OPINION:
“You can keep your doctor. You can keep your insurance. Your premiums will go down.” Those were the promises. That was the plan. No details. That was over a decade ago. We now know what was in the 2,800-page “Affordable Care Act” and its 20,000 additional pages of rules and regulations. Problem: The plan didn’t work.
The plan inserted layers and layers of bureaucrats, middlemen and profiteers between you and your doctor. Layers that make for long wait times to see a doctor or get the treatment you need. Doctors now spend as much time dealing with red tape and mandatory paperwork as they spend with you. Every day, doctors throughout the country plead with insurance and government bureaucrats to approve payment for treatment that your doctor knows you need. With the government, it’s all about budgets and data. With your doctor, it is all about you.
Inserting layers of bureaucrats into the mix hasn’t been cheap. Bureaucrats are handsomely paid, with benefits and pensions to boot. The pricetag? — $800+ billion a year for health care administration. That’s $2,500 for every man, woman and child in America, or $10,000 a year for a family of four. No wonder costs have skyrocketed.
Just over 5% of Americans are now insured who weren’t insured before the ACA. So, for 5+% we turned health care on its head for 100% of the country. I daresay we could have given Cadillac plans to the 5+% and everyone would be better off.
Former Vice President Joe Biden says that under President Trump 20 million will lose their coverage. Not true. They will get much better coverage. But what about the 170+ million of us who still have some form of private insurance? Where do we go when Mr. Biden’s “public option” morphs into “Medicare for All,” which is the end game: Government control over one-sixth of the economy, which translates to government control over each and every one of us and our health care. And the not-so-slow march toward socialism takes a giant leap forward.
So, what is Mr. Trump’s plan?
Lower costs. Better care. More choice.
How? Back the government out of health care. You will control your own health care plan. You will own it. You take it with you when you change or lose your job. Your new employer can pay your premiums just like your old one did. But if you pay your own premiums they are deductible just like employer-paid premiums.
You no longer have to pay for one-size-fits-all insurance plans. (No more 50-year-olds having to pay for maternity insurance.) You shop for the plan that fits your needs and your wallet, just like your homeowners or car insurance. Watch prices come down when insurance companies compete for your business.
You will also be able to actually shop for medical services, because the president’s plan requires that prices be posted for all to see. Watch prices come down. Fast.
Because your health care dollars belong to you, you choose your doctor. No more anyone telling you what doctor you can see and what doctor you can’t.
What about preexisting conditions? First of all, the ACA holds no patent on preexisting coverage. There is more than one way to skin a cat. The president has said he will cover preexisting conditions. As a matter of fact, he said he will veto any health care bill that does not include preexisting coverage. According to The Wall Street Journal, there is an average of about 2,200 cases of preexisting conditions per state. We can handle this.
The president has already improved health care for a lot of Americans by eliminating the invasive and unfair tax on people who don’t have coverage. He passed right-to-try for critically ill patients, expanded telehealth and made it permanent for seniors, provided fair and better care for military veterans (no wonder his approval rating with vets is 91%), opened up more insurance options like new association plans, to name a few.
But the biggest difference between the current system and the president’s plan is this: When President Trump makes a promise that his health care plan will do this or that, you can take it to the bank. No more misleading or meaningless promises. Mr. Trump has a track record. Promises made are promises kept — and then some.
Are you ready for lower costs, better care and more choices? Are you ready for your own personalized health care plan or Mr. Biden’s bloated and bureaucratic nationalized health care system? Vote for President Trump and a Republican Congress.
• Nancy Schulze serves on the Advisory Board of Physicians for Reform as well as the national Women for Trump Advisory Board. As a congressional wife, she founded the Congressional Wives Speakers. In 2016, she founded the “Women for Trump” congressional wives bus tour.
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