How To Get A Health Care System That Answers To The Patient

By Grace-Marie Turner

Obamacare doesn’t and can’t work. It is a rolling disaster that is wreaking havoc on the American economy and health care sector. Americans are experiencing first-hand the damage the law is doing. It is making their health insurance more expensive, driving doctors out of practice, and undermining the goal of improved health care. And the law doesn’t even come close to universal coverage—leaving at least 31 million uninsured, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.

So what should we do to fix the mess? Some conservatives want Republicans to rally around one bill to replace ObamaCare and then take that plan to the voters for the November elections. That approach, however, entails both political and policy risks that can be mitigated with a different strategy. Conservatives should focus first on laying out a vision of true competition and patient choice, gaining a mandate from voters to begin to pass “repeal and replace” bills in the next session of Congress based upon the vision of providing people with access to quality, affordable, innovative health care.