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Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor in response to Senator Bernie Sanders’ (D-VT) single-payer health care plan. Barrasso highlights how single-payer health care will deliver worse care, inevitably lead to rationing, and will be outrageously expensive.

“I think it’s clear to people all across America that the United States’ health care system needs reform.

“Premiums for health insurance are going up by double digits across the country.

“People living in almost half of the country only have one company selling Obamacare plans.

“Millions of people are struggling to get coverage that they can afford, and so that they can get the care that they need.

“It is all because the health care law – that Democrats wrote and Democrats passed in Congress and inflicted upon the American people – have raised the costs for people all across the country and limited their choices.

“Today, the senator from Vermont, Senator Sanders, and other Democrats said they want to take this failing health care system even further.

“They call their plan ‘Medicare for all.’

“Don’t be fooled.

“I believe that it’s not actually a serious plan to fix the health care challenges that we’re facing in this country.

“It is now the new litmus test for the liberal left.

“If this idea were to ever become law, it would mean worse care – and it would be outrageously expensive.

“The plan Democrats are talking about would amount to complete Washington control over the health care of every man, woman, and child in America.

“Taxpayers would have to pick up the tab.

“Supporters of putting the federal government, Washington, D.C., in charge of personal health care decisions like to claim that it’s the way other countries do it as well.

“They like to cite an example of the United Kingdom.

“Well, a lot of people in the United Kingdom see their system of nationalized health care entering a death spiral that looks a lot like what’s happened to Obamacare.

“The waiting lines in England have recently gotten a lot longer for people who are waiting to get care.

“For emergency care, they have more people waiting in line –in the emergency room –12 hours or longer.

“To start treatment for long-term conditions, the number of people having to wait 18 weeks or longer has gone up.

“If Democrats get their way, American people will have these same kinds of delays – it is inevitable.

“The problem isn’t just the delays.

“If Washington pays all the bills, Washington will want much tighter control over care.

“The Democrats’ new scheme will come with a much more powerful rationing board.

“In England, the rationing of health care means that certain medications aren’t allowed.

“It means there are limits on things like knee and hip operations.

“Medical boards in some parts of the country have banned routine surgeries for patients who are obese, or who are smokers.

“How do you think that would that work in the United States?

“Close to 40 percent of adults in America are now considered obese.

“Would they all be blocked from getting operations that would help improve their health and their quality of life?

“Only if the rationing board would say so.

“The British have to ration health care partly because of the enormous cost of this so-called ‘free’ medical care.

“They also have a shortage of people to actually provide the care.

“Since 2016, there’s been a net loss of more than 5,000 nurses and midwives across the British health care system.

“More than a quarter of nurses who’ve quit cited disillusionment over the quality of care provided to patients.

“It’s a great concern.

“The U.K. ranks 20th out of 24 western countries for breast cancer survival. For survival, the United States is first.

“If you’re a woman with breast cancer, or a man with prostate cancer, your chances of survival and successful treatment are much, much greater in the United States than they are in Great Britain.

“It’s not that the doctors in this country are that much smarter, it’s that people get care sooner. They’re not on these long waiting lines.

“Now, let’s talk about stroke. For the most common kind of stroke, the U.K. is 25th out of 30 countries, in terms of recovery, solutions, success. The United States is fourth.

“Of course, all of what the Democrats are proposing will not come cheap.

“Democrats in California had their own scheme earlier this year.

“In California, what they proposed would cost about $400 billion a year. So how much does the entire state of California pay to run the whole state over the course of a year, what is their budget for the year? Less than half that amount.

“So what they’re proposing on health care is double what they pay for everything that the state of California does.

“Last year, Senator Sanders gave a rough sketch of his plan. Part of his presidential campaign.

“It would have raised Washington’s total health care expenditures by $32 trillion over just the first ten years.

“To pay for it, he wanted to raise taxes – including higher payroll taxes on workers.

“The problem was, all these new taxes would pay for less than half of the government’s new spending.

“The legislation written and cosponsored by Democrats in the House says that it would be paid for by things like ‘a modest tax on unearned income’ and ‘a small tax on stock and bond transactions.’

“Remember how President Obama promised that his health care law wouldn’t raise taxes on middle class families by a single dime.

“It turns out the law included more than a dozen taxes on American, working families – certainly including middle class Americans all across the country.

“Democrats say that total Washington control over health care will make things so efficient that it will save a whole lot of money.

“Does anyone really believe that’s going to ever happen?

“A lot of people today have the stress of dealing with a problem between their doctor and their insurance company.

“Nothing in the Democrats’ takeover of health care changes that.

“The Democrats have no real answers, just empty promises.

“You can tell it’s not a real plan because when Democrats had a chance to actually vote on this idea in the Senate, they took a pass.

“In July, the Senate voted on a bill written by House Democrats. We brought it to the floor of the Senate, during the health care debate, put it up for a vote. The bill that half of the Democrats in the House have cosponsored, we said let’s give the senators an opportunity.

“Every Republican voted against it – and 43 Democrats voted ‘present.’

“Democrats had a chance to stand up and vote for the idea that they love to talk about.

“But not a single senator voted for it – including Senator Sanders.

“Some of us suspected that this was where the debate over Obamacare was headed all along.

“The health care law, as passed years ago, was so obviously flawed, that there was no way it would work the way Democrats promised.

“You had to wonder if Democrats actually wanted it to fail – so they could push for more Washington control, more government control over your health care.

“You can call it the old Potomac two-step.

“When we were debating Obamacare in 2009, Senator Sanders came to the floor of the Senate and said that a full Washington takeover of health care was ‘the way to go.’

“Today he’s taking his shot.

“The Obamacare markets are in shambles.

“There is no denying that Obamacare failed to keep its promises.

“The American people are paying a very steep price for the failures of the law.

“The promises that Democrats are making about their new health care scheme are even more outlandish.

“When it fails, the damage would be catastrophic.

“We cannot allow that to happen to the American people.”

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