Put patients back in charge of their healthcare

OPINION:

In 2000, the average family paid about $6,000 a year for health insurance. Today, that figure has climbed to nearly $27,000, rising at more than twice the rate of inflation over the same period. It’s no surprise that healthcare affordability remains a top concern among Americans. As costs continue to climb, more working adults are choosing to go without health insurance altogether.

Democrats, responsible for the inception of Obamacare and our current crisis, tell you that the solution is more government spending and intervention in the free market.

But the United States already spends more on healthcare than any other nation, and the government finances more than half of this spending. Propping up a broken system with more taxpayer cash is a guarantee for failure — leaving patients and providers feeling stuck and powerless in a system devoid of choice.

Americans need real solutions, not more government subsidies, control and free market intervention.

In a departure from most of our nation’s past, big government, big Pharma and insurance companies are now deeply entrenched in the American healthcare system. Invariably, insurers like the federal government, private insurance companies or large employers are fronting costs that would otherwise be paid by the patient. Providers, free from accountability to the patient and in short supply, have no incentive to reduce or even communicate prices when the patient is not directly involved in decision-making.

Imagine walking into a grocery store where nothing has a price tag, you don’t know what your total cost will be for weeks or months later and someone else decides which products you are allowed to purchase.

No one should tolerate this experience. Yet, this is how America’s healthcare system functions.

It’s past time Congress puts patients — not insurance companies or bureaucrats — first, and empowers Americans to take control of their own healthcare decisions.

But talk is cheap. Americans want action. Your favorite Republican in Congress probably frequently opines on the failure of Obamacare and will happily lecture Americans on the pitfalls of socialized medicine. But what good is any of that without offering an alternative?

Right now, House Republicans hold the majority. We have a president demanding action, and we even have proposed legislation that offers a path forward. What remains is the political will to pass it.

Earlier this year, Rep. Eric Burlison introduced the Great American Healthcare Plan, built largely around President Trump’s call to “give the money to the people,” and give Americans control over their own healthcare dollars. At the center of the legislation is an expansion of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), empowering individuals to save and spend tax-free dollars on qualified medical expenses that they feel is right for them and their family.

When patients spend their own money, they become active participants in their own healthcare. With an HSA, and the freedom to choose the insurance plan that best fits their needs, consumers can research providers, compare prices, evaluate quality and make informed decisions about their care. Providers, in turn, must compete on both cost and quality, rather than aiming their practices to maximize reimbursements from the federal government or insurance companies.

It’s no surprise that in our current system, where insurers are insulated from competition and negotiate in secret, price transparency is nowhere to be found. In virtually every other sector of the economy, consumers can compare prices and quality before making a purchase. Healthcare should be no different.

Patients deserve to know what a procedure will cost before they receive care, not months later when an uninterpretable insurance statement or bill arrives.

To help make that possible, the Great American Healthcare Plan requires hospitals and other providers to publicly post their prices every month in a standardized, searchable format. Insurance companies must also regularly report what they pay for medical services to federal and state regulators, increasing transparency across the healthcare system. Quality metrics are already available through Medicare, and other systems should be created.

Throwing more money at insurance companies and providers via subsidies (especially Obamacare) and Medicaid isn’t the solution to America’s healthcare crisis, as Democrats so often suggest. Our system suffers from a lack of transparency, government and insurance company intervention that insulates costs from consumers and perverse incentives that create a government-backed race to the bottom. By expanding HSAs, enforcing price transparency, encouraging robust competition and putting patients back in control of their healthcare dollars, we can build a system that delivers better care at a lower cost while promoting quality. It really is that simple.

It is long past time for conservatives to do what President Donald Trump has called for and what Americans have demanded since we took back the White House. Give the money to the people. Trust and empower Americans to make their own healthcare decisions. Give them the tools to succeed in a market driven by patients, instead of by government mandates, large insurance companies, and distorted incentives.

Democrats are counting on Republicans to maintain the failing status quo. If the faulty Obamacare scheme continues to implode through premium growth that is not sustainable, it will only fuel their cries for a government-run healthcare system, rivaling Canada and the United Kingdom, where patients die waiting in line for care.

Failure is a choice.

But we have the necessary legislation to avoid continued failure, and the American people are waiting.

• Rep. Andy Harris, M.D., represents Maryland’s 1st Congressional District. He serves as Chairman of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies subcommittee on the House Appropriations Committee and active member of the GOP Doctors Caucus. Rep. Eric Burlison represents Missouri’s 7th Congressional District and chairs the Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs subcommittee in the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.