Relief from Obamacare: a better system ahead

Republican congressmen KEITH ROTHFUS, MIKE KELLY and BILL SHUSTER preview the improved health care

The Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, was forced through Congress in 2010 without a single Republican vote. It was sold to the American people with multiple false promises, like President Barack Obama’s infamous, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” Supporters of the law said it would reduce premiums for families by an average of $2,500 per year. It did not. One by one, Obamacare’s promises were broken. Now, premiums and deductibles continue to skyrocket with no mechanism in the law to bring prices down.

In Pennsylvania alone, workers and families are facing average premium increases of 33 percent. The list of insurers who have left the Obamacare exchanges altogether because they can no longer afford to offer plans is growing. Eighteen of the 23 Obamacare-created Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (Co-Ops) across the country have collapsed — after taxpayers were forced to waste $2 billion to keep them operational. Instead of a robust insurance marketplace,

Obamacare is building a monopoly that all but guarantees costs will continue to rise.

Still, supporters claim this bill has fixed a once-broken health care system. In reality, Obamacare covers 24 million fewer people than it was expected to, and the projected price tag has more than doubled at $2 trillion. This simply cannot be defined as success. Those Americans who did sign up for health care through Obamacare did so under the threat of financial penalties from the federal government. The large majority of newly insured were pushed into Medicaid, a broken insurance program that has historically failed our most vulnerable populations. Not only does this seriously limit consumer choice and quality of care for patients, but it also comes at a serious cost to the American taxpayer.

It’s time for change. We have no choice but to scrap this failed program and replace it with a system that gives Pennsylvanians access to the care they need, at a price they can afford and from a doctor they choose.

Our alternative will expand the options for individuals and families to access affordable insurance coverage. It will provide for a transition period where those currently on Obamacare will have ample time to choose a new plan that works best for them and their families. We will make sure that no one struggling with complex medical needs or pre-existing conditions is denied access to affordable health care options.

Our replacement will allow insurers to provide more options for consumers and allow individuals, small businesses and associations to pool together to get the same purchasing power as large entities. We will expand Health Savings Accounts; provide tax credits to help those who do not have employer-based coverage to buy their own insurance in an expanded private market; and ensure health care decisions are made between a patient and his or her doctor, not by bureaucrats in Washington. In short, our plan is to move away from Washington mandates and move toward flexibility and choice.

These are commonsense solutions.

While Obamacare has failed in an undeniable fashion, the goal of ensuring the American people can access quality, affordable health care remains. Our Democratic counterparts in Congress have spent the last eight years championing President Obama’s signature legislation — even as working families continued to lose the plans and doctors they like, and their health care costs continued to skyrocket.

Republicans have an urgent mandate to deliver relief to every family struggling under Obamacare. We must repeal this failed law and move ahead with putting a better plan in place for the American people.