Wicker: Obamacare Isn’t Working for Mississippians

Miss. Senator Shares Local Stories of People Harmed by the Health-Care Law

January 11, 2017

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today delivered a speech to the Senate to lay out his case for repealing and replacing Obamacare. The Senate is expected to approve a repeal resolution later tonight, which will then begin the procedural process necessary to roll back the controversial health-care law.

Key excerpts from Wicker’s speech include:

“This is a matter of keeping our word to the American people. This is a matter of keeping our promises that we've made not only during the last campaign cycle, but repeatedly since I voted against this bill some eight years ago.”

“The President told us in 2009 and 2010 that if you like your health plan, you get to keep it. It turns out that is a promise that was not kept, because it could not be kept. The President said if you like your doctor, you can keep that doctor. Again, a promise that this Administration and our Democratic friends on the other side of the aisle were unable to keep. And so that is why so many people around the country are opposed to keeping Obamacare.”

“Obamacare is not working. It isn’t working in my home state of Mississippi. It’s not working for millions of Americans who lost their health insurance. It’s not working for millions of Americans who saw their premiums rise and their deductibles go to unimaginable heights.”

“Former president Bill Clinton said this, and I quote, ‘You got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people who are out there busting it sometimes 60 hours a week wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It's the craziest thing in the world.’”

“And so it’s time for us to move forward and tonight is a step. We’re certainly not going to get it all done in one fell swoop. And even when we get the bill enacted into law and signed by our new president, President Donald Trump, it will take a time for it to be put into place. But tonight we show that we meant what we said and we said what we meant. And we are going to follow through, pass this resolution tonight, and begin the process of keeping our promises to the American people to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something that works for the hundreds of millions of Americans out there who depend on us for good policy.”