Judge Flanders Proposes Comprehensive Reforms for Affordable Health Care and Lower Prescription Drug Prices

WARWICK, R.I. – Judge Bob Flanders, former R.I. Supreme Court Justice and candidate for U.S. Senate, is calling on Sen. Whitehouse to answer to R.I. voters on the cost and consequences of the radical «Medicare for All» plan which he supports. In contrast to the vague promises of Sen. Whitehouse’s so-called plan, Judge Flanders offers a detailed and comprehensive proposal to make health care more affordable and lower the cost of drug prices:

«It is time Rhode Island voters were informed about Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s real position on health care.

I want all Rhode Islanders and Americans to have affordable health care and lower drug costs. The answer, however, is not the “Medicare for All” plan that Sen. Whitehouse supports along with his radical progressive colleagues; it is less a proposed plan than the latest empty slogan from radical progressive Democrats who have abandoned reasonable policies in pursuit of Venezuelan-style socialism.

The details of the “Medicare for All” plan that Whitehouse and his radical colleagues support need to be outlined and publicized.

What are the implications of this plan? Fiscal madness that will require raising taxes on many working families and middle-class Rhode Islanders. The plan is estimated to cost over $32 TRILLION dollars to the federal government over the next ten years, according to Mercatus Center at George Mason University. On the lower end of estimated costs, the Urban Institute, a centrist and respected non-profit think tank, reported “Medicare for All” would cost the federal government $28 TRILLION over the next ten years.

Advocates for this “plan” compare the total cost incurred to current overall health care spending, private and federal combined, arguing it would purportedly represent a cut of $2 trillion dollars in health care spending. However, there are a few key linchpins to the assumptions of this plan that upon further examination are both radical and preposterous.

– One assumption of “Medicare for All” is that every doctor and hospital in the U.S. would take a 40 percent reduction in their reimbursements for providing healthcare to patients. Let us ask our local doctors and hospitals here in Rhode Island if they could continue to exist under this “Medicare for All” plan.

– After this drastic reduction of reimbursements to providers, we would also have to assume that those same doctors and hospitals would be able to provide the identical services that they currently provide. The obvious answer is no, given that, among other factors, doctors and hospitals currently use private insurance to cross-subsidize the lower Medicare reimbursement rate.

– This Orwellian “Medicare for All” plan also assumes that 150 million U.S. citizens are willing to give up their current healthcare coverage overnight for a new cast of providers. I ask you, reader, are you willing to surrender your healthcare tomorrow? You will not be able to keep your doctor; you certainly won’t be able to keep your present plan; and you will be dictated to by the federal government as to how and when you will be treated.

– To fund this “Medicare for All” program, the federal government would need to raise taxes by 10 percent of GDP, raising taxes on middle-class Rhode Islanders and Americans who would pay substantially more in taxes than current premiums and out-of-pocket costs.

At the heart of this “plan,” better defined as a socialist fantasy, are preposterous economic costs, limited choices, federally dictated health care, and higher taxes.

“Medicare for All” is not a plan. It is not just an empty promise, but a reckless and deeply damaging political ploy that has no place in America.

There is a better way.

We must make healthcare more affordable and lower drug costs. By one calculation, a Rhode Island family pays $26,000 in health care costs per year for a family of four! This is cruel and unaffordable for average Rhode Island families. Sen. Whitehouse had twelve years to fix healthcare and he has failed; instead using his time to go on and on about climate change at the expense of the pressing needs of Rhode Island families. We need fresh ideas and a U.S. Senator who can work across the aisle to bring solutions to this urgent matter whose crushing costs are hurting Rhode Islanders.

From day one, Washington insiders like Sen. Whitehouse handled healthcare policy poorly. Congress has failed to fix the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and help to create a more affordable and accessible healthcare system. The ACA began with only Democrat votes, and repeated attempts to repeal and replace it with only Republican votes proved to be futile. Neither attempts were sound.

The ACA failed to reach its lofty goals as premiums skyrocketed and many of its provisions proved to be impractical, unaffordable for families and small businesses, and meddlesome. Consumers should be able to select a healthcare plan that addresses their needs. To make health more affordable, I will work together with both parties for reforms that include the following:

– Allow people to buy coverage across state lines, thereby increasing competition, breaking up health care monopolies, and thus lowering the cost of health care plans.

– Require pricing transparency for the costs of radiologic and other diagnostic procedures.

– Permit trade and other industry and business associations to provide less costly health care plans to their members.

– Encourage the use of health care savings accounts.

– Enact medical malpractice reforms.

– While these reforms will help restore affordability, all plans must cover pre-existing conditions with federal subsidies for those who cannot afford the coverage. Medicaid expansion will place stress on overburdened state budgets. This problem can be mitigated if states are given the flexibility to more efficiently serve Medicaid recipients.

The challenge is to reform the ACA with a patient-centered system that offers quality affordable care without pulling the rug out from under Americans who rely on the ACA.

Another part of the solution to health care costs is to lower the outrageous cost of drug prices. Prescription drug prices are increasing at an unmanageable pace for American families. Our country has the most expensive drug prices in the world. I have met too many Rhode Island families who are buckling under the ridiculous and unaffordable cost of drug prices. We must lower the cost of drug prices immediately.

As Rhode Island’s next U.S. Senator, I will support a “Drugs Affordability Act” that will accomplish the following:

– Control prescription drug price increases by creating an enforcement mechanism to identify drugs that have unreasonable price increases and impose penalties on their manufacturers.

– Permit Medicare Part D to negotiate drug prices to leverage federal purchasing power, crackdown on price gouging, and restrain the growth in prescription prices with justification required for substantial price increases.

– Require transparency in drug pricing by requiring manufacturers to publicly disclose significant price increases, e.g., over 100% annually.

We need a practical problem solver in Washington D.C. who represents the needs of Rhode Islanders, starting with affordable health care and lowering the cost of drug prices.

Sen. Whitehouse has wasted twelve years of our time with empty talk and political games and continues to insult voters with baseless slogans while Rhode Island suffers. Health care is an alarmingly important issue in the lives of Rhode Islanders, in some instances a case of life and death. Will Sen. Whitehouse give up his “Cadillac” health care plan afforded to members of Congress and paid for by taxpayers and join the rest of R.I. under his proposed “Medicare for All” plan? The answer is no. His radical partisan agenda is deeply out-of-touch the people of our state and he cares more about his political career than about solving the health care needs of Rhode Islanders.»