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Tom Barrett: “Health insurance costs have gone up and up and up and up and…”

Featuring: Tom Barrett, Republican | U.S. House, Michigan, District 7

Candidate Interview: Tom Barrett (R) Representative in Congress - 7th District

Published June 15, 2026 | Video Starts at 12:41

Each of these things have a degree of culpability. Now I put the majority of that on the healthcare insurance companies. Their Health insurance costs have gone up and up and up and up and up. And yet when you go to use your health insurance, less and less and less is actually covered. And that's something that we have to fix. (12:41–12:45)

CLAIM

Asserts that health insurance costs have continuously increased.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Tom Barrett

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“There were tens of thousands of other examples where the same Social Security number had been used more than once to enroll somebody into…”
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“In Michigan, I was disappointed to see that a few years ago there was a green energy mandate that will require in, in just a handful of…”
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“Michigan right now is the most expensive state for energy in the entire Midwest.”
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“The Government Accountability Office found that only two or three of the dozens of fake accounts they created were ever flagged for fraud.”
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“Between a third and a half of the programs that were in existence had zero medical claims filed against them [in 2024].”
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“We had more than 10 or some estimates of 15 million or more illegal immigrants coming into the country completely unchecked by our federal…”
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“We had about 7,000 Americans that died on the battlefield during the War on Terror.”
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“During that same 20 year period of time we had 30,000 post 9/11 veterans who died to suicide.”
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“I currently serve in United States House of Representatives.”
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“I spent my career in the United States army, was 22 years as a soldier.”
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“I was in Iraq, Kuwait, Guantanamo Bay, South Korea.”
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“I have four kids and my wife and I are raising our family in Charlotte right in this district.”
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“I try and make our, you know, make the border secure, make our communities safer.”
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“We have manufacturing, we have agriculture, we have academics, of course, Michigan State University and other schools and colleges in the…”
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“I think that we can do each of these things in a fiscally responsible way.”
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“I spent eight years in the state legislature. We had to run a balanced budget every single year.”
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“I actually have a constitutional amendment that I've signed on to that would require a federally balanced budget in the next 10 years.”
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“I voluntarily had my own pay withheld as a member of Congress until we got an appropriation approved that reopened the government.”
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“The issue of the filibuster that requires a higher threshold of votes in order to move forward to pass something really shouldn't be used…”
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“We don't have enough housing stock to meet the demand that's out there.”
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“Large scale corporate, often foreign investors [are] coming into communities and buying up the single family housing stock.”
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“I've actually introduced legislation and co-sponsored legislation that would prevent [large-scale private equity, often foreign-owned…”
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“I've introduced...a bill that would allow people over the age of 65...to waive the capital gains tax...if they sold the home to a first-time…”
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“I've actually sponsored a bill that would require health insurance companies to spend more of what they are taking in in premium to actually…”
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“We suspect many of the people that were signed up using duplicative Social Security numbers and all these other ways that it was done, maybe…”
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“Certainly 120 times is an indication of a high level of fraud in that specific instance.”
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“We can't allow our tax money to go to benefit corporate insurance profits.”
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“Energy is one of the leading costs that Americans are facing.”
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“At the federal level, I'm working to make energy more affordable by increasing domestic energy supplies so that we're not reliant on foreign…”
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“They anticipate that about a third of all the money spent on healthcare today doesn't actually go into healthcare.”
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“People that were on the terror watch list, people that were convicted of violent and dangerous crimes in their home countries [were released…”
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“You don't actually have to show an ID when you come in to vote.”
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