Washington interference won’t fix health care costs

Floridians know firsthand how quickly rising costs can hurt a household budget. Health care, particularly prescription drug costs, is often the most unpredictable and difficult expense to manage, so when there are important conversations in Congress about health care, most people keep a close eye on developments to ensure our policymakers do not pass legislation that would increase costs.

Fortunately, Florida has leaders who understand that affordability doesn’t come from more government mandates, but from competition, flexibility, and accountability. Sen. Rick Scott, in particular, has consistently shown he is willing to stand up for Florida families when proposals threaten to drive costs even higher.

Scott has long emphasized that Americans — not Washington bureaucrats — are best equipped to make decisions for their families. He has backed policies that keep consumers at the center of health care while resisting heavy-handed federal interference in private markets. That approach has proven especially important for employer-sponsored coverage, which millions of Floridians depend on for access to care.

Last year, Scott demonstrated that leadership in a very real way. When a massive spending package included last-minute provisions that would have inserted the federal government into the private health insurance market, including dictating how prescription benefits could be structured, he opposed it. Those provisions weren’t about lowering patients’ costs. They would have limited flexibility, increased premiums, and shifted leverage back to the pharmaceutical industry.

These issues aren’t abstract. In communities across South Florida, families are already struggling to keep up with rising prices. Seniors on fixed incomes, working parents, and small-business employees all feel the impact when health care costs rise. Too often, those rising costs are driven by prescription drug prices set by manufacturers — prices that families and employers have little ability to control. Policies that reduce choice or raise premiums only make those challenges worse.

These concerns are not just something Floridians are noticing. Voters across the country share the sentiment. Recent public opinion research confirms exactly that: a survey from the President’s pollster, John McLaughlin, of likely Midterm voters found that nearly three-quarters believe drug companies are most responsible for high prescription drug prices, not employers or patients. Even more telling, voters overwhelmingly favor keeping private health care choices available to employers rather than having the federal government impose one-size-fits-all mandates. Americans want more choice, not the government telling businesses how to design their benefits.

Large majorities also expressed deep concern that government interference in the private market would raise monthly premiums and ultimately increase Big Pharma’s profits.

Prescription drugs are a major driver of health care spending, and that disconnect between what voters want and what some policymakers are proposing is hard to ignore. Drug manufacturers alone set their prices, and those prices continue to rise year after year. Any serious effort to improve affordability should focus on increasing competition and holding drug companies accountable — not weakening the private-market tools that help keep costs in check.

Unfortunately, some of the proposals circulating in Congress would do exactly that. These ideas would bring new government mandates into the private market and eliminate options that help manage prescription drug costs. Independent analyses show these policies could raise premiums nationwide by tens of billions of dollars each year, while delivering massive new profits to drug manufacturers.

Florida families cannot afford that outcome. Neither can the American health care system as a whole. The goal of reform should be simple: lower costs, more choices, and better value for patients, not expanded government control that makes coverage more expensive.

Scott has shown that it’s possible to hold the line against policies that ultimately raise costs. As Congress continues its health care debates, Florida’s delegation should follow his lead and stay focused on real solutions that protect affordability, preserve flexibility, and put patients first.

That’s the kind of leadership Floridians expect — and the kind we need right now.

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Barbara Casanova is the National Secretary and Florida Chair of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly. She also serves on the Miami-Dade Hispanic Affairs Advisory Board.