Government mandates, inadequate cost containment, high drug prices, and lack of price transparency are increasing premiums and deductibles, making insurance unaffordable. Ten years of the Affordable Care Act resulted in skyrocketing health insurance premiums and unsustainable spending. 

In Idaho, annual premium costs have gone from $1,915 in the few years before Obamacare to $5,267 in years following the implementation of Obamacare. The average Idahoan might pay $12,000 for a simple shoulder surgery at one hospital and $22,000 for the same surgery at a different hospital. 

Fortunately, Idaho has set the standard for showing how healthcare can be successful for patients and families. 

To continue improving American’s health care, I support implementing “patient-centric alternatives” to lower costs, while giving Idahoans more choice. These include Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), Direct Primary Care, Charity Care, Medi-Share, Medical Memberships, Association Health Plans, the ability to buy insurance across state lines, expanded use of disease management and wellness programs, integrated technology, and lessened administrative rules.

In Congress, I have supported specific measures to move our country away from the Obama-era path towards socialized medicine, and instead to a system that  puts medical decisions in the hands of patients, families, and their doctors-- not bureaucrats in Washington or health insurance conglomerates.