Come January, the Trump White House and a Republican-controlled Congress will have the opportunity to pursue a conservative healthcare agenda. From the perspective of small businesses, there are three policy buckets to prioritize.
First, the number of healthcare options should increase for small businesses and their employees—a dynamic that will foster competition to lower costs.
To get it done, policymakers can thin government regulations associated with Obamacare that restrict patient and employer choice. Americans should be free to access health plans that best fit their unique circumstances—ranging from fully loaded Cadillac insurance to shoestring catastrophic coverage. One-size-fits-all mandates limit options and balloon prices for everyone.
While most agree pre-existing conditions shouldn’t be a deciding factor in health coverage, other current stipulations are less logical. Should insurance for a woman in her twilight years have to cover birth control? Should coverage for a healthy twenty-something be the same as insurance for a gentleman approaching retirement? Of course not.
The Trump administration should also revisit expanding association health plans, which will allow small businesses to band together to access more affordable coverage similar to their corporate competitors. And officials should explore expanding the use of personal health management accounts to give Americans more control over their healthcare dollars.
Next, policymakers should demand more price transparency among insurance companies, large hospital networks, and pharmaceutical middlemen. The pricing schemes of these entities are largely hidden, which makes it impossible for small businesses or patients to shop around.
Most Americans know what out-of-pocket costs are associated with a check-up or annual screening. But few are aware of how much the hospital charges or what insurance companies pay for these visits. Therefore, few incentives exist to keep prices low—a system that forces huge expenses onto small businesses and employees.
Giving small businesses and patients a clearer window into the pricing structures deployed by members of the healthcare mob will help drive down costs. The process for choosing care or buying medicine should be closer to ordering food off a restaurant menu than negotiating complex stock options.
Three, the Trump administration—and its allies in Congress—needs to disarm the ticking inflationary timebomb within healthcare. Since Obamacare took effect, average premiums have nearly doubled. Some states have even experienced three-fold cost increases—proving the status quo is not workable long term.
Why? Because the current system relies on increasing government subsidies to artificially keep health plan costs low. The approach provides some Americans with discounted premiums but leaves small businesses—and families—that don’t qualify for subsidies footing an ever-increasing bill.
What is effectively a blank check from Uncle Sam signals to the healthcare industrial complex that the taxpayer money spicket is open. And who ends up benefiting most? Large insurance companies that have access to the government spending bonanza.
Come January, Republicans have a big opportunity to move the ball forward on healthcare reform. If navigated correctly, small businesses and patients can look forward to lower costs, more choices, and improved care. It’s just what the doctor ordered.
Elaine Parker is the president of the Job Creators Network Foundation.