The Conservative Action Project, founded by former Attorney General Edwin Meese and chaired by The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop, is designed to facilitate conservative leaders working together on behalf of common goals. Participants include the CEO’s of more than 100 organizations representing all major elements of the conservative movement – economic, social, and national security.
Memo for the Movement
Repeal and Replace
July 29, 2015
Washington, DC
The Affordable Care Act, widely known as ObamaCare, is the greatest expansion of government control over the lives of the American people in the 226 years of our republic. The American people fought valiantly against passage of this oppressive law and continue to pay the price for its excesses.
ObamaCare’s first years have been fraught with failure, but its future looks even more bleak. Big premium increases are coming in 2016 for people who purchased health insurance on the ObamaCare exchanges. Millions of others with coverage outside the exchanges lost their previous policies and now are facing double-digit premium hikes. Many Americans say the new policies they are forced to buy don’t meet their needs — with excessive benefit requirements and impossibly high deductibles. Small businesses will be hit with the employer mandate in January, the Cadillac health insurance tax is looming, doctors are retiring and selling their practices in record numbers, and the price tag for taxpayers continues to raise from this misguided effort to put one-sixth of our economy under government control.
Supreme Court rescues ObamaCare, once again.
The Supreme Court once again has rewritten ObamaCare to save it. Its tortured King v. Burwell decision allowed the illegal IRS premium subsidies to stand, despite the clear language of the law. Now, the only appeal of the Supreme Court’s decision is to the American people.
Americans have made their objections to the law clear in election after election, but 2016 is likely to be different. They want repeal, but they also want to hear solutions. In 2016, they will be looking to conservatives to chart the path ahead, away from ObamaCare’s centralized bureaucratic control and toward a brighter future that puts doctors and patients in charge of health decisions.
Ten Principles for a Patient-Centered Health Care
Charting a path to freedom
Conservatives should focus on presenting a vision of patient choice and true competition to gain a mandate not only to repeal but to replace the health overhaul law based upon policies that lead to quality, affordable, innovative care. Dozens of quality replacement plans have been offered by conservatives in Congress and in the policy community. We strongly encourage and expect the presidential candidates to offer their own plans as well.
We offer here ten principles we believe replacement plans should meet so a new Congress and a new president can gain a mandate to repeal and replace this oppressive law with Constitutional reforms:
- Affordability: The United States does not have a properly functioning market for health care, and the financing system needs to be reformed. ObamaCare’s answer was to vastly expand government programs and impose pricing systems that already are backfiring. Coverage would be more affordable if it were free from the mountains of rules, regulations, and mandates imposed by the ACA. Conservative reform plans should liberate the marketplace to compete on cost and quality in response to consumer demands, as in other sectors of our economy.
- Choice: Individuals and families should be able to choose health coverage and care that best meet their needs, free from the straightjacket of benefits ObamaCare says are “essential” but which ignore what consumers prefer. Congress could begin by providing a new set of incentives for people who do not have health insurance. These incentives should be properly structured to create an opportunity for people to purchase care and coverage in an open and competitive market. People also need better information about their insurance options and treatment choices, including clear information about prices and quality. Medicare Advantage can be improved to promote more coverage options for seniors, and Medicaid recipients also should have greater opportunities to pick private plans that are competing to offer creative benefit design and better service delivery.
- Federalism: The federal government has vastly overstepped its authority in exerting centralized control over the health sector. The Tenth Amendment reserves the power to regulate these markets to the states, which should have control over providing appropriate protections for their citizens in their health insurance markets. States should be encouraged to create incentives for providers, carriers, and others to compete in offering consumers a range of options for health insurance and services at affordable prices. States also should have much more flexibility in running Medicaid programs so they can get the best value for taxpayers’ dollars, including allowing recipients to escape the Medicaid ghetto.
- Equity: Health reform must balance the tax treatment of health insurance so people purchasing coverage on their own are not at a disadvantage compared to those who receive coverage through an employer. Equity would also extend support for purchasing coverage to people who do not have health insurance.
- Security and portability: People need to know they won’t lose their coverage if they lose their jobs or get sick. People also should be able to own and keep their policies from year to year and switch to other carriers if they choose in a market that responds to their demands for better, more affordable options. As long as people maintain their policies, they should be assured that their coverage will continue without cost spikes if they get sick or hurt. A few sensible insurance rules – not ObamaCare’s repressive mandates – could provide that security and protect those with pre-existing conditions.
- Impartiality: There should be no favoritism or special interest deals. Members of Congress, the president, and political appointees should be treated the same as other Americans. Conservative reform should not grant special exemptions or benefits to favored groups or target disfavored groups.
- Doctor and patient control: Any health reform plan should keep as its focus the imperative for doctors and patients – not politicians and bureaucrats – to be in charge of their health care decisions. That means allowing doctors and other medical providers to put patients first and to continue to innovate to transform our health sector to enhance the quality and value of health treatments and care delivery to provide personalized care.
- Individual responsibility: No health care system can work if people are not encouraged to participate more actively in caring for their health and managing their health care decisions. That means giving them more control over – and more responsibility for – their choices and spending. Health Savings Accounts have been proven to encourage healthy behaviors and responsibility in managing care and costs, and opportunities to utilize HSAs should be protected and enhanced.
- Life affirming policies: Health reform policies should affirm health and life, with conscience protection for patients, medical providers, and others providing and paying for health services.
- Entitlement savings: The nation’s long-term spending trajectory is on a fiscal collision course. Eighty-five percent of the projected growth in federal spending over the next decade is due to entitlement spending and interest on the debt. (Obamacare alone will add $1.8 trillion in federal spending by 2024.) The threat of a debt crisis is very real and would pose lasting damage to the economy. We must begin now to reform our entitlement programs to avoid an eventual fiscal crisis. Conservative policy proposals must achieve substantial entitlement savings and can deploy the forces of consumer power and free markets in achieving the goals of entitlement reform. The sooner we act, the more options we will have.
Our health sector is stuck in a 20th century command-and-control regime. Conservative policies could move us into a 21st century age of information and innovation. If consumers were empowered to make their own choices with better incentives, transparent prices, and flexibility in benefits, then opportunities would flourish. If we unleash the innovators, an explosion of revolutionary technologies could save lives, ease suffering, and reduce costs, giving people options we can’t even imagine today. We encourage policymakers and political candidates to be guided by these ten principles in developing their own reform plans.
The Honorable Edwin Meese III
Former Attorney General
President Ronald Reagan
The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop
Chairman, CAP
Former White House Advisor, President Ronald Reagan
Grace-Marie Turner
President
Galen Institute
The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.
Former Domestic Advisor
President Ronald Reagan
Jenny Beth Martin
Co-Founder and President
Tea Party Patriots
Bill Pascoe
Partner
Antietam Communications
The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell
Chairman
Constitutional Congress, Inc.
Doug Badger
Former White House and U.S. Senate Policy Adviser
C.L. Gray, MD
President
Physicians for Reform
The Honorable Colin A. Hanna
President, Let Freedom Ring
Chairman, Coalitions for America
David A. Bozell
President
ForAmerica
Mr. William L. Walton
Vice President
Council for National Policy
Jeffrey H. Anderson
Executive Director
The 2017 Project
The Honorable David McIntosh
Former Member of Congress
Mr. Alfred S. Regnery
Chairman
Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund
Heather R. Higgins
President and CEO
Independent Women’s Voice
Sabrina L. Schaeffer
Executive Director
Independent Women’s Forum
Mrs. Marjorie Dannenfelser
President
Susan B. Anthony List
The Honorable Steve Stockman
Former Member of Congress
Lew Uhler
President
National Tax Limitation Committee
Joel Anand Samy
Co-Founder and President
International Leaders Summit
William J. Becker, Jr.
President/CEO/General Counsel
Freedom X
Bill Dallas
CEO
United in Purpose
James C. Miller III
Former Director of Office of Management and Budget
President Ronald Reagan
Kay R. Daly
President
Coalition for a Fair Judiciary
David A. Keene
Opinion Editor
The Washington Times
Jim Backlin
Christian Coalition of America
Bradley Mattes
President
Life Issues Institute
Rod D. Martin
Founder and CEO
The Martin Organization
Sherri R. Martin
The Martin Foundation
Jerry Melvin
President
Florida Republican Assembly
Dr. Theodore Baehr
Chairman and CEO
Christian Film and Television
Commission™ / Movieguide®
Ron Cameron
Chairman
Mountaire Corporation
Clifton P. Schroeder
President
Clifton P. Schroeder P.C., Law Offices
Christopher N. Malagisi
President
Young Conservatives Coalition
Curt Levey
President
The Committee for Justice
Elaine Donnelly
Founder and President
Center for Military Readiness
Floyd Brown
President
Western Center for Journalism
Grover Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform
The Honorable Ken Cuccinelli
President
Senate Conservatives Fund
Jim Waters
President
Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions
Richard A. Viguerie
Chairman
ConservativeHQ.com
Kevin Kookogey
President & Founder
Linchpins of Liberty
The Honorable Walter (Mike) B. Hill
Member (District 2)
Florida House of Representatives
David W. Preston
Executive Director
Oklahoma Wesleyan University Foundation
Mr. Herman Cain
President and CEO
www.hermancain.com
Kimberly Bellissimo
President & CEO
ForthRight Strategy
David N. Bossie
President
Citizens United
Penny Pullen
President, Life Advocacy Resource Project
Former Asst. Minority Leader, Illinois House of Representatives
George C. Landrith
President
Frontiers of Freedom
Gary Marx
Senior Partner
Madison Strategies
Dr. Richard Lee
President
There’s Hope America
John K. Singlaub
Major General
U.S. Army (Ret.)
Thomas Donelson
Chairman
Americas PAC
Mr. Ed Corrigan
Former Executive Director
Senate Steering Committee
Mario H. Lopez
President
HISPANIC LEADERSHIP FUND
James Bopp Jr.
The Bopp Law Firm, PC
Francis P. Cannon
President
American Principles Project
Dr. Ron Crews CH (COL) USAR Retired
Executive Director
Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty Endorsing Agent, Grace Churches International
Diana L. Banister
Vice President and Partner
Shirley & Banister Public Affairs
Dr. John C. Eastman
Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service
and Founding Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence
Chapman University School of Law
Sandy Rios
Vice President
Family Pac Federal
Rev. Lou Sheldon
Founder and Chairman
Traditional Values Coalition
Mathew Staver
Founder & Chairman
Liberty Counsel
Eric Teetsel
Executive Director
Manhattan Declaration
Robert D. Thompson
Administrator
The Weyrich Lunch
Forest Thigpen
President
Mississippi Center for Public Policy
Tim Wildmon
President
American Family Association
Ann Quest
Founder
UnityQuest
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Robert K. Fischer
Meeting Coordinator for Conservatives of Faith
Willes K. Lee
Vice President
National Federation of Republican Assemblies
Ambassador Henry F. Cooper
Former Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative
Preston Noell III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Tim LeFever
Chairman
Capitol Resource Institute
Andresen Blom
Executive Director
Grassroot Hawaii Action
Day Gardner
President
National Black Pro-Life Union
Brad Dacus
Founder and President
Pacific Justice Institute
Gary L. Bauer
President
American Values
Bob Carlstrom
President
The Carlstrom Group, LLC
Dan Weber
CEO
Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC)
Maureen Blum
President and CEO
Strategic Coalitions & Initiatives
Elizabeth Wright
Director of Health and Science Division
Citizens Against Government Waste
Quin Hillyer
Longtime Conservative Columnist
LifeZette
Morton Blackwell
Chairman
The Weyrich Lunch
Paul Vallely MG, US Army (Ret.)
Chairman
Stand Up America
Melissa Ortiz
Founder & Principal
Able Americans
Bob Adams
President
Revive America PAC
Penny Nance
CEO and President
Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee
Jerry Grossman
Co-founder
Great Falls Philosophical Forum
Donna Rice Hughes
President & CEO
Enough Is Enough
The Honorable Donald J. Devine
Former Director
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Ron Robinson
President
Young America’s Foundation
Larry L. Eastland, Ph.D.
Former Staff Assistant
President Ford
Joseph A. Morris
Morris & De La Rosa
Kirby A. Wilbur
Executive Director
National Journalism Center
Michael R. Long
State Chairman
NYS Conservative Party
The Honorable John Shadegg
Former Member of Congress, Arizona
Amy Noone Frederick
President
60 Plus Association
(All organizations listed for IDENTIFICATION purposes only)
If you would like to join us as a signatory, please send a note to us at galen@galen.org.