McConnell says rising healthcare costs show GOP was right about 'Obamacare'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday that healthcare costs have risen dramatically in the nearly three years since the Democrats' health reform law passed, which shows Republicans were right to downplay Democratic promises that costs would fall.

"It looks like our worst fears are coming true," McConnell said in a floor speech to mark next week's three year anniversary of the passage of what he and others call "Obamacare."

"According to Congress's own non-partisan budget experts, Obamacare will increase federal health spending and subsidies by nearly $600 billion, and that's only projected to get worse over time," McConnell said. He added that the Congressional Budget Office has also said costs will rise even more when the law is fully implemented in the next few years.

"So when the President tries to convince Americans that Washington doesn't have a spending problem but a health spending problem, what he's not saying is that his own law is actually making things worse, not better," he said.

McConnell said Obama promised that health insurance premiums for a family would fall by $2,500 once the law was implemented. But he said premiums for families have actually increased by nearly that same amount, and could rise more in the coming years, especially for younger people.

Holding up a four-inch stack of paper, McConnell said the 828 pages in his hand were the amount of regulations issued in just one day by the federal government to implement the law. "This law is a disaster waiting to happen," he said.

And, he noted that the Federal Reserve has weighed in on the healthcare debate, by noting that the law is causing job losses and reducing hiring.

"Obamacare is just too expensive, and it's not working the way Washington Democrats promised," he said. "That's why Obamacare needs to be repealed, that's why I will continue to push for its repeal."

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