Market-Based Health Care, Not Obamacare, Is the Way Forward

With Georgia Rep. Tom Price as the nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, there will be much discussion about his potential impact on the future of health care. Some will advocate that one strategy is necessary: repeal and replace. That’s half right. Without a doubt, the sitting president’s failed health care law should be repealed. The problem comes, however, the moment replace comes into the picture.

The very idea of replacing the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, comes from the same fatal assumption of the failed law: that the success of a health care bill should be judged by how much it expands insurance coverage. Instead of addressing the underlying problems of cost, quality and access to actual health care, Obamacare focused entirely on the coverage question.

Obamacare tried to put a health insurance card in everyone’s hand. But as we have seen since the law’s implementation, an insurance card is no guarantee of care. That’s why Congress needs to avoid the “replace” trap with its focus on coverage, and instead pass individual bills that not only address insurance but also solve the underlying problems in health care. We need more avenues to quality and truly affordable care, and the answer isn’t simply tweaking the insurance system; it’s unleashing an array of market-based solutions that focus on the patient. This means reforming the supply side of health care to open up more options to doctors, services and treatments that better meet patients’ needs.

In order to do so, Republicans have the first step right: Repeal Obamacare. After that, however, they must try something they’ve never tried before: They must not only address the problems created and exacerbated by Obamacare, but they must also tackle the fundamental problems with health care that existed even before the law was in place. Namely, they must break down barriers standing in the way of health care innovators, physicians and patients so that individuals can have more options for care.