Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

STEPHEN MOORE: Republicans Can Win On Health Care Affordability

A hospital room. (Screen Capture/PBS North Carolina Channel)

For most of the last 40 years, pollsters have asked voters: Which party do you trust more on health care? The answer has been pretty much the same over this whole period.  Voters trust the Democrats more, sometimes by a two-to-one margin.

When I’ve asked my Republican politicos why that is, the answer I typically receive is: our party doesn’t do health care. Then they crouch in the fetal position.

Well, the GOP certainly better start “doing health care,” because the issue of medical care access and affordability is front and center in American families.

The GOP shouldn’t be afraid of the issue. Democrats have pretty much unilaterally designed the medical care system we have now. They own it. The outcome isn’t a happy one. We are getting spiraling costs with less access and in many cases worse health outcomes.

The Republican promise to voters should better health care at half the cost.

Here are five easy pieces to this saner and higher-quality health care system.

First, follow Trump’s lead from his State of the Union when he told the country: “I want to stop all payments to big insurance companies and give that money to the people.”  That’s you and me.

This patient-power approach is a direct assault on Washington’s long-held allegiance to the hospital oligopolies, the insurance companies, and the pharmacy benefit managers is over.  The medical care dollars should follow the patients and that means a range of options in how that money is spent to improve health.

One of those options should be the expansion of health savings accounts (HSAs), which incentivizes patients to shop around for the best price for health services they can find. Another option should be low-premium catastrophic coverage plans that cover major but not routine costs. This is supported by 78% of voters.

Second, start every discussion of health care reminding Americans with an undeniable truism: Obamacare has been a catastrophic mistake that has run up costs two to three times higher than expected.  The Affordable Care Act has made health care much LESS affordable.

A recent poll we sponsored at Unleash Prosperity Now confirms this.  Some two-thirds of voters rank the rising cost of health insurance as their single greatest health care concern.

Third, strike back at the health care industrial complex that has made $1.5 trillion in profits since 2010.  Obamacare made insurance companies and hospital conglomerates rich.  One new study finds that hospital earnings have doubled since 2015 (not adjusted for inflation).  The profits declined in 2025, but $400 billion in one year is a nice pay day.

These enormous pay days off of today’s health care system are prima facie evidence that the system lacks needed accountability, competition, and transparency.

The giant health care corporations and their subsidiaries have taken over nearly every aspect of patient care in America – from insurance, pharmacies, physician and emergency care practices, surgical centers, home health services, and more. Why is that? Because liberal politicians, at the behest of big insurers, designed it that way.

When asked who they believe bears the greatest responsibility for rising health care, voters point to insurers and providers.

Fourth, reject price controls.  Price controls on prescription drugs will delay new drug development and cause Americans more pain and suffering by keeping promising drugs off the market.

Fifth, require full price care transparency for all medical services and procedures. No surprise billing from hospitals and pharmacies for expensive pills and procedures with patients never informed of the price tag. In some towns, an MRI can cost $2,000 at some clinics and $5,000 down the street.

Republicans should endorse a “no price, no pay” policy that says that if patients attest to the fact they never saw the bill, they don’t have to pay for it.

Full health care price transparency is popular and supported by nine of 10 voters.

This is a model of patient choice and market flexibility in making critically important health care decisions that could turn the medical establishment on its head.

Republicans should ask voters: who do you trust to make the best health care decisions for you and your family?  You or the politicians who gave us the Obamacare scam.

Stephen Moore is the co-founder of Unleash Prosperity Now and co-leader of the Most Favored Patient initiative. He also serves as a senior fellow with America First Policy Institute.

 The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/PBS North Carolina Channel)