ICYMI Video: Blumenthal Slams Republicans for Health Care Premium Price Hikes During Senate Floor Speech

[WASHINGTON, DC] – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal delivered a speech on the Senate floor last night calling out Republicans for refusing to join Democrats in protecting affordable health care by extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits.

Last week, more than 15,000 residents across Connecticut received letters warning of expected health insurance premium increases for 2026. If Republicans continue to refuse to come to the table and work with Democrats on extending ACA subsidies, millions of people will suffer as premiums rise to incomprehensible levels.

In his remarks, Blumenthal highlighted the stories of Connecticut residents facing astronomical health insurance premium increases.

“For example, a couple in their 60s, living in Hartford, Connecticut, our capital, making a hundred thousand dollars a year, will go from paying $260.83 to $2,614.60. That’s for the same plan,” Blumenthal said. “A family of four living in Hartford, making $159,767, roughly $160,000 a year, the average salary for a family of four in our state would be forced to pay $1,159.52 more. They go from $796.65 this year to $1,956.17 next year. I don’t know how they can afford it. And the simple answer is probably they can’t, and that family will be at risk of financial catastrophe without health care insurance coverage.”

Video of Blumenthal’s speech is available here and a transcript of his remarks is available below:

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, as everyone in this chamber knows, and everyone in our great nation knows, we’re in the midst of a health care crisis. Now, the word crisis is probably the most overused term in political lexicon. But the American people know that this crisis is real and urgent, because they know if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything. That old saying epitomizes the importance of health care when it affects our children, who can’t get health care for themselves, our seniors, who also depend on others, and everyday Americans across the country, who are at their kitchen tables tonight, or workplaces, with their families, wondering when will it happen?

When will I get sick? Not just a virus or common cold. When will there be a health care crisis for me? And it happens to everybody. Nobody is invincible. Everybody needs health care, and it should be regarded as a human right. And we face an imminent and real and present crisis right now for millions of Americans who will no longer be able to afford health care insurance, beginning in days or weeks, because premiums are skyrocketing.

They will rise by double or triple what they are now. Insurance companies are already raising premium rates. Americans are beginning the period of open enrollment. In Connecticut it begins on November 1. When they’ll have to make choices, literally, in effect, writing checks to insurance companies and saying, I am going to afford this plan. But many Americans will find no plan affordable if we fail to provide for them an extension of the health care tax credits that have enabled them to afford health insurance, up to now, under a measure that we passed, and the President signed.

My Republican colleagues continue to ignore the needs and interests of the American people by blocking our efforts to fix this imminent, immediate crisis. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is out of town. The President is out of touch, in Asia. And we are left with a clock ticking. Time is not on our side.

And let’s be very clear, Republicans control the House of Representatives, which hasn’t shown up to work in over a month, but they continue to be paid. Republicans control the senate. And maybe most importantly, Republicans control the White House. This government shutdown is happening on President Trump’s watch. It is on him. The skyrocketing health care costs are happening on his watch too. And instead of fighting for the American people, President Trump and Republicans have spent the past year seeking to strip millions of Americans of health care, food assistance, student loan support, and much more that is vital to their quality of life, and for many of them their very survival.

Democrats have been sounding the alarm over the ongoing threats to health care and the impact it will have on every American, but Republicans seemingly – I say seemingly – refuse to listen. I think they are listening but are in denial. Because, instead of working with Democrats to prevent Americans from being crushed by impending medical debt, Republicans have wasted valuable time blocking every single Democratic effort to lower costs for families.

To be clear, if Republicans refuse to join Democrats in protecting the American people from massive increases in their health care costs, millions of people will suffer, health care premiums will rise to incomprehensible levels.

Just this week, Connecticut launched a window-shopping tool that allows residents to preview their health care options for next year. It allows consumers to see how costs compare to next year’s costs. Very frankly, the options are preposterous. For example, a couple in their 60s, living in Hartford, Connecticut, our capital, making a hundred thousand dollars a year, will go from paying $260.83 to $2,614.60. That’s for the same plan. It’s an Anthem plan. They’re going from the cost this year of $260.83 to next year, $2,614.60.

By the way, they’re getting nothing more. It’s the same plan, no additional coverage, and they’re paying over $2,500 more for each month. It is, in effect, a Republican health care tax. A Republican health care tax on a family in their 60s making a hundred thousand dollars a year. That’s a middle-class family. In Hartford, Connecticut. Let me give you another example.

A family of four living in Hartford, making $159,767, roughly $160,000 a year, the average salary for a family of four in our state would be forced to pay $1,159.52 more. They go from $796.65 this year to $1,956.17 next year.

I don’t know how they can afford it. And the simple answer is probably they can’t, and that family will be at risk of financial catastrophe without health care insurance coverage. Already—let me just emphasize—already health care debt is the major cause of bankruptcy in this country. It hurts our whole economy. So even if you don’t care about a family of four living in Hartford or a couple in their 60s, even if the humanitarian impacts are impervious to you, think about the economic consequences, think about your pocketbook, not theirs.

Bankruptcy will increase along with the suffering. These Trump price hikes, the taxes on health care are absolutely absurd and abhorrent, it's comprehensible to expect that any American enrolled in any one of these plans to have the disposable income necessary to keep their coverage.

This added cost is money that could be used to cover a week’s worth of groceries, heat, rental or mortgage. This added cost is money that many individuals and families simply don’t have, they won’t pay these prices because they simply cannot. Instead, many will be forced to go without health insurance, which raises the costs for everyone. And, very bluntly, these rates will not just impact people enrolled in the ACA marketplace. If Republicans have their way, the entire health care system will feel the effects and every individual trying to receive care, regardless of what kind of insurance they have will be impacted. The ripple effect is coming to you, even if you don’t have an ACA plan, even if you are paying some part of your employer’s insurance cost. This rising tide will truly lift everybody’s boat in terms of costs.

Republicans are making Connecticut families and Americans across the country choose between affordable health care or putting food on the table or heating their homes this winter or buying clothes for their kid. It’s cruel, it’s unnecessary, it will undoubtedly cost people their health and their lives.

Open enrollment is less than five days away now in Connecticut. Time is not on our side. We have no time to waste. If you don’t feel this sense of urgency, listen to your constituents. I choose to stand with them, with small business owners, with working families, with everyday Americans who will be crushed by these costs, and their futures will be crippled at least financially.

Paramount, in my mind, is Republican colleagues listen to those constituents, to those small business owners, to those families and millions of Americans and health care professionals who have been speaking truth to power. This government shutdown can end tonight if we choose the path forward to guarantee an extension of the health care tax credits and add it to the government funding measure that is now before this body. The House of Representatives needs to come back to do its job. President Trump will come back from Asia, and the American people deserve a real solution that preserves American health care. Thank you, Mr. President.

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