RICHARD BURR: 'Obamacare hasn't worked on the scale it was promised'

On December 26th, WRAL published an editorial that impugned not only my character, but the character of every person in North Carolina who has realized that Obamacare isn’t working for them. The Editorial Board of WRAL said that my NC colleagues and I were “desperate to prove [sic] lies” about Obamacare.

Here’s the truth: in North Carolina, insurance rates have increased by 176 percent since the enactment of Obamacare, and we expect higher premiums in the coming months. I am constantly hearing from my constituents that they are seeing insurance bills in the thousands. Moreover, the number of insurance plans continues to dwindle.  In 2015, North Carolinians could choose from an average of 22 plans in their county. Today, North Carolina counties are averaging 9 plans, with 85 percent of North Carolinians having only one option for insurance carriers next year. Liberals hate the reality that Obamacare hasn’t lived up to its promise and they will say anything to distract us from its failure.

Here’s the lie: the title of the article “Americans act, overwhelmingly embrace Obamacare.” No. They don’t. In fact, an estimated 12 million filers asked for an exemption in 2015 and 6.7 million Americans paid a penalty instead of purchasing insurance forced on them by Obamacare. Which is why Donald Trump won the Presidency a year and three months ago. I ran for reelection in 2016 and won over 2,395,300 votes on a promise that I would vote to repeal Obamacare. And that’s what I’ve done.