Why Is Healthcare So Expensive

Healthcare costs are skyrocketing. Since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010
health care costs have gone up by double digits each year. The health care bill did get more people insured
and helped with issues like preexisting conditions, but the problem with the healthcare law isn't
what it tried to do, it's what it failed to do: reduce costs. The solutions to the cost problem is with
the free market and competition.

Here are just three ideas that could make
a huge difference. Number 1: We can roll back the tax burden
on insurance companies. The ACA added a $60 billion tax on health
insurers, which made them have to charge more to consumers to cover their costs. Taxes roll downhill so a tax on insurers means
higher costs for all of us.

Number 2: We can lower the regulations on
health plans. The ACA has a lot of requirements that force
insurance plans to cover an incredibly big list of benefits. If you want a bare-bones insurance plan that
simply covers catastrophic events like a car accident or cancer you currently can't get
one. By boosting the benefits of every plan it
restricts competition and drives up prices by forcing smaller health insurers out of
the marketplace.

Low-cost catastrophic plans that are normally
purchased by younger, healthier people are no longer available because of the ACA requirements. Introducing as many health insurers to the
marketplace as possible can drive down prices by encouraging businesses to compete to cut
costs. The ACA did the exact opposite: Less competition
and higher prices. Number 3: Encourage medical innovation.

The cost to bring a new drug to market already
exceeds two and half billion dollars. And the ACA places an additional twenty-two
billion dollar tax burden on innovator drug companies, the same businesses that produce
lifesaving medications and cures for those in need. Punishing drug producers forces them to charge
even higher prices to make up for the lost money in research, development, and taxes. If we encourage, not punish drug makers it
will lead to more breakthroughs and lower costs--a win, win for all of us.

As healthcare costs skyrocket, don't forget
that the free market is our best chance to rein them in..

Why Is Health Insurance so Complicated

Americans carry many different forms of insurance. Theres car insurance, home insurance, life
insurance, even pet insurance . . .

Most of these insurance policies work well and are
fairly priced. But there is one glaring exception: health
insurance. Only health insurance becomes more complicated
and more expensive at the same time. So, the obvious question is: why? To answer this question, we have to start
at the beginning.

What is insurance? Its pretty straight-forward: You pay a
monthly fee which provides financial protection against unforeseen, sometimes catastrophic,
events. People buy homeowners insurance, for example,
to protect themselves from the financial loss incurred in the event of a fire, a flood or
theft. Because millions of people are paying into
the insurance pool, the pool has enough money to cover the unlucky person whose house does
burn down. And since insurance is meant to share risk,
it only stands to reason that higher-risk individuals have to pay more to be insured.

Someone who has had two accidents is going
to pay more for car insurance than someone who has never had an accident. Why? Because their track record indicates they
are more likely to have another accident. But while insurance provides a bulwark against
unforeseen loss, it does not protect against routine expenses. Car insurance protects you in the event that
you wind up in a car wreck or your vehicle is stolen, but it doesnt cover routine
maintenance like oil changes, replacing brake pads or tire erosion.

Why? Because everyone needs routine oil changes,
new brake pads, and new tires. So, there is no risk to protect against. Health insurance in America works very differently. Many of us have health insurance plans that
arent insurance at all.

Theyre really pre-paid health care plans. They cover routine check-ups, less serious
illnesses, and recurring expenses like prescription medications in addition to protecting you
from a health disaster. All of this has made healthcare much more
expensive and complex than any other form of insurance. That is true whether you get your insurance
through your employer, through the government, or if you pay for your own plan.

The Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare,
was passed on the promise that it would fix these issues and bring down healthcare costs. But it has actually made the problem much
worse. First, it limited the variety of health insurance
plans private companies could offer. It did this by mandating that every plan had
to cover the same set of ten health benefits, including preventive care, maternity care,
mental health care, and contraception.

Second, Obamacare prevented insurers from
charging premiums based on the risk they were assuming. A person with a much higher risk of getting
sick couldnt be charged more than a person with a much lower chance. These two aspects of Obamacare  requiring
all policies to have certain coverages and not allowing insurance companies to charge
more for riskier clients  caused the price of insurance to rise dramatically. In Arizona, for example, the price more than
doubled between 2016 and 2017 alone.

So, how do we undo this mess? By making health insurance more like, well,
insurance. First, stop making people buy plans that include
things they wont use and dont want. Second, allow health insurers to offer more
options at different prices. Do these two things and youd make health
insurance a lot more affordable for a lot more people.

And what about people with pre-existing conditions
for whom every insurance plan is just too expensive? We do what any compassionate society does:
we make sure they get the medical care they need. But we dont need to upset the whole concept
of insurance and make healthcare more expensive for everyone else to do it. Most Americans want to do the responsible
thing and insure themselves against catastrophic health care emergencies. But with health insurance costs rising every
year, being responsible is becoming more difficult.

Im Lanhee Chen, research fellow at the
Hoover Institution, for Prager University..

Why do you need health insurance

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