Dr. Boozman's Check-up
When I ask Arkansans what frustrates them about the direction of our country, the most common response I hear is that “Washington does not listen to us.”
Obamacare is a perfect example of how Congressional Democrats and officials in the White House, who claim they know better than hardworking Americans, refuse to listen to the concerns of the American people.
From the beginning, the President pushed Obamacare down the throats of Americans with no concerns about the negative effects it would have on them.
President Obama promised his approach would lower health care costs. The truth is, there is absolutely nothing in Obamacare that drives down costs. In fact, health care costs continue to rise since his signature initiative became law and Americans are set to see an even more dramatic hike in their premiums in the coming year.
The Obama administration has confirmed this week that health insurance premiums sold through Obamacare will see double-digit increases—an average of a twenty percent-plus surge—in 2017. This is not, as the President has billed it, “affordable care.”
Rather, this massive spike in premium costs is further evidence that Obamacare is failing. It’s collapsing under the weight of its own massive bureaucracy. Nothing in this law will contain healthcare costs, but that has not stopped the President and Senate Democrats from attempting to double down on failure by expanding Obamacare.
Competition is how you lower costs. We need to allow Americans to shop across state lines for their health insurance like they can for their automobile insurance, allow small business owners to pool together to purchase group insurance at a lower rate and introduce portability to the market to ensure that hardworking Americans don’t have disruptions in their coverage when they change jobs.
These free market approaches—along with an expansion of health savings accounts and tort reform to eliminate the practice of defensive medicine—are how you drive down the cost of care.
The President got his way over the vocal objections of millions of Americans. His way has made our health care crisis worse. Let’s turn to the free market to fix the mess Obamacare has created.