[0:00]Who said the following? Premiums will drop and the average family will see premiums go down by $2,500 a year in 2014.
[0:09]President Obama. Is that a lie? Yes. Has is there a single solitary American? If we asked the this intrepid staff to go hunt down an American citizen, would we find an average family whose premiums have gone down in the last 11 years by $2,500 a year?
[0:27]Never have we enriched companies the way that Obamacare has enriched healthcare insurance companies at the cost to the American people.
[0:38]And it's a disgrace. Why don't we do all these things? Instead what we do is we do performative outrage and manage failure of votes that we go on and say all kinds of nonsense. There's no chance your bill's passing tomorrow.
[0:57]But you do you want it to pass or do you just want to have a political issue so you can continue to get re-elected?
[1:05]It's disgusting what happens in this town.
[1:08]Wait until you see this. A room where the people who called the hearing didn't even bother to show up. Look at these chairs, empty. Why? Because they don't want to hear that the $2,500 promise was a total lie. We're talking about a $600 billion enrichment of insurance companies, while you can't afford an MRI. It's not a mistake, it's a disgrace. It's disgusting what happens in this town, and today we are pulling back the curtain on the entire corrupt machine. This is the moment the narrative collapsed. Let's get into the main video.
[1:46]Senator Mourinho. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thought um maybe we could use some props uh so we can keep the conversation on track. So imagine we're going to have this conversation first.
[1:57]This conversation to the ranking member, which I think is what you're voting on tomorrow is a very narrow conversation.
[2:05]This is about the Biden, Obamacare COVID bonus subsidies. That's the vote tomorrow, correct?
[2:11]We're not voting on Obamacare at large. We're voting voting on strictly.
[2:15]Are you asking me? Yeah, well, I just want to make sure we're all on the same page. I assume through the chairman. Okay, through the chairman. Yes. Okay.
[2:22]This is from all. That's what we're voting on. I just want to make because it can be very confusing when we talk about this.
[2:26]The vote tomorrow is on extending the healthcare tax credit that were adopted in the Covid era.
[2:35]Yep. Uh, a good idea. I wish we hadn't put a limit on it.
[2:42]All right. So so just just to be clear. So that's we're talking about this. I just want to make sure we level set for everybody here because look, I'm about solving problems.
[2:50]I'm not going to be somebody who says that we should let uh people Americans especially suffer because of incompetence of politicians.
[2:58]So we're going to talk about just these subsidies, okay? Nothing else, no other conversation.
[3:04]So, Mr. Bragdon, I asked you a question. Are veterans healthcare costs going to go down whether we do this or not?
[3:13]No. So if you're a veteran and you're your copay's going up or your deductible's going up or your quality of service is going down, are you affected by this?
[3:23]Not now. Right. If you're a union worker makes great Jeeps in Toledo, Ohio. Are you affected by this?
[3:31]No. So if your union health plan goes up 15, 20%, your copay goes up, your deductible goes up. If we do something about this, does that help that union worker in Toledo, Ohio?
[3:41]No. How about people who used to work for me in my private company's? I started as a small business owner to Mr. Jacobs. It's really hard. It's really hard. If you want to do something in this world that's tough, start a small business.
[3:55]And if I, in my case, went out and through a dealer association, got healthcare for my employees, and those premiums are they affected by this resolution of this issue?
[4:08]No. If I'm on Medicare am I affected by this?
[4:13]No. If I'm in Mr. Steely's case with look, I'm on Medicaid. Is he affected by this?
[4:20]No. So, you're talking about a very narrow set of Americans that are affected by this. And that's the only the disappointing part is that the only issue that Democrats want to fix is for probably something that affects 5 or 6 or 7% of Americans.
[4:38]Why don't we I asked this to my Democrat colleague, because the rest of the colleagues are not here. Why wouldn't we fix it for all Americans?
[4:50]Americans deserve a government that fights for them every single day to deliver them affordable healthcare, but we're only talking about a very narrow group of incentives.
[5:03]So now I shift the conversation over here. How do we get affordable healthcare?
[5:09]Mr. White, who said the following? Premiums will drop and the average family will see premiums go down by $2,500 a year in 2014.
[5:19]President Obama. Is that a lie? Yes. Has is there a single solitary American? If we asked the this intrepid staff to go hunt down an American citizen, would we find an average family whose premiums have gone down in the last 11 years by $2,500 a year?
[5:37]I can't think of not in the individual market, no.
[5:40]It'd be impossible. Any any market by the way.
[5:43]Probably any market. Right. So so the ranking member mentioned a uh family making $66,000 a year. There's no scenario on Earth in which they saved $2,500 a year.
[5:52]No. Okay. So that's good. You said something I was interesting, uh, Mr. White. You said that the Obamacare has been fantastic for health insurance companies. I want to quantify that.
[6:02]Yeah. Would it surprise you to know that the stock price of United Healthcare in 2015 was $115 a share, and last year it closed at a record high of $611 a share?
[6:12]Not at all. So Jacobs, that's pretty good for a business guy, right? Five times value of your business. Let me put that in further numbers. United Healthcare used to be a hundred $8 billion dollar enterprise back in 2015. It's a big company, hundred plus billion dollars. Would it surprise you that it's almost a $600 billion company?
[6:36]Not at all.
[6:39]Now, those numbers are so outrageously high, it doesn't mean anything. Let me just quantify that for people watching. Ford Motor Company is about a $50 billion company.
[6:47]It's 12 times the size of Ford Motor Company. In fact, it's pretty much every car company with Tesla excluded combined. Is United Healthcare in 10 years because of Obamacare?
[7:00]Never have we enriched companies the way that Obamacare has enriched healthcare insurance companies at the cost to the American people.
[7:12]And it's a disgrace. So let's go through solutions.
[7:17]Mr. White, are people who are enter this country illegally eligible for Medicare, Medicaid or the Obamacare exchange?
[7:23]Uh no, right. You're not, right? They're not eligible. They they can't go get a an Obamacare premium, they can't get a Medicare card, but but they can go into our hospitals and get treated at no charge, correct?
[7:36]Correct. And when you own a business and you give part of your services for free, is it really free or do you really charge everybody else?
[7:47]It gets charged everyone else. So, 10, 12, 15 million people who enter this country illegally, presumably with a lot less healthy than American citizens would have massively increased the cost of our healthcare. Is that true?
[8:01]Uh by billions and billions of dollars.
[8:04]Big transfer payment from American citizens to non-Americans. Would transparency make a difference? If you came into one of my dealerships and I didn't tell you what the price of the car was until 60 days after you took delivery, would you do that deal?
[8:17]No, sir. Are you sure? I'm positive. Okay. Well, do you think transparency matters? I mean, knowing, by the way, how much an MRI is in fact, you're you're pretty uh good expert, you and Mr. Bragdon, how much is an I'm going to play pickleball tomorrow morning and there's a pretty good odds that I could hurt my knee. I hope not.
[8:34]What what would it cost me to get an MRI?
[8:37]So I just paid cash for an MRI last year uh in Naples, Florida and it was about $230.
[8:43]And if I went to um my uh health care plan and I get from the United States Senate, uh my deductible, I think is like 12 grand. Uh, what would I pay for that MRI at the hospital? I pay the full boat and pay my deductible, right? Which would be how much?
[8:58]I suspect that they would have negotiated a really good deal for you probably like 900 or $1,200.
[9:04]So I paid $1,200. I could have gotten it for 300. I pay it now when will I know? Like I walk in and they say, hey, I'm sorry about your knees going to be 1200 bucks.
[9:14]Well, they'll ask for your insurance card first and then that will dictate your price. And then as you mentioned, you'll get a letter in the mail after the fact telling you what you owe after you've had the service.
[9:23]Yeah, exactly. I actually did that my dental plan. I had a root canal, which by the way, don't recommend you do that as a elective surgery. And I got a bill for $4,600 almost fell off my chair.
[9:36]Because again, they build the insurance company. The insurance company declined it. What a so so for Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Lehman, would association health plans work? Like you would you love to be able to go to Costco or Amazon or Walmart and be able to buy real competitive healthcare where you can empower yourself and your employees and your businesses to shop with that make a difference? Would that save money? Yes or no real quick because I'm out of time. I'm going to get the
[9:59]30% premium reduction. So, so why don't we do that? Why don't we do association health plans? Solve this problem for everybody. How about PBM reforms? Should we do that? Why don't we do that? Let's make that happen. Let's not shut down the government over this. Let's work together to solve the entire problem. Let's do that. Let's get together. Let's show the American people we're able to govern. Can you imagine if tomorrow morning the American people woke up and go, my God, the leaders in Washington DC are able to govern and solve our problem. Would having most favored nation status for drugs lower the cost of healthcare? Yes or no?
[10:37]Yes, in fact, Price shopping? Would that help?
[10:40]Reducing the administrative cost? Would that help? Tor reform? Would that help? Give putting money in healthcare health savings accounts. Why don't we do all these things?
[10:50]Instead, what we do is we do performative outrage and managed failure of votes that we go on and say all kinds of nonsense. There's no chance your bill's passing tomorrow.
[11:05]But you do you want it to pass or do you just want to have a political issue so you can continue to get re-elected?
[11:13]It's disgusting what happens in this town. It's why I ran for office and I hope we could find it in our hearts to actually solve this problem for the American people, but the lack of seriousness as displayed by the fact that you called a hearing and not one Democrat other than the ranking members even here to listen to this testimony.
[11:34]Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Lehman, I empathize with you.
[11:38]I'm a small business owner. Let's solve this. The numbers are absolutely staggering. During this testimony, it was pointed out that back in 2015, United Healthcare was a $100 billion company. Today, it's a nearly $600 billion monster that is 12 times the size of Ford Motor Company. Think about that. Under the guise of affordable healthcare, a system was created that funnels hard-earned money from American families directly into the pockets of insurance stockholders. While premiums and deductibles skyrocket for the average family, these companies are hitting record highs every single year. The narration makes one thing clear: this wasn't a failure of policy, it was a highly successful wealth transfer from the middle class to the corporate elite. This is where the hearing reached a boiling point. A brilliant example was used to expose the absolute fraud of "negotiated insurance rates." In Naples, Florida, you can walk into a clinic and pay $230 cash for an MRI. But if you use that "gold-plated" insurance card, they'll bill you $1,200 toward your deductible. You are literally being penalized for having insurance. It's a transparency trap designed to keep you in the dark until the bill arrives 60 days later. If you think it's time we stopped the price-gouging and bring back real transparency, hit that subscribe button right now. We are tracking every move these giants make. The most revealing part of the hearing wasn't just the data, it was the optics. Senator Moreno called out the "disgusting" lack of seriousness from his colleagues. The room was essentially empty, with the people who claim to fight for healthcare nowhere to be found. This was labeled as "performative outrage." The establishment doesn't want to fix the problem with Association Health Plans or PBM reform because they want to keep the political issue alive for the next election. They prefer a "managed failure" that keeps you desperate and dependent rather than a solution that actually lowers your bills. The closing moments of the hearing were a total mic drop. A list of real-world solutions presented: Tort reform, most-favored-nation status for drugs, and letting small businesses shop like Costco. But D.C. refuses to move. Why? Because, as the Senator put it, the system is designed for re-election, not results. This hearing proved that the corruption isn't an accident, it's the main feature of the current healthcare landscape. What do you think? Is it time to finally hold these insurance giants and their puppets in Washington accountable? Let me know in the comments. Smash that like button, and I'll see you in the next breakdown.
