As newly elected lawmakers prepare for the hard work to be done in the next Congress, the future of the hugely unpopular Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act hangs in the balance.
In recent analysis, Heritage expert Nina Owcharenko makes the case for the full repeal of the PPACA and provides a framework for replacement with reform that will transform the system to focus on doctors and patients, not government. She writes that:
Beyond the unprecedented mandates, new taxes, massive entitlement expansion, unworkable and costly insurance provisions, and its failure to control costs, the new law concentrates enormous power in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It creates a giant network for the federal micromanagement of health plans, benefits, insurance markets, and unprecedented intervention into the details of health care financing and the delivery of medical care.
Because of these and countless others consequences of the legislation, new and returning Members of Congress must keep up the pressure to overturn the law. Once this is achieved, it will be time to get health care reform back on the right track towards consumer-focused changes that will address the many issues in the health care system which the PPACA failed to correct.
Owcharenko lists areas for Congress to focus their efforts, including eliminating existing inequitable treatment of health benefits in the tax system, and making Medicare and Medicaid work better for those it currently serves, and expands the states' role in developing customized solutions. By focusing in these areas, Owcharenko writes that Congress can achieve lasting reform.
To read Owcharenko's full report, click here.
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