The Voice of Young Conservatives Blog

This is Part II in a series, to see our analysis on the GOP’s Pledge to create jobs see HERE.

Republicans are looking ahead to one of the most promising election years in over a decade. There are many reasons for our rosy prospects, but they are encapsulated by a common theme – a perception that government has overstepped its bounds. This term has been marked by unprecedented growth in our government. Unsurprisingly then, it has also been marked by historic levels of spending that threaten to literally bankrupt our future.

Perhaps the single largest symbol in government’s growth is the Democrats’ healthcare plan. Although it is a significant retreat from their favored plan, a government run single-payor system, it nevertheless represents the growth of government in a traditionally private sector.

Facing steeply rising premium prices the public was, and remains, open to fundamental healthcare reform. Sadly, the Democrats’ plan focused on the wrong problem. Rather than enact changes that would address the growing cost of healthcare, the government turned its focus toward forced increases in coverage. They hoped that by mandating that people join government approved healthcare plans, healthy people would be able to subsidize the larger number of insured.

This strategy has been an utter failure. Studies conducted by the federal government have found that the Democrats healthcare plan will increase costs, government spending, and ultimately make it harder to balance the budget. In June 2009 the CBO said that “enacting the proposal would result in a net increase in federal budget deficit of about $1.0 trillion over the 2010-2019 period. In April 2010 the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that “we estimate the for calendar years 2010 through 2019, [national health expenditures] would increase by $311 billion, or 0.9 percent, over the updated baseline projection.” And on June 2010 CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf found that, “In CBO’s judgment, the health legislation enacted earlier this year does not substantially diminish [the] pressure of [rising health costs].”

Given the numbers, it is unsurprising that a majority of Americans (61 percent) now favor repealing the healthcare law while a mere 33 percent say it will be good for the country.

Based on that feedback Republicans have made repealing and replacing Obamacare a key component of their governing agenda. Realistically, repealing the healthcare law would be politically impossible. Even if the GOP retakes the House and/or the Senate, they would likely face a presidential veto which would then require support from 2/3 of both chambers to override. But this isn’t about politics, or even possibility, so much as a reflection of the voters’ values.

The plan shows that Republicans’ understand and embrace the need for reform, but accomplish it by focusing on lowering costs rather than mandating coverage. Among the Republican promises as part of their reform are:

• Enact medical liability reform
• Introduce free market competition by allowing people to purchase health care across state lines
• Expand health savings accounts
• Strengthen doctor-patient relationship
• Ensure access for patients with pre-existing conditions
• Permanently prohibit taxpayer abortions

To be fair, Democrats and Republicans agree on quite a bit. They both focus on creating insurance exchanges that make it easy to comparison shop. They also focus on prevention rather than treatment, understand the importance of access for preexisting conditions, and have a goal of lowering costs. The true difference lies in what Republicans want to leave out. They want to reduce the government’s presence in the healthcare law by simplifying the law and eliminating the need for the 3,833 pages of federal regulations that have already been written and the hundreds of new departments and agencies tasked with carrying out the law.
Rather than focus on what the government can do, Republicans rely on the power of free markets and individuals to get costs under control. The nexus of their plan is removing the current (but dying) system of employer and government provided coverage. One of the main problems that insurers have been able to drive costs skyward is that the consumer has no idea what healthcare actually costs. With no concept of what they are paying for, consumers’ incentive to shop for lower costs is reduced to near nothing. By allowing individuals, supplemented by an advanceable tax credit, to purchase their healthcare they will be forced to spend wisely.

The upcoming elections shows the power of the people when united behind a common cause. By empowering people to make healthcare decisions, unchained from the current broken system, we can reinvigorate a free market where competition and lower costs reign. The result will not only be less government intrusion in our lives, but reduced premium prices and lower governmental costs.

The Republican “Pledge” is not perfect but it represents a necessary shift from Washington. One in which the government’s role is not to provide healthcare, but one in which the government uses its power to grease the wheels for the free market. If Republicans are elected, the politics of repeal remain difficult, but at least the Pledge shows that their hearts and minds are in the right place.

by Brandon Greife, Political Director