The healthcare market is anything but free. Patients are disconnected from the prices of routine care and have limited insurance options due to government coverage mandates. Those same mandates inflate prices and distort the market. Without deep reforms to the health insurance system, healthcare costs will continue to rise.
Several bills would make modest improvements, including proposals from Sens. Bill Cassidy and Mike Crapo and another from Rand Paul, all Republicans. Each would move the system slightly closer to a functioning market but fall short of addressing the structural failures driving high healthcare costs.
The proposals expand access to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which provide tax-advantaged funds to pay for medical care. The Cassidy-Crapo bill would redirect money now sent to insurers — through the Affordable Care Act subsidies for bronze and catastrophic plans — directly to individuals. Insurers would no longer receive subsidies automatically; they would have to compete for enrollees to obtain those dollars.
Justin Leventhal is a senior policy analyst for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization that advocates for consumers through evidence-based analysis and data. Follow Justin on X @JustinLeventhal.