Republicans offer a real healthcare alternative By Sally Pipes
With their Commitment to America , Republicans have departed significantly from Democrats ‘ big government agenda. Nowhere is that clearer than on healthcare.
Over the last few years, progressives have made clear their intention to replace the market-based healthcare system with a single, government-run insurance program. Republicans ‘ Commitment to America, by contrast, seeks to improve the current system by introducing greater choice, transparency, and competition. That’s largely what the public wants from healthcare policy. A recent Echelon Insights poll sponsored by the organization I lead, the Pacific Research Institute, found that 86% of people are satisfied with their current health plan.
To the extent they are dissatisfied, the survey revealed that high premiums, deductibles, and copays — and overly restrictive access to doctors — are largely to blame. In other words, patients are looking for reforms that make the current system more affordable while removing the red tape that gets between them and their doctors. That’s what the GOP is pitching. Look at the recommendations of the party’s Healthy Future Task Force, which were released in June. Among other things, they propose to make coverage more portable and expand access to tax-advantaged health savings accounts.
The plan also includes strategies for improving price transparency, so patients can make informed decisions about how to spend their healthcare dollars. It even features creative strategies for injecting greater choice and competition into the marketplace, such as ending the moratorium on doctor-owned hospitals and giving states greater leeway over the kinds of health plans available to patients. This vision is animated by the recognition that America’s healthcare system provides the most innovative, highest-quality care on the planet. We should capitalize on that fact, not throw it away and install the kind of socialized healthcare that has failed patients the world over.
The Commitment to America goes a long way toward defining how Republicans differ from Democrats on healthcare. And it could give the GOP an advantage this November.
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