WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senate Majority Whip, today spoke at a press conference about the failures of Obamacare and slammed Democrats for pushing to extend the corrupt Biden COVID Bonus Payments.

Sen. Barrasso said:

“So, this week we are going to vote on a Democrat proposal to send $83 billion directly from the Federal Treasury to the bank accounts of insurance companies. And that is going to cause the cost of healthcare in this country to continue to go up.

“I’m a doctor and practiced medicine in Wyoming for 24 years. People need the care that they need from a doctor that they choose, at a price they can afford. And that all went away with Obamacare. And remember President Obama saying, ‘Oh, if you pass this, your premiums will go down by $2,500 a family a year.’ Instead, premiums doubled.

“So, what happened? Well, the Democrats wanted to hide these premium increases, so they said, ‘We better send a lot of money directly to the insurance companies. Don’t let the people see it. Send it right to the insurance companies.’ The insurance companies loved it. Premiums went up 221 percent, and the stock of the insurance companies went up 500 percent to 1,000 percent. That’s what happened with Obamacare.

“And now at this point over 90 percent of premiums are subsidized by the federal government. Obamacare was always pricey. It was never affordable. And then during COVID, people saw this and Democrats said, ‘This is bad, prices keep going up. What do we do?’ They said we need to put new subsidies on top of the old subsidies, and that is the Biden COVID Bonus subsidies. Those are the ones that are expiring at the end of this week. What happened?

“Well, the Democrats chose that date for expiration, but they also removed any income limits. You can make a million dollars a year and you’re still getting all the subsidies from the federal government paid in your name directly from the government to the insurance companies. And now they want to send another $83 billion. That’s going to be the vote this Thursday. They’re not going to pay any attention to the reforms that are needed because of the waste, the fraud, the abuse, and the corruption.

“And in just today’s Washington Post, the Editorial in today’s Washington Post ‘Obamacare subsidies make it too easy to scam the system.’ That’s what’s happening. This system is full of waste, fraud, and abuse because they make it too easy to scam the system.

“Well, I oppose sending these payments directly from the federal government to the insurance companies. They shouldn’t be rewarded for what they have done. Money should go directly to patients so they can make their own decisions, and that will drive down costs, make insurance companies compete to the people that are actually paying the bills, the taxpayers. Make them offer things that those patients want to have insurance, not held hostage in the straight jacket of the one-size-fits-all that is Obamacare that is hurting our country today.”

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