It’s time for all of us to admit what the American people already know: Obamacare has failed.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, created a system that enriched insurance companies and hospitals and ruined Americans. Obamacare didn’t let people keep their insurance plans or their doctors, and families didn’t save money — and neither did the federal government. Families are left with higher costs and health care that does not meet their needs.
I want to tell you about a family with a pre-existing health condition that comes to mind when I talk about healthcare in our country. They grew up in public housing and rarely saw a doctor. One of the children had a hip disease. Their mother would drive 200 miles to a charity hospital to have him treated. That was my family growing up.
When I hear stories of families struggling to pay their premiums, putting off treatment because it’s too expensive, or splitting their pills in half to make them last longer, I see my mother and my brother and the struggles my family has endured. And I see a system that continues to fail families like mine while ruining the market for everyone else.
LONG OBAMACARE CRITIC SAYS TRUMP PLAN WILL NOT FIX PROGRAM’S FATAL DEFECTS
Obamacare is not affordable for many Americans, so it needs to be fixed in Congress. (Cyberguy.com)
Republicans and even Democrats agree: Obamacare has not made health care more affordable. I want people to be able to get affordable, accessible health care and preserve the safety net for families that Obamacare was intended to provide, which means we need to take action.
I know we can fix Obamacare. I worked with President Donald Trump and my colleagues on a bill that provides simple fixes to Obamacare, allowing families to get health care that fits their needs while lowering costs. Under my plan, we’re not replacing Obamacare – it’s going nowhere. We will preserve healthcare.gov and state exchanges, we will maintain protections for those with pre-existing conditions, and no one will lose health care.
We simply add options and let Americans be consumers, making the choice that works best for them and their families. That means we stop funneling taxpayer money to insurance companies, we allow people to shop across state lines and we make health care more transparent so families can make informed decisions.
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Currently, families can only purchase insurance plans sold in the state in which they live. That doesn’t make any sense. If an insurance company in Kansas offers a great plan, a family in Georgia should be able to buy it. By allowing states to opt into a system that allows sales across state lines, we open the health insurance marketplace across the country, encouraging innovation and competition to drive down prices and create better choices for families.
Just like buying clothes or groceries, you are no longer limited to the stores in your city; you can access stores around the world to find what you’re looking for, instead of settling for what’s right in front of you. And again, we can and must do this while maintaining protections for people with pre-existing conditions, so that everyone is treated fairly.
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When we stop funneling tax dollars for subsidies to insurance companies and instead provide families with safety net support through a Trump Health Freedom Account – an HSA-like account – we put the power of decision-making in the hands of families to choose a plan that best suits their needs. Americans will always do that make a better choice for their families than the government will.
And then we add transparency to health care by requiring public reporting of negotiated rates, charges, and cash prices for services provided in hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, and clinical laboratories. Families receive an advance estimate of what things will cost them (a health care menu) so they can make informed decisions and plan for their needs.
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We simply add options and let Americans be consumers, making the choice that works best for them and their families.
We have the opportunity to make simple changes that will make a world of difference for American families. We would flip the script for Obamacare, which left Americans with fewer choices, higher costs, and worse outcomes, to one that lowers costs, meets their needs, and encourages transparency and better outcomes. We need to get rid of the old ways that failed Obamacare and transform it into a new, open program that gives Americans the opportunity to behave like consumers, just like we do with every other thing we buy.
Everyone knows Obamacare is a disaster. It’s time to fix it. We must stop politicians in Washington from making our health care decisions top-down and instead give Americans an open health care system where they have the freedom to get the care they need.
CLICK HERE TO VAN SEN. RICH SCOTT
