True Healthcare Reform

By Joseph R. "Joe" Pitts

When there is no competition, prices go up--just like popcorn at the theater. That is the fundamental problem with American healthcare. Endless layers of government regulation also drive up prices. The Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") has made the problem worse, not better.

We need real reform that makes healthcare work more like the rest of our economy. Basic free-market economics could reduce insurance prices and increase the quality of care. Republicans have a very strong record of successfully introducing free-market forces into healthcare. Medicare Advantage plans and the Medicare prescription drug benefit were both designed this way and have been very successful as a result. Republicans also created the CHIP program for kids, and Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Savings Accounts for adults who want to take charge of their own healthcare spending. We have many more reforms in mind, like allowing interstate competition in private insurance and letting people keep take their insurance with them from job to job. We hope to replace the Affordable Care Act with these kinds of commonsense, market-based reforms.