Issue Position: Patient-Centric Alternatives for Healthcare

Issue Position

Healthcare and healthcare insurance cost too much. People struggle to afford it and there is uncertainty on the future of what will be offered. The people of the 1st Congressional District need better access to more affordable, high-quality healthcare. That will come from more choice and competition, lower prices, greater pricing transparency, and fewer federal mandates. Choice is not forcing every insurance policy to fit rigid Obamacare mandates. Choice means letting people buy what they need for themselves and their families. Lower prices come from unleashing competition by medical providers and insurance companies -- putting the power in the hands of the patient. That is why I support free market-based "patient-centric alternatives" that include charity care, direct primary care, medi-share, medical memberships, expanded integration of disease management and wellness programs that utilize technology, and use of alternative treatment strategies based on approved science.

It also means removing federal healthcare mandates, while at the same time allowing people to increase their resources to pay for healthcare and healthcare insurance -- tax free. These include letting people do more with tax-free Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and other healthcare accounts for people to have options in the paying for healthcare and healthcare insurance. And, it means allowing people to buy in large groups ("association buying") in the individual health insurance market. This is crucial because the high premiums that characterize the individual health insurance market hurt low-income, working Idahoans.

I support a healthcare system where choice, transparency, competition, and fewer federal healthcare mandates will empower individuals with lower costs and greater access to high-quality healthcare and insurance. We don't need government-controlled healthcare. We need a "parallel path" based more on market and private charity alternatives where individuals and families can access good healthcare.

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