Republicans agree that Obamacare has failed and must be repealed. But they can’t agree on the replacement “plan.”
The one thing they shouldn’t do is devise another grand scheme like the Obama “plan.” The answer is not a new and better Big Government “plan.” Instead, the president and Congress should take specific actions to free the market so patients and providers can create a health care system that serves everyone.
When President Barack Obama proposed his federal takeover of the health care system, he was right about one thing: American medical care was a mess. Government provided half the funding, created incentives for cost-plus care, and pushed insurance onto employers. While care cost more than it should for many, some people didn’t have access to the treatment they needed.
But instead of seeking to empower patients by giving them greater control over their own futures and more opportunities to find the best care possible in the marketplace, the president and Democrats in Congress took medical decisions away from the public and transferred them to Washington.
Unsurprisingly, that approach didn’t work. Insurers, mandated to discard actuarial principles in order to cover patients with serious pre-existing conditions, were forced to offer one-size-fits-all policies to cover everything from falling hair to sex change procedures. No wonder the cost of health insurance spiked. People got stuck paying for “benefits” they didn’t want.
Washington’s coverage mandates forced companies to cancel health insurance plans that employees had relied on for years. Patients were lucky to find replacements, and usually ended up paying a lot more for a lot less. Having coverage did not mean having access to care.
Date: February 19, 2017