Protect Healthcare Reforms!

We at ANH have written numerous articles on the burdensome regulations that prevent a consumer-friendly health insurance marketplace from developing. Over the last few years, a number of reforms have been accomplished that loosen the straight-jacket the Affordable Care Act has put us in to allow more choice in healthcare.

Write to Congress and urge them to codify these important changes into law.

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Please entrench important healthcare reforms into law

Dear [Decision Maker],

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Over the last few years, a number of reforms have been accomplished that loosen the straight-jacket the Affordable Care Act has put us in to allow more choice in healthcare. For many of us, fewer choices and higher premiums have characterized the healthcare marketplace since the Affordable Care Act was passed. These reforms give us more choice and flexibility with regard to healthcare. They must be entrenched into law since many can be reversed by the next administration.

Telehealth is a key example. Telehealth lowers healthcare costs, since telehealth visits are inherently less expensive than in-person visits. There are a number of bills in Congress that seek to make permanent changes in the rules to allow more access to telemedicine (currently, many of these changes are in response to the pandemic and could revert back once the public health emergency it is over). However, there are also pushes to mandate that insurers reimburse for telemedicine at the same rate as in-person visits (called payment parity). These crony price-fixing schemes are designed to thwart competition and keep healthcare costs high, and must be opposed.

Price transparency has also been required of hospitals, per an executive order. This is a crucial reform: hospitals are a crony capitalist mess and charge vastly different prices for the same services--even facilities in the same area. This much-needed reform will allow consumers to avoid hospitals charging extortionist prices. We must make sure it is codified into law.

A number of other key reforms introduce flexibility and consumer choice into health insurance. For example, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) were expanded to make it easier for HSA holders to get treatments for chronic illnesses covered. Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs) were also expanded under an executive order to allow employers to give tax-free money to employees to buy their own insurance.

Other reforms:
	Expanded access to direct primary care (DPC). Also referred to as "concierge medicine," a final IRS rule expected this year will allow Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) to be used for DPC payments. This should be expanded to allow Health Savings Account (HSA) funds to be used for DPC payments.
	Expand specialized healthcare options. Following the example of Medicare Advantage Chronic Condition Special Needs Plans (C-SNPs) that specialize in providing insurance to patients with a particular disease, Congress should pass legislation allowing plans offered on the Obamacare Exchanges to specialize in a particular type of care, not the "one-size-fits-all" approach that ends up fitting no one particularly well. 
	Extended-duration short term health plans. Short term, limited duration health insurance plans are not required to follow Obamacare rules (such as offering the full bevy of "essential health benefits"). Recent rule changes extended the duration of these plans from three months to 12 months with an option to renew for two years. This administrative change can easily be reversed, so it must be codified into law.
	Give states authority to reform private insurance markets. Obamacare began a race to the bottom for insurers who wanted to attract healthy individuals and avoid covering sick people, which has led to high costs for people with pre-existing conditions. Recently, the federal government has expanded access to waivers from certain Obamacare requirements to allow states to engage in risk mitigation, which sets aside funds for the care of the sickest enrollees without forcing the healthy to pay high premiums. This has already led to lower costs in seven states. States should be given more flexibility to reform their health insurance markets as they see fit.

Significant steps have been taken to allow more consumer-driven healthcare options to flourish. But this still all takes place in the context of a crony medical system in which the government is gagging doctors for talking about supplement benefits, attacking homeopathic medicine, and on the verge of banning estriol.

Please codify into law important these important healthcare reforms.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]
[Your Email]