12 16 25 We talk with US Congressman Ralph Norman

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Jonathan and Kelly Show. Jonathan Rush with.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
This historic executive order I will sign today per formerly
classed or fine pedal is a weapon of mass destruction.
No bomb does what this is doing. Two hundred to
three hundred thousand people die every year.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Kelly Nash, in.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
A few moments, will officially recognize their service by awarding
them the Mexican Border Defense.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Medal the Jonathan and Kelly Show.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
I could just see the Democrats going nuts outside the
Oval Office yesterday. If they're watching that, they're kicking and screaming. Look,
you're blowing boats out of the word and only caring cocaine.
It's not even fittin' al.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
I thought they were just carrying striped bass.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
That's right. And the memes continue to circulate the party.
They can't define. A woman can tell you if that
boat is a fishing boat or not. That's great. Hey,
this is Jonathan Rusher's Kelly Nash. Hi certainly can get
into some of the border patrol issues coming up. Ex salute,
thank you for the patrol efforts, and yeah, he gave
out some medals of honors, so we got that coming

(01:04):
up before we do anything else. We're going to go
to the double secret probationary. Jonathan Kelly hotline, Kelly Nash,
Welcome on the phone. US Congressman Ralph Norman, Good morning, sir,
Good morning, Good morning. I with you. I know, listen,
I know that you're getting ready for a big holiday
like all of us. But there's a lot going on
between the US House and your run for the governor's
office here in the state of South Carolina, and we
appreciate you carving out some time to talk with us.

(01:27):
I want to ask specifically about one of the biggest
things that happened in the houses. You guys voted, and
I think for you it's probably bittersweet for the Defense
spending bill. Do we see how the finalized effort came
out of the Senate?

Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yeah, I hadn't seen the final print. What I've learned
in Congress is the devil is in the details, and
typically when it comes back from the Senate, it means
more spending on different pet projects that they wanted to spend.
That the Defense bill did not take the haircut that
I think we could have had in reductions, because it's
a big part of our you know, protecting this country.

(02:03):
But We've got a lot of frivolous wasts that needs
to be carved out. Not able to do all of it.
But you know, if you look at the actual dollars
I interest on our debt is pretty much the same
as we spend on spending, which is a little under
billion dollars a year.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Talking with the Congressman Ralph Norman as we head into
the holidays, and you know next year that's when the
subsidies end for people on the Affordable Care Act. But
it seems as if all Americans insurance has dramatically increased
since Obamacare was passed, and at the same time the
amount of coverage continues to drop. I noticed that you

(02:40):
posted not that long ago that the healthcare insurance companies
I should say, have tripled their revenues since twenty fourteen
and they're killing it. Is that what is the Republican
plan if we're not going to continue down the Obamacare pathway?

Speaker 4 (02:58):
Well, first of all, Obamacare never was it never was feasible.
I mean we all remember Miss Blosi is saying to
figure out what's the nag? You have to pass it
and you can pick your doctor, pick your plan. Not
only can you not do those things. It's just unaffordable.
And there is a side of Congress, the Democrat side

(03:22):
that wants single payer, wants the government to provide everything.
My question back to them is what has government done
that's efficient and what has government done and empowers we
the people? It hasn't. I think what you'll see in
this health beer bill will be a first start. And
I credit again we the people being loud and clear

(03:44):
on the fact that you know January fifteenth of twenty
six will be the date that most people had for
you their policies, and it's just unaffordable. The coverage, the
fact that we have doctor shortages now because of the bureaucracy.
And I think what you'll see is a first step

(04:05):
in letting putting the patient first. The health savings accounts
that businesses should be able to write off, I think
will be a part of it. I think what the
present's talking about is letting the payments, setting up an
account where the payments don't go to the insurance company
as it goes to the patient, under guardrails that applied

(04:29):
just to medical the medical needs. Now, you know, it's
a contentious issue, and it's a huge issue because and
it's taken front and center stage as it should. You
will see this bill that we will agree on. Not
everyone's happy with it. I didn't get you know, I
would love it for to go a lot further than

(04:51):
it is. But you got four hundred and thirty five
members of Congress, one hundred members of the Senate, they
who have different ideas. It'll be a much better plan
than the Obama could Care plan, which is insurance companies
get the money, insurance companies profits or as you mentioned,
are outrageous when it comes to take is having an
effect on the American people only seven percent of the population. Yes,

(05:14):
it has enrolled in Obamacare, but the subsidies, hopefully we're
going to get those ended, the COVID substanies as well,
so it'll be a step in the right direction. Is
there a cure all for everything? No, But as the
first step, as.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
One of my favorite South Carolinian said, maybe I have
the wrong misunderstanding. So you help me understand I've got
this wrong. But one of the things you're looking to
do is make sure that we get the private sector
involved more because plainly, as you stated, government taken over
what we ended up thirty seven percent of healthcare ended
up just skyrocketing the costs. But in the state of
South Carolina, is it not true that insurance companies have

(05:51):
to be approved in order to offer different policies. And
with that in mind, how can we get more insurance
companies representing more South Carolinians so we can utilize the
private sector and making sure that these persons who spend
their own money benefit from the competition and the private
sector from these insurance companies.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
Well, you said the right word, competition. We ought to
be able to cross state lines and buy our insurance,
our medical care, and pick our insurance companies. And know
you've got dominant players in South Carolina, particularly with mainly
Blue Cross Blue Shield. And you know one size does

(06:32):
not fit all. I mean the way the government and
the way Obamacare had it is you had to have
a mass listing of what you had to pay for,
Like why should a single college mail have to buy
you know, care health care for having children? You don't

(06:53):
need that maternity care. So we ought to be able
to pick what we want to cover and have an
affordable price that again we can afford to pay. And
it's just not that way.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
Now.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
Government was not set up like that, and so you know,
I think one of the big things is getting the
businesses involved because they're the ones that are providing the
insurance to the employees, which most employees demand now before
they go to work for a particular company. So I
think you'll find more choice with the patients have. You'll

(07:25):
find the fact that they can hopefully across state lines
and pick any company that they want, and hopefully they
can pick what benefits and what coverage that they want,
not what the government says.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Talking with Congressman Ralph Norman, and as you know, the
affordability issue is, like you said, front and center. That is,
it seems as if Donald Trump's midterms hopes and dreams
are going to be basically placed on that. And healthcare
costs are a huge portion of that. If you look
at expenditures per cap But in twenty twenty three, the

(08:02):
United States was spending thirteen four hundred and thirty two
dollars per person. Second place country was Switzerland at ninety
six hundred. Most countries in our economic range are spending
seventy three hundred dollars per person, so we're almost double
the average at this point. And yet I understand that

(08:23):
that is an important fight that we need to have.
My question is tactically, is this the time for that fight?
And just knowing that the midterms are just around the corner,
it seems impossible that the healthcare issue will be resolved
before we start early voting and you know, I guess
in some states they start voting in like July, and
you know, can we do? We need to have this

(08:46):
fight right now.

Speaker 4 (08:47):
You can't stand still on this. Another was healthcare, as
you mentioned, is you know, we're paying the highest price
all across the world, and look the product we're getting.
It's like paying, you know, to get a machine and
you're getting a used car, less value, less money, but
you're paying a top price. So yeah, we take the

(09:09):
first step and then it will be refined as we
move forward in twenty twenty six. It's not a catch all,
but the existing Obamacare plan is just not working. That's
why so few people are on it. But now government
is not the answer either. All these bailouts and subsidies

(09:30):
that Obamacare had in it. There are a lot of
members here that want to keep those going because you know,
you've got families that are really suffering. But the answer
is again putting the patients first, getting the government out
of it, getting insurance companies out of it. Where you know,
we set up policy, we set up amounts that directly

(09:51):
go to the patient and let them use it wisely
and find a doctor that suits the particular issue, the
medical issue that they have. And I think we can
have the first step on it. But now it's going
to be criticized as everything else is up here. The
mainstream media is not going to give the President or
really the conservatives any leeway on anything. But this is

(10:15):
going to be a lot of progress made. But again
it'll be not an end product. It'll be just the beginning.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
I know your office made a release from your mouth
this week having a do with your statements on repeat
offenders and the like, and that all goes back to
something we've talked about briefly before with the JMSC, and
we've been speaking with other candidates for the governor's office
as well about how they would rectify the situation. Talk
to me about how would you, given that the fact

(10:42):
that the General Assembly doesn't necessarily answer to you, you
use your position as a bully pulpit.

Speaker 4 (10:49):
A couple of things, One I will lay out the
plan at the State of the State Day one on
all the things I mentioned in in my campaign. Is
fair for trial lawyers to pick the members of the
judicial match Selection Committee and pick the judges that they
that the judges who they appear before. It's like letting

(11:13):
Clemson Carolina pick their own referees. You don't do that. Uh.
There is a way to do it, and I think
it's a combination of letting either the governor picked the
judicial Mayrich Selection Committee or I would like to do
away with it altogether. I don't know that that can
be done. But the result of what's happened in South

(11:37):
Carolina recently with Frederico murder and the one in Charlotte,
judges are turning these criminals loose, and you've got to
have conservative judges, and we haven't had it in South Carolina.
And that's why the only two states that picked judges
through a committee controlled by trial lawyers are Virginia and
in South Carolina. So we'll change that. In the way

(11:59):
I'll do this, I have no problem using the veto,
and I have no problem you know, you can have
the we have the line eight of veto in the
spending you control the spending, use the veto, and then
you go to the people and say, quote the record
of the judges that have been appointed, like the results

(12:19):
of the judicial marriage Selection Committee. And it's just not working.
And I'm the only can that really will do that.
The others will talk about it. But it's going to
take a heavy lift, not just on this, but it's
going to take a heavy lift on the spending and
the corruption in this state. I've never sent The corruption
is like Washington, d c. Is just on a smaller scale.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
Congressman Ralph Norman, South Carolina is legendary for our crappy roads.
And you know, the state owns sixty percent or more
of the roads. The national average for a state is
nineteen percent. And many of us believe that the You
know that that's why the roads are not being taken

(13:01):
care of. Is you're asking dot to do too much.
It should be the counties, the towns that are running
most of these roads. Is there a way for you,
if you were the governor, to get the state to
return the roads to the counties in towns or do
you not agree with that? That's the answer that there's
another answer.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
The first answer to that is you find out where
your money is. I mean, I will do a doze
type commission that identifies every spending element, including the Department
Transportation in this state, and see how much of the
money is actually going for asphalt and stone and gravel
to pave our roads. And we'll look at every to

(13:41):
see where the money if it's being spent wisely. I
don't think to have as many districts as we have
will probably make sense. But you look at it and
then you bring into professionals. And one thing that I've
been really pleased with is the people who have nothing
to get aim out of, like serving on a transportation

(14:03):
committee to fix the problem we have in our roads
that want to come in and offer their expertise. And
the great part about it, they've been successful in their
own businesses that they're not government employees or people are
pointing to positions just because for political payback. You put
people in place that have made money, lost money, and

(14:26):
then you let them solve the ideas that it's going
to take. We don't have a maintenance plan. I mean
the only maintenance plan I've seen is throwing hot asphalt
in a pothole and most of it going getting on
your car and I've traveled the roads.

Speaker 3 (14:40):
Happened to me yesterday and I cursed out loud when
it did. They literally threw asphalt in a pothole and
did not even press it.

Speaker 4 (14:47):
We'll get this every time we have a snow and
you see all this salt going on roads, it tears asphalt,
It tears asphalt apart. And if we don't have solid
infrastructure roads, bridges. There's a thousand bridges that our school
children should not be crossing over in South Carolina. And

(15:10):
you know the charging sighting truckers for going over bridges
because they hadn't been maintained. Some of these bridges is
sixteen seventy years old. So that's got to be it.
That will be a top priority in the my administration,
along with we have got an energy problem in this state.
I mean, I don't know whether you looked at your

(15:31):
electricity bill, but if you look at the not the
Killowhite hours, but the things that are added on to
it for our electric bill, you know your average citizen
cannot go build a nuclear plant. We've got to get
politicians out of that and let business people and experts
in the energy field, as we do in our roads

(15:54):
and our bridges, and it's going to take a massive overhaul,
but it can easily be done. And the only thing
else I would add is we're picking the CEO, which
is the governor for the next eight years. We won't
have another election for governor until twenty thirty four, because
incumbent always wins. You got to have somebody who will

(16:15):
make progress, somebody who understands how business works. And it's
probably the most impactful election in my mind, and not
because I'm just in it, but because I see it.
We cannot have another ten years of growth in government
like we've had for the last ten years with a
Republican maintained majority.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
Cubernatorial candidate and US Congressman Ralph Norman. Thank you for
your time, sir. I hope you have a great holiday
and we'll look forward to hearing more from you in
twenty twenty six.

Speaker 4 (16:45):
Great y'all, have MARYK Christmas boy.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
I'm like you. I appreciate the phone call from the Congressman.
I'm like you. I'm a little tentative here on the
strategy given the timeline and the increased in premiums now.
I get it with an increase in the premiums. It's
only demonstrative as to how much money we are dolling
out through the entitlement program, specifically for Obamacare.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
I feel as if if I was the guy calling
the shots, I would have said, Okay, extend the subsidies
for this year. Yes we're digging a bigger hole. Yes
we're making it more expensive for everybody, but we're taking
that argument off the plate at the same time we're
showing in our legislative efforts. By the way Rand Paul
has I felt the best plan. I don't know if

(17:31):
you get to see him on Sunday talking about it,
but basically Rand Paul was exposing the fact that when
these subsidies expire, did you know that that's only fifteen
percent of the subsidies that the average Americans currently in
the Affordable Care Act is getting over twenty thousand dollars

(17:51):
in subsidies, So when they go from eight hundred to
say three thousand, that's only fifteen percent of the cost. Wow,
it's an un believable boondoggle of what we're spending. And
that's why when we talked about they've tripled the amount
of money that these insurance companies have made in just
the last ten years. It's I mean again, I don't
begrudge them for making the money. I begrudge the politicians

(18:14):
for creating the system that is driving everybody broke unless
you happen to work for an insurance company. But the
Rand Paul plan is very simple. It's basically just pull
government completely out, stop the restrictions on states, stop the
restrictions on the federal level, and allow Americans to create
their own co ops. And the example he gave was,

(18:37):
why not just allow Costco Walmart places where American shop Amazon,
allow them to create their own co ops. And then,
because when we're talking about giving you the money back
on the subsidies, you still don't have any leverage. You
don't have the ability to go in and negotiate with
whoever Blue Cross, Blue Shield and say I'm demanding a
better rate. But you do. If you've got five million people,

(19:00):
have you got you would be bigger than any corporation
if you were part of the Costco Health Client plan.
And then all of a sudden, the person from Costco
is going in negotiating with the top five insurance agencies
and saying, this is what we want for our people.
You could drive down rates not only for them, but
everybody else would start getting better rates as well.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yep. Who was I just talking to the other day
and they were talking about something to do with their insurance.
It was a private insurance, and they said, I just
found out that Lexnon Medical is not going to be
part of our plan. And I laughed because I said, yeah,
I hate it when that happens. And unless you have
to go like now, then just chill out. This is

(19:42):
like when one of the cable companies announ says we
can't run Monday Night Football because we're in negotiation conflicts
with whoever ESPN or whoever produces that program. They'll work
it out, they just hadn't. They haven't go sciated it yet.
But there is if you're right, if you're an individual,

(20:04):
you don't have a conference room with leverage that you
can bring these these providers to the table. And the
other thing is true as well. And I was thinking
it was Joe Wilson's conversation last week when I was remembering,
there's a place, there's a neighborhood here in Columbia, and
it is a nice neighborhood. I mean, it's multimillion dollar homes.
But the biggest one right in them, seemingly right in

(20:27):
the middle of this neighborhood, was the insurance guy. And
he was surrounded by all these doctors. These are specialized doctors,
and they all hated that dude because he had a
bigger house than they did and he sold insurance.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Well. Again, four hundred billion dollars was what they've made
in twenty fourteen. They made one point three trillion dollars
last year. So the insurance companies are absolutely tonning it.
And that again, that's profit. That is not what they built.
One point three trillion dollars, and that's for five insurance companies.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
And that's been going on forever. I remember being outraged.
I've forgotten who we ask about this. But when the
hospital system in Baufort was going on the auction block
or announced it would be taking on suitors to be
bought out, I can't remember, and I'm not going to
say which insurance company by guessing, but one of the
insurance companies made a bid and the bid was whatever

(21:23):
an astronomical amount of money cash or check they had.
The insurance company had enough money to buy the hospital system.
I believe it was the one in Bufort.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
It was probably in petty cash.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Probably imagine with today's money, with what they've been making up,
they could buy out. They could buy out Prisma.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
And the problem is is we keep saying there's no competition.
The more the government gets involved, they artificially inflate the market.
So that's began in twenty ten when they started pumping
money into this. And if you're trying to be generous,
you can say that the Democrats have big hearts and
they want to make sure everybody had healthcare coverage. By
the way, that plan has completely failed because there's over

(22:04):
thirty six million Americans today they don't have any health
care insurance. It's almost the exact same number that we had,
you know, in twenty fourteen.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
And like a chapter from my book, you died twice
in America once when you become a realist, if you
don't want to buy then to have that idealistic plan,
just go back to the theory that they really they
designed it this way so it would crash because they
got to get you to a single payer and that's
a taxpayer plan.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
And that seems far more believable that this is all
by design. And again when you're talking about the expiring
subsidy date of the early next month. That was put
in there by the Democrats. That's not put in there
by the Republicans. They put that data in there because
they assumed that they would be in power, and that
when they were in power and they were like, oh
my gosh, look what's going to happen to the Americans.

(22:48):
The Americans would be the one saying no mos please,
just because we're all speaking Spanish by then anyway, we've
already been overtaken. But they would just say no more.
And how about imagine you got a slickster like a
Barack Obama or even a Gavin Newsom. At this point,
Gavin Newsom is your new president, right, and Gavin Newsom
is up there saying this is outrageous. That whatever the

(23:12):
stat is that Bernie Sanders likes to quote that something
like sixty percent of American families where they get a
cancer diagnosis are financially bankrupted within two years of that diagnosis,
that is outrageous. The fact that right now more of
your pay is going towards health care insurance than any
other segment of your budget is outrageous. Nobody should have
to pay for any of this. This should all be free.

(23:34):
We're going to return the money to you. You don't
have to cover for your health care insurance. The federal
government is gonna do it. We're gonna tack the richest
of the rich and make them pay for all of us.
How many Americans even knowing, Look, this is total bs.
But you're saying I don't have to pay anymore. It's
not my company doesn't have to pay it anymore, that

(23:55):
it's just taken away. It's just so like right now,
I don't even know what we pay monthly for our
healthcare insurance, but we pay into our company healthcare insurance
thousands and thousands a year, sure, and we get worse
and worse coverage. You're saying, we're gonna take all of
that away, No more pain. I think most Americans would
look at that cliff that we're going off here in

(24:16):
the next month and say, you know what, forget it,
just take it, take it, And then that's when you
get the worst healthcare com.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Yes, because the theme from mash just came playing in
the back of my head as you said no more pain.
Remember the name of that song, Well, I.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
Remember Ozzy Osbourne's suicide solution.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Well, this is called suicide is painless.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
Yeah, well it can be. Yeah, I mean that's and
so when you that's kind of what you would be
doing is committing suicide by letting the government take over
your health care. And you don't have to look any
further than England.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
From the same people who told you that if a
new family ever got the chances that ignosis, they will
be financially ruined. Comes to the plan for the people
who told you, Barack Obama himself in two thousand and
eight to the town hall at some point, grandma has
just got to go home and take the pill.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
And he wasn't bashful about it. No, it was a
woman at the town hall asked him, what do you
say to my eighty three year old grandmother who's concerned
with your health insurance programs, that you're going to cut
her off, that she's not going to be allowed to
get the treatments. And he said, well, you know, look,
she's eighty three, she's had a great life. I mean,
at some point you got to tell grandma to go

(25:24):
home and take the take the little pill and pass easily.
And I mean and that was and that is considered
by a lot of people compassion.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
Wow, a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yes, why why let them suffer with aches and pains
and blah blah blah and diminishing returns and what? As
Obama would say, what are you contributing to society at
this point?

Speaker 3 (25:44):
The problem? What are you contributing?

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, you're not, You're not a part of the tax
base in parasite at this point. Yeah, that was That was.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
The day in honor of my grandmother. I went home
and flew my American flag upside down, and the neighbors
said to stop and tell me your flags upsides out. Yeah,
we're in distress over here.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
I mean, I don't want to say even, but a
lot of like the Eastern cultures, recognize that their senior
citizens who are unable to physically work anymore, are the
most valuable assets that they have, and they treat them
with honor and respect them. They try to keep them
alive as long as possible so we can hear their

(26:22):
stories and get their perspective. Someone who's lived seventy eighty
ninety one hundred years has a much different and better
perspective than someone who's forty years old.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
We've got Third World countries that have a higher moral
standard that we do. In this regard, suicide is painless.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, but do they have a Disney World