Even before Donald Trump was elected our nation’s new president, Republicans were calling for a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly referred to as Obamacare. However, many wonder what kind of plans Republicans have for a replacement. According to President Trump, he wants “insurance for everybody” that “lowers costs and deductibles.” That sounds nice, but how will it be accomplished? After all, Tim Michling, an analyst for the Citizens Research Council of Michigan summed it up nicely when he said, “healthcare is complex and requires trade-offs in terms of how best to use limited resources. It’s time to make some tough decisions.” However, there are many misconceptions about healthcare reform floating around out there that should be addressed before anyone makes any concrete plans for Obamacare reform.
Even before Donald Trump was elected our nation’s new president, Republicans were calling for a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly referred to as Obamacare. However, many wonder what kind of plans Republicans have for a replacement. According to President Trump, he wants “insurance for everybody” that “lowers costs and deductibles.” That sounds nice, but how will it be accomplished? After all, Tim Michling, an analyst for the Citizens Research Council of Michigan summed it up nicely when he said, “healthcare is complex and requires trade-offs in terms of how best to use limited resources. It’s time to make some tough decisions.” However, there are many misconceptions about healthcare reform floating around out there that should be addressed before anyone makes any concrete plans for Obamacare reform.
One common misconception is that the U.S. has the best healthcare in the world. This simply isn’t true. Instead, we’re known for having the “most expensive healthcare system,” and unfortunately that has yet to translate to superior care. Just how expensive is our healthcare system? Well, according to a 2015 analysis by the Commonwealth Fund, an estimated 17.1% of the “U.S. gross domestic product was spent on healthcare” in 2013. In that year, we spent 50% more than France, a country that was the second most affordable healthcare system in the world in 2013. The analysis also determined that “despite its heavy investment in healthcare, the U.S. sees poorer results on several key health outcome measures such as life expectancy and the prevalence of chronic conditions.”
A second common misconception is the belief that “moving to a single-payer system could cut our costs almost in half.” Unfortunately, many experts believe the level of savings that supporters of single-payer plan think would happen is simply unrealistic. Supporters like to say that a single-payer system “gets you more bang for your buck by reducing administrative overhead, hospital and doctors’ fees, and prescription drug prices.” However, the flip side would be reduced costs creating “issues with access.” Additionally, “lower drug prices limit funding for research and development, lower physicians’ salaries disincentivize people going into medicine, lower fees could bankrupt hospitals, and people would have less choice in health plans.”
A third misconception is something that has been in the news quite a bit lately, tort reform. Many believe that tort reform can lower healthcare costs. While in theory, it could be a good idea, experts say it’s “unlikely to have much impact on U.S. healthcare costs because it’s not a big slice of the pie.” To prove that tort reform wouldn’t really make much of a difference, opponents to the suggestion have pointed to a 2009 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office that “estimated that costs associated with lawsuits comprise less than 2 percent of U.S. spending on healthcare, and the savings from national tort reform was estimated at 0.5 percent of overall expenditures.” Our healthcare system is simply too big for tort reform to be effective, plain and simple.
With so many misconceptions floating around out there, it’s imperative that our lawmakers take their time in crafting a realistic, effective replacement if they’re truly serious about repealing the ACA.
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