Health Care

The consequences of Obamacare were predictable. The website failed. The co-ops collapsed. Many fewer signed up for expensive plans. Mostly a Medicaid expansion, the program piled new mandatory spending on an already strained federal entitlement. Elderly and disabled patients waiting for care moved to the back of the line, behind healthy, working-age adults. Americans lost their private insurance and doctors. Costs rose quickly. 

Obamacare supporters are now demanding an even larger federal role in Americans' private medical decisions: "Medicare for All." Medicare for All would replace Medicare and every other insurance plan with a one-size-fits-all government-administered system like the VA. Seniors who paid into Medicare would lose the coverage and benefits they currently claim. Our national debt would explode, jeopardizing basic health care. 

Under Donald Trump, we're finally seeing price decreases. There are more, cheaper generic drugs. Finally, customers can purchase health insurance across state lines. There are short-term, flexible plans available for those unable to afford Obamacare's high premiums and deductibles. The individual mandate tax is gone. Protecting people with pre-existing conditions is possible without Obamacare and high taxes on income-earners. 

Rather than increase government bureaucracy, we must return power to patients and their doctors to lower prices for insurance, services, and to accelerate innovation. Numerous times, I have voted t for ree-market reforms that respect every American's right to make his or her own health care decisions.