 to 6 to 8 percent in Nevada. That was precisely the discussion I was having with the President in February 2010, when I said that under the health care law, because of the mandates in the law, individual health care premium costs will go up.

In Wisconsin and North Carolina, according to that same article, Celtic Insurance Company says half of the 18-percent increase it is seeking comes from complying with health care mandates.

Then in a September 16 article last year in the Hartford Courant, ConnectiCare is seeking an average 22-percent hike for its individual market HMO plans. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Connecticut say in a letter, it expects the Federal health reform law to increase rates by as much as 22.9 percent for just a single provision.

These increases happen for predictable reasons. Because of the requirements in the law for minimum credible coverage--in other words, if you are required to buy a better kind of health insurance, if you are required to buy a Cadillac instead of a Chevrolet, it is going cost more. And it does cost more.

Another factor that will cause insurance premiums to rise is the new taxes on insurance, lifesaving medical devices and medicines in the health reform law. Someone has to pay for those costs, and the ones who are going to pay for them are the people who buy health insurance.

Then there is the question of what we call cost shift. When we add 25 million Americans to Medicaid, premiums will increase because the costs will shift to private insurers to help pay for those costs. That is according to the Chief Actuary of CMS which is in this administration.

Then, finally, age rating is going to cause insurance premiums to go up. What it basically says is that older Americans will not have to pay as much, so younger Americans are going to have to pay more. It is no surprise that under the new health care law, health insurance premiums are going up, becoming an even bigger drag on employment and on family budgets. This was predicted by the Congressional Budget Office while we were debating the health care law. It was predicted by Republicans who offered an alternative to take steps to decrease costs in health care, instead of this big, comprehensive law that expanded the system that already costs too much.

It offers even more reasons why we should repeal or make significant changes in the health care law if we want to create an environment in which we can make it easier and cheaper to grow private sector jobs, and in which more Americans can afford a reasonable cost health insurance.

I yield the floor.

I am here today to say that Senator Bennet from Colorado and myself are introducing a bill that mirrors what has been introduced in the House by Representative Cooper from Tennessee and Paul Ryan from Wisconsin.

I have tremendous faith in the American people. I believe when the American people are given facts and transparency, they make good decisions. They help us here in Washington make good decisions when I think they have the information they need.

A lot of Americans are very aware of some of the dilemmas we face here in Washington regarding Medicare. But I do not think many Americans are fully aware of the dilemma we face. I think they are aware that the trustees for Medicare have said that in the year 2024 Medicare is going to become insolvent. But I do not think they are aware of the math. Actually I was not aware of the math until we began to look at how we solve the problem.

According to a recent study, the average American couple each earning $43,500 a year will pay $119,000 into the Medicare Program over their lifetime. This contribution includes the portion that their employer pays on their behalf. In other words, the family pays in half, the employer pays in half. In 2011 dollars, that means if you paid in 30 years ago, and that money was inflated to today's dollars, that family would have paid in $119,000 over their lifetime.

What most Americans do not know is that over their lifetime, the average family takes $357,000 out of Medicare. So obviously the math does not work. I think most Americans did not fully realize this until we got into the situation we're in--I am not sure most people in the Senate understood how off the math is, if you will.

Over the next decade, 20 million more Americans are going to be on Medicare. The situation where the average family and their employer are paying in $119,000 into the program and taking out $357,000 is going to be further exacerbated by the fact that over the next 10 years, 20 million more Americans are going to be on Medicare.

Then, on top of that, we are going to have fewer people working per retiree than ever in the history of this country. For that reason, today, Senator Bennet and I are offering a bill that says when Americans receive their Social Security letter, which lays out how much they have paid in, they would also receive the information regarding Medicare, so that they will know how much they are paying into the program and, over time, how much they will have taken out.

I think this type of transparency allows Americans to fully understand how these programs work. To me, what that will do is help all of us in the Senate, and over in the House of Representatives, make better decisions. I think when Americans are informed they help us make better decisions.

A lot of Americans don't fully appreciate this, I think, sometimes. But Congress really does reflect more fully than they think the will of the American people. Again, I think transparency helps us represent the American people in even a more full way.

Today we introduce this bill, and I thank Senator Bennet from Colorado for joining me in this effort. I also thank Representatives Cooper and Ryan for their leadership in the House.

It is my hope that soon, either through unanimous consent or early action, that this bill will become law. I think as long as Americans understand where things stand, they help us in Congress make good and sound decisions. That is why I am introducing this bill today with the help of Senator Bennet from Colorado.

With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, while we are issuing compliments, I want to say that all of us want to see to it that Medicare is here for future generations. That will take sound judgment. We have a select committee that is working on, hopefully, the first step to make that happen.

I congratulate the senior Senator from Tennessee for this. More than anybody else recently, I think he has

pointed out that in this country, as we leave mandatory spending on autopilot, and as we move to a place where these programs are insolvent and not there for future generations, what we are doing is eating our seed corn.

The fact is, our senior Senator from Tennessee knows full well what it takes to make a strong country. He sits on an appropriations committee and understands that many of the basic sciences and other types of efforts that are underway with the Federal Government are the very things that will make our country stronger.

Yet what we are doing in this country by leaving mandatory spending on autopilot at the rate at which it is growing is causing us to eat into those things that make our country strong. I thank him for his leadership in that regard. As the Governor of Tennessee, he led our State in making it stronger by making the kinds of priority investments that made us stronger. He alluded to that earlier--what he did in making sure investments in our State created higher wages.

I think more than anybody else in this body, the Senator understands if we allow things to continue as they are, we are going to continue to invest less and less in those kinds of things that make our country strong--things such as infrastructure, which we all know needs to happen. Yet because we haven't had the courage and the will to take on those mandatory programs, reform them so that future generations will have them, but also so that we can continue to make these investments in our country that are so important, our country's greatness will dissipate.

I thank him for his leadership in many ways. I hope he will continue to move ahead with informing people as to what is happening in this country, how that is hurting us, how it causes our greatness to dissipate as long as we don't take on these mandatory spending programs which, in my words, are causing us to eat our seed corn.

I am here today to say that Senator Bennet from Colorado and myself are introducing a bill that mirrors what has been introduced in the House by Representative Cooper from Tennessee and Paul Ryan from Wisconsin.

I have tremendous faith in the American people. I believe when the American people are given facts and transparency, they make good decisions. They help us here in Washington make good decisions when I think they have the information they need.

A lot of Americans are very aware of some of the dilemmas we face here in Washington regarding Medicare. But I do not think many Americans are fully aware of the dilemma we face. I think they are aware that the trustees for Medicare have said that in the year 2024 Medicare is going to become insolvent. But I do not think they are aware of the math. Actually I was not aware of the math until we began to look at how we solve the problem.

According to a recent study, the average American couple each earning $43,500 a year will pay $119,000 into the Medicare Program over their lifetime. This contribution includes the portion that their employer pays on their behalf. In other words, the family pays in half, the employer pays in half. In 2011 dollars, that means if you paid in 30 years ago, and that money was inflated to today's dollars, that family would have paid in $119,000 over their lifetime.

What most Americans do not know is that over their lifetime, the average family takes $357,000 out of Medicare. So obviously the math does not work. I think most Americans did not fully realize this until we got into the situation we're in--I am not sure most people in the Senate understood how off the math is, if you will.

Over the next decade, 20 million more Americans are going to be on Medicare. The situation where the average family and their employer are paying in $119,000 into the program and taking out $357,000 is going to be further exacerbated by the fact that over the next 10 years, 20 million more Americans are going to be on Medicare.

Then, on top of that, we are going to have fewer people working per retiree than ever in the history of this country. For that reason, today, Senator Bennet and I are offering a bill that says when Americans receive their Social Security letter, which lays out how much they have paid in, they would also receive the information regarding Medicare, so that they will know how much they are paying into the program and, over time, how much they will have taken out.

I think this type of transparency allows Americans to fully understand how these programs work. To me, what that will do is help all of us in the Senate, and over in the House of Representatives, make better decisions. I think when Americans are informed they help us make better decisions.

A lot of Americans don't fully appreciate this, I think, sometimes. But Congress really does reflect more fully than they think the will of the American people. Again, I think transparency helps us represent the American people in even a more full way.

Today we introduce this bill, and I thank Senator Bennet from Colorado for joining me in this effort. I also thank Representatives Cooper and Ryan for their leadership in the House.

It is my hope that soon, either through unanimous consent or early action, that this bill will become law. I think as long as Americans understand where things stand, they help us in Congress make good and sound decisions. That is why I am introducing this bill today with the help of Senator Bennet from Colorado.

With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, while we are issuing compliments, I want to say that all of us want to see to it that Medicare is here for future generations. That will take sound judgment. We have a select committee that is working on, hopefully, the first step to make that happen.

I congratulate the senior Senator from Tennessee for this. More than anybody else recently, I think he has

pointed out that in this country, as we leave mandatory spending on autopilot, and as we move to a place where these programs are insolvent and not there for future generations, what we are doing is eating our seed corn.

The fact is, our senior Senator from Tennessee knows full well what it takes to make a strong country. He sits on an appropriations committee and understands that many of the basic sciences and other types of efforts that are underway with the Federal Government are the very things that will make our country stronger.

Yet what we are doing in this country by leaving mandatory spending on autopilot at the rate at which it is growing is causing us to eat into those things that make our country strong. I thank him for his leadership in that regard. As the Governor of Tennessee, he led our State in making it stronger by making the kinds of priority investments that made us stronger. He alluded to that earlier--what he did in making sure investments in our State created higher wages.

I think more than anybody else in this body, the Senator understands if we allow things to continue as they are, we are going to continue to invest less and less in those kinds of things that make our country strong--things such as infrastructure, which we all know needs to happen. Yet because we haven't had the courage and the will to take on those mandatory programs, reform them so that future generations will have them, but also so that we can continue to make these investments in our country that are so important, our country's greatness will dissipate.

I thank him for his leadership in many ways. I hope he will continue to move ahead with informing people as to what is happening in this country, how that is hurting us, how it causes our greatness to dissipate as long as we don't take on these mandatory spending programs which, in my words, are causing us to eat our seed corn.

Mr. President, I congratulate the junior Senator from Tennessee for his usual good judgment and insight in working on a difficult problem. No Member of this body has done more in the last year to try to highlight the problem of the Federal debt. Through his cap plan, which has been a part of almost every discussion we have had seriously about it, through his effort--more recently to support efforts to try to achieve $4 trillion in debt reduction as a part of the select committee, and his suggestion today that allowing Americans to understand something that most of us hadn't focused on--that during our lifetimes we are paying in $110,000, $120,000 into Medicare and taking out, during our lifetimes, $350,000 or so, and that is a problem that has to be solved.

I have been doing research lately on our debt situation. Fundamentally speaking, our problem lies with health care costs. It lies with families, businesses, and with the U.S. Government. Our discretionary spending--the kind we appropriate every year--on everything from national parks and national defense to roads and bridges, that is about 39 percent of the budget. If we stick to our guns on the agreement we made in early August, that will only grow at a little less than the rate of inflation. But it would go over to the mandatory spending, which is about 55 percent of our spending. It is going to go up three times the rate of inflation, and the fastest growing part of that mandatory spending is Medicare and Medicaid.

So we need to save our Medicare and Medicaid system so Americans can rely on them. I think Senator Corker shows respect for the voters of Tennessee and for Americans by assuming that if they understand the problem, they will support a serious effort to deal with a solution. I compliment him for that leadership.

Mr. President, I congratulate the junior Senator from Tennessee for his usual good judgment and insight in working on a difficult problem. No Member of this body has done more in the last year to try to highlight the problem of the Federal debt. Through his cap plan, which has been a part of almost every discussion we have had seriously about it, through his effort--more recently to support efforts to try to achieve $4 trillion in debt reduction as a part of the select committee, and his suggestion today that allowing Americans to understand something that most of us hadn't focused on--that during our lifetimes we are paying in $110,000, $120,000 into Medicare and taking out, during our lifetimes, $350,000 or so, and that is a problem that has to be solved.

I have been doing research lately on our debt situation. Fundamentally speaking, our problem lies with health care costs. It lies with families, businesses, and with the U.S. Government. Our discretionary spending--the kind we appropriate every year--on everything from national parks and national defense to roads and bridges, that is about 39 percent of the budget. If we stick to our guns on the agreement we made in early August, that will only grow at a little less than the rate of inflation. But it would go over to the mandatory spending, which is about 55 percent of our spending. It is going to go up three times the rate of inflation, and the fastest growing part of that mandatory spending is Medicare and Medicaid.

So we need to save our Medicare and Medicaid system so Americans can rely on them. I think Senator Corker shows respect for the voters of Tennessee and for Americans by assuming that if they understand the problem, they will support a serious effort to deal with a solution. I compliment him for that leadership.