“Biden COVID Bonuses are a bad prescription because the side effects are so harmful. Widespread fraud and corruption. Direct payments to line the pockets of big insurance companies. Taxpayer-subsidized healthcare for millionaires.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senate Majority Whip, today spoke on the Senate Floor blasting the Democrats’ $83 billion plan to extend the Biden COVID Bonus Payments directly to insurance companies without any reforms.
Sen. Barrasso’s remarks as delivered:
“As I was coming to the Floor today, I heard the Minority Leader Chuck Schumer talking about wanting to send more government checks to insurance companies. That’s what he said he wants to do. He is going to have a vote on it later this week. Wants to extend for three more years the checks that the Democrats say we ought to send to insurance companies. I just disagree with him.
“Look, when it comes to healthcare, the American people deserve to have the care that they need, from a doctor that they choose, at lower costs, at a cost they can afford. Obamacare has done just the opposite. And today Obamacare is collapsing under its own weight. So, what are the Democrats trying to do? They’re trying to prop it up with an additional $83 billion handed directly from the federal government to insurance companies. They want to send $83 billion directly from the Treasury into the bank accounts of the very profitable insurance companies that have been made more profitable under Obamacare. Democrats want to use your money to cover up for their failures. That’s what’s happening here.
“So this week, the Senate is going to vote on the Democrat plan to extend these Biden COVID Bonuses for three more years with absolutely no reforms to a failing Obamacare program. No reforms. Not one. What do we see with the program so far that they’ve had? It’s caused waste, fraud, corruption, rich people get subsidies, insurance companies get rich. They all like it. That’s why the Democrats are for it.
“But I’ve practiced medicine in Wyoming for 24 years as an orthopedic surgeon. I was doing that before serving here now in the United States Senate. And I can tell you that these Biden COVID Bonuses are a bad prescription because the side effects are so harmful. Widespread fraud and corruption. Direct payments to line the pockets of big insurance companies. Taxpayer-subsidized healthcare for millionaires. That’s right. Millionaires. You can earn a million dollars a year and still get subsidized handsomely by what the Democrats are proposing and they’re bringing to the Floor to be voted on this week. That is the solution the Democrats have – throw more government money at a problem that’s caused the problem in the first place. And the people in my home state of Wyoming cannot continue to afford this endless drain that is Obamacare.
“So, Mr. President, the Democrats saw that Obamacare was failing. They saw that costs were getting high. They’re trying to prop it up. They’re trying to hide the failures. And in 2021, they used their narrow partisan majority to try to prop it up even more with the Biden COVID Bonuses. Now, those are on top of all the other subsidies that the Democrats were sending to the insurance companies. Well, not a single Republican voted for it. Remember, these are new subsidies on top of the already generous subsidies. And now they’re for everybody. No matter how much money you make, you qualify for these subsidies. This was initially designed just to go for people that needed it, people that couldn’t help themselves. But now, sky’s the limit. What has happened?
“Oh, and by the way, the Democrats said, these will only be temporary. Don’t worry. This is just because of COVID. But the following year, what did the Democrats do? They said, well, Obamacare is not in pretty good shape. We need to keep these going – this extra layer of subsidies – keep them going. They set the deadline date coming up at the end of this month. Again, not a single Republican voted for it. Not one.
“Now, what did Chuck Schumer say today? He wants to extend them for another three years. $83 billion. So, calling these Biden COVID Bonuses temporary was just another way for them to cover up the damage that Obamacare is doing to the country. Well, they’re doing it for one reason – because Obamacare is unaffordable. It is a failure. Premiums have risen over 220 percent since Obamacare became law. Well what did Obama say? He said, ‘Oh, premiums are going to go down by $2,500 for a family.’ I think that was called the ‘Lie of The Year’ by the press who evaluated those things. Even the deductibles have doubled. Sending another $83 billion to insurance companies is not going to fix the failures of Obamacare.
“And when you create direct payments to insurance companies that are this vast, no guardrails, predictable things will happen. Number one is, of course, the price of insurance will go up because there’s more government money coming to it. And number two, fraud runs wild. That’s right. Absolute fraud.
“So the Government Accountability Office recently released a report that confirms it. In 2024 and 2025, the Government Accountability Office did something very revealing. They tried to figure out how easy it was to sign up for Obamacare using fake information. Would fraudsters be caught if they submitted fake information under Obamacare? And, in fact, the GAO submitted 24 fake applications. It was intentional. They submitted them to the Obamacare exchanges to see if – under the Democrats’ program – if these would actually be detected as fraudulent or if money would just flow from the federal government to those who submitted all these false papers. Would they get approved by the government or was there anything out there that would stop them? Well, 23 of the 24 fake applications were approved to qualify for Obamacare subsidies. Money is going to go. Fake applications. Incompetent federal government. That’s what the American people see.
“So the GAO dug deeper. And they found, when they checked Social Security numbers, that a single Social Security number was used for enrolling 125 different Obamacare policies, all of which qualified for subsidies. Yeah, those Democrats love sending the money out. That’s the thing they do. GAO also found that 58,000 Social Security numbers matched death records who were also receiving subsidies. There they go. That’s the way the Democrats roll. Democrats want to continue paying Obamacare Bonuses directly to insurance companies for signing up people with Social Security numbers of people that are dead.
“Let’s be very clear. The money from the Biden COVID Bonuses, it’s never actually seen by the American people. It goes right from the Department of Treasury mainlined to the insurance companies. Insurance companies have recorded record profits. Their stocks are up 500 to 1,000 percent since Obamacare became law. Democrats have created a system where insurance companies’ profits are higher, and they go higher and higher and higher the higher the premium rises. So it’s in their best interest to continue to raise premiums. As long as the Democrats are willing to subsidize all of that, that’s what you’re going to continue to get – a drain on the federal Treasury, taxpayers being taken advantage of, insurance companies getting rich, and Democrats saying everything is fine when it is not. There are no cost controls. There are no incentives to compete on the insurance companies. Competition in healthcare has basically collapsed in terms of the insurance markets. In many rural counties – Mr. President, in your state, and in mine – there may be only one choice. It’s a monopoly. That’s what we’re finding across Wyoming. Many families have only one choice for health insurance – take it or leave it. It’s a monopoly. Charge what they want. Insurance companies – if they have to compete, to offer people what they want to buy – people have the money to make their own decisions, that’s going to bring down costs. It’s going to provide more choices.
“If Democrats get their way, premiums are going to keep going up, insurance companies are going to continue to collect big checks from taxpayers, directly into their bank accounts, and there will be no reforms to stop the fraud. And there’s plenty of fraud. The Government Accountability Office has found it. It’s been headlined in papers, including The Washington Post this morning. And yet the Democrats come to the Floor and say, ‘Nope, $83 billion right out the door, right to the insurance companies.’ And that’s their solution for a failed Obamacare healthcare.
“Look, we need to empower families to make their own decisions. People get it at home that Obamacare has failed the American taxpayers. People know they want the care that they need, from a doctor they choose, at a price they can afford. They’re not going to get that with Obamacare.”
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