Are you ready for this? Health insurers have announced that the monthly premiums for medical coverage will rise anywhere between 12 and 25% next year.
It’s infuriating as the health care tab grows ever more unaffordable. Polls continually show that the number one healthcare concern among voters is ever-increasing insurer costs – premiums, deductibles, copays, middlemen fees, etc. – all of which have spiked astronomically since Obamacare was first implemented and later expanded by President Joe Biden.
That’s why Washington’s plan to double down on failed policies will mainly benefit health insurers like United Health, but rip gaping holes in American family finances without any improvement in medical services.
A new study by Paragon, a health economics firm, finds that in some cases, more than 80% of the tax dollars from expanding Obamacare subsidies go right into the profits of the insurance lobby. Even Bernie Sanders admits this.
He’s now a lonely voice in the Democratic Party. They’ve suddenly fallen in love with the very insurers that they once fought tooth and nail against.
Since passage of the “Affordable Care Act” (aka, Obamacare) – premiums for average families in both the government exchanges and employer markets have skyrocketed 100-150% or more. In tandem, family health plans issued by insurers – often totaling $25,000 to $40,000 per year – now offer fewer benefits, impose more access restrictions to care, and shift more unaffordable out of pocket costs like high deductibles and copays directly onto patients.
Whatever happened to the LOWER healthcare prices Democrats promised 15 years ago when Obama was president?
Now we pay for the satchels full of profits for the insurers TWICE: With our taxes and our inflated monthly premiums.
Health care has become like university tuitions: the more we subsidize them, the more they charge.
Here are five easy pieces to stop the health care swindle and cut costs in half:
(1) Move To Catastrophic Health Plans
Because health insurance now costs the average family about $35,000 a year, most Americans would be much better off simply paying out of pocket for routine medical expenses up to say $10,000 to $20,000 and then paying for much cheaper catastrophic coverage, such as an injury, a battle with cancer, or the very high costs of a chronic and disabling disease.
The insurance industry fights ferociously against these cheaper plans because they want Americans to buy as much insurance as possible. The Democrats have even tried to make catastrophic plans illegal!
(2) Cut Out The Costly Middlemen
Corporate health service cartels now own the big chain pharmacies, pharmacy benefit middlemen, physician and emergency care practices, surgical centers, nursing homes and home health providers, health data companies, and much more. It’s become a health care racket and unfortunately, the surging costs haven’t corresponded with better health results.
All told, taxpayers have become a uniquely profitable business model for these big cartels. Their stock prices have catapulted exponentially beyond those in any other industry sector as a result of Obamacare and the Biden Administration’s policies. All of which explains the powerful advocacy machine they’ve built to maintain it. It’s meant to protect and build upon the status quo, not seek reforms to lower healthcare costs, eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.
(3) Demand Health Care Price Transparency
Why can’t we shop around for the best deals from physicians, hospitals and clinics? Our friends at Paragon, a free-market health advocacy group, believe that by posting prices for hospital stays, prescription drugs, doctor visits, and surgery we could lower everyone’s costs by as much as 30% and get better care. In some cities surgery or treatments or prescription drugs can cost 10 times more at one clinic or hospital than another.
To his credit, President Trump is fighting to restore transparency and competition to America’s healthcare system. What’s taking so long?
(4) Impose Severe Penalties On Hospitals, Doctors And Pharmacies For Overcharging Patients
By some estimates fraudulent charges in the health care system cost $84 billion a year. The fraud is rampant and often goes unpunished. Hospitals, insurers and other providers that rip off patients and the taxpayers should face extreme financial penalties, even jail time for fraud. Repeat offenders should face a “death penalty” and be forever ineligible for Medicare or Medicaid reimbursements.
(5) Take Charge Of Your Own Health
It’s estimated that at least half of all health problems are due to lifestyle decisions. Our diet, our lack of exercise, our failure to control obesity, our risky behavior, and our lack of sleep – to name a few. Staying out of the hospital and away from the doctor’s office could be the best way to stay healthy.
The goal should be to deliver better health care at half the cost to American families. It’s not a pipe dream, and it should be a national priority.
Stephen Moore is a former Trump economic advisor and Co-Founder of Unleash Prosperity Now and Most Favored Patient.
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.
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