Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01), chairman of the Healthy Future Task Force Subcommittee on Affordability, unveiled the Subcommittee’s solutions to make health care more accessible and affordable alongside Task Force members Rick Allen (GA-12) and Victoria Spartz (IN-05). The Subcommittee’s proposals intend to lower the cost of health insurance and overall care by increasing competition, transparency, and choices. 

Rep. Kevin Hern (OK-01) said, “Our goal is to hit the ground running with sound policies in January. Our subcommittee is proud to present this plan to make health care more affordable by enhancing health care options for workers and small business owners, improving innovation and transparency, and lowering costs by increasing competition.”

Rep. Rick Allen (GA-12) said, “When health care decisions are made by bureaucrats in Washington, the result is a top-down, one-size-fits-all system that never works. We want all Americans to have a high-quality, affordable, and personalized approach to their health. To do that, we must remove the barriers that prevent employers from banding together to help their workers get the most out of their benefits.”

Rep. Victoria Spartz (IN-05) said, “Improving health care value is a national security issue. I appreciate the work of my colleagues to develop real policy solutions and deliver results on this important issue for all Americans.”

Overview of solutions: 

• Improve workers’ ability to control and afford health care and improve small business owners’ ability to provide health insurance at a low cost and high value for employees. 
• Promote innovation and transparency to empower patients and provide more affordable options.
• Lower costs and increase choices by fostering competition and targeting incentives that drive consolidation and limit competition.

A more detailed one-pager can be found HERE.

Last month, the Subcommittee held a roundtable with small business owners to discuss how their policy solutions would improve small business owners’ ability to offer high-quality health benefits at lower costs for employees. 

You can watch the full roundtable HERE.

Background Information: 

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy created the 17-member Healthy Future Task Force to develop solutions to modernize the American health care system to lower costs, keep Americans healthy, develop better therapies and cures, and provide Americans with more choices. Representatives Brett Guthrie (KY-02) and Vern Buchanan (FL-16) co-chair the Task Force. The Affordability Subcommittee is one of five subcommittees part of the Healthy Future Task Force, which also includes the Treatment Subcommittee, Security Subcommittee, Modernization Subcommittee, and Doctor/Patient Relationship Subcommittee.

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