With the DNC completed, both parties have now nominated their candidates and made their platforms known. However, frustratingly lacking from the speeches at both conventions was a plan to address rising healthcare costs.
Democrats skimmed over further Medicaid expansion and price controls—tired policies that have already been tried and failed at thwarting rising healthcare costs over the years. They have nothing new to offer, creating an opportunity for Republicans to offer a vision that can work better. Except almost no mention of healthcare was made during their convention either.
There are many free-market, patient-centered solutions being offered to address rising costs and accessibility, but we will continue to lose ground in the fight against a single-payer healthcare system when no one knows about them. Conservatives must offer a coherent, unified plan to address one of the top pocketbook issues for the American people, who are desperate for change on this issue.
In February, a Pew Research survey found that “reducing healthcare costs” was the fourth most important policy priority for voters, with 49% of Republicans saying that it should be a top priority. Similarly, voters ranked “the availability and affordability of healthcare” as the fifth top concern in a March Gallup poll. Voters are right to be concerned.
Healthcare costs have risen astronomically over the years despite claims that Obamacare would reduce costs for Americans. Monthly family health insurance premiums have increased 43% since 2012, prescription drugs increased by 91% between 2000 and 2020, and hospital services have risen 256% since 2000—significantly outpacing all other sectors. Even college tuition is a distant second place.
Americans are suffering because of this. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 41% of Americans have healthcare debt. Four in ten skipped or postponed necessary care in the previous year due to cost, and that rises to six in ten for the uninsured. Even among those with insurance, 48% are worried about affording their monthly health insurance premium. No one is safe from the stress caused by our nation’s healthcare costs.
Government intervention is not the answer, but with the new Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris having supported universal healthcare in the past, we are on the fast track to a government takeover because voters don’t know that they have other options. Afterall, Republicans failed to deliver on their biggest healthcare goal of the previous decade to ‘repeal and replace’ Obamacare in 2017. The GOP has given up on this effort and has not had a solid message to deliver on healthcare since. This needs to change.
Part of the problem is that conservatives don’t have a large, silver bullet policy that is easily explained with a catchphrase. There are many free-market, patient-centered reforms that have been advocated for and implemented since 2017, but they address many different issues within the system that are difficult to create a unified message around.
For example, the Trump Administration implemented hospital and insurance price transparency rules to empower patients to find the most affordable care before they receive it. However, the Biden administration has been weak on enforcing this legislation, so most Americans cannot yet take advantage of the policy. Again, under the Trump administration, right to try legislation was passed to allow terminally ill patients to access experimental drugs. This was one of the very few policies mentioned throughout the RNC. There are also many state-level solutions such as expanding access to telehealth and allowing Farm Bureau plans as a more affordable health coverage option. Talking about each issue can be overwhelming, but it is not exactly obvious how all this can be unified into a cohesive message for American voters.
Fortunately, some on the right have done the work to take these reforms and create a cohesive message. Americans for Prosperity took many of these proposals and packaged them as the ‘personal option’. This is an alternative to the more commonly known ‘public option’ and encompasses three main policy objectives; more affordability, greater access, and better quality. This ‘personal option’ is not one policy, but a vision for the future of American healthcare that each individual conservative policy is working towards. This would be a very effective way for the GOP to talk about healthcare to the American people.
We must stop hiding from healthcare issues and we don’t have to. Whether conservatives rally behind the ‘personal option’ or think of another way to message their vision for healthcare, voters need to know that there are free-market and patient-centered reforms that can lower costs and improve access. If not, there will be no one else to blame as America casually slips into a single-payer system.
Miranda Spindt
Policy Associate