Byron Donalds rolls out health care plan

Byron Donalds is laying out his health care policy platform as he runs for Governor.

Donalds is proposing the “Your Doctor, Your Price” initiative, which would require health care providers to post real cash prices for their top 20 services offered. Donalds’ plan would also align Florida’s prescription drug program with federal costs and promote the freedom to choose health care providers without pre-authorizations or surprise billing.

“When it comes to health care, one thing I’ve learned: The doctors are frustrated, the patients are frustrated,” Donalds said in The Villages at the Hotel Eastport.

“When you’re seeing the workers in that system and the users of that system, both, quite frankly, pulling their hair out … what it means is we have a responsibility to bring real reforms that will make this system and this process better.”

Donalds acknowledged that Florida’s health care challenges affect seniors and families in large cities and small towns alike, vowing to pursue quality health care that is affordable and transparent.

The Naples Republican said Florida is the “hottest state in America” and reforms he is supporting in health care and elsewhere will continue to protect the state’s position.

“In Florida, as your next Governor, it is my duty and responsibility to protect the Florida Dream,” Donalds said.

He noted that his wife, Erika Donalds, wants their future children and grandchildren in the state as well, giving him motivation to help the state function better.

“We’re going to make sure that there is transparency in health care, real transparency that you can touch, that you can feel, that you can grab, that you can hold,” Donalds said.

“We want to make sure that those prices and that transparency is available to everybody — so that we have stability, we have certainty, we have efficiency, we have competition and, in short, all of you get the very best out of the best state in all of America.”