WASHINGTON – Today on the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) exposed the shortcomings and failed promises of Obamacare, a Democrat-created system that has enriched insurance companies and left Americans with skyrocketing costs, in response to Senate Democrats’ failed argument that they have shut down the government for 34 days over health care. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“Obamacare did not make health care affordable. It created a tangled web of regulations alongside of taxpayer-funded subsidies that ultimately only led to higher costs for taxpayers and those receiving care.” 

“Insurance companies have figured out how to use this muddled mess that is the Democrats’ health care system to lobby for government subsidies, including the continuation of the expiring COVID-19 era subsidies that the Biden administration imposed.”  

“In 2025 alone, U.S. government health care subsidies paid directly to insurance companies totaled more than $130 billion – that’s your tax dollars paid to insurance companies.”

“Since 2021, the cost taxpayers have incurred to subsidize Obamacare plans has increased a staggering 150%, and many of the ones on these policies are far from the most vulnerable in our population.”

“In 2021, when the Democrats lifted the cap on these subsidies, removing the income eligibility limit, households earning upwards of $500,000 were made eligible for taxpayer subsidized plans. So you tell me why taxpayers should have to subsidize somebody who makes a half a million dollars a year and buy their health insurance policy for them.”  

“Perhaps the only promise that Obamacare actually kept that the Affordable Care Act was just the first step toward a taxpayer-funded health care system, a single-payer system.”  

“Millions of Americans have faced cancelations of their private insurance plans, while many more are facing devastating premium increases. And then there’s the insurance companies who reap hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, while continuing to raise premiums on patients.”

“When we look for a solution to rising health care costs, we should be wary of listening to the same people who sold us Obamacare on false premises and not trust those who would prefer we continue to prop up a failed system that enriches insurance companies, while leaving Americans to pick up the pieces.”