WASHINGTON, D.C. – Healthy Future Task Force co-chairs, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02) and Congressman Vern Buchanan (FL-16), and the Affordability Subcommittee announced the Task Force’s solutions to make health care more accessible and affordable.

In an op-ed for The Daily Signal, the co-chairs and Affordability Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Hern (OK-01), Subcommittee Member Rick Allen (GA-12), and Subcommittee Member Victoria Spartz (IN-05) released proposals to lower the costs of health insurance and overall health care by increasing competition, transparency and choices. The Affordability Subcommittee also hosted a roundtable with small business owners to discuss how the policy solutions would improve small business owners’ ability to offer high-quality health benefits at lower costs for employees.

“While Democrats are working towards a single-payer health care system that would eliminate employer-sponsored coverage, reduce choices for patients, raise taxes, and undermine the increasingly popular Medicare Advantage program, Republicans on the Healthy Future Task Force are putting forward patient-centered solutions with more choices designed to lower health care costs. The work done with us led by Representatives Hern, Allen, and Spartz will improve health care options for workers, make health care benefits more affordable for small business owners and employees, and lower the costs of treatment and care for patients. While all five subcommittees have outlined their policy recommendations for the task force, the work is just beginning. Republicans will continue advancing these solutions to fix our broken health care system in order to keep Americans healthy, improve their standard of living, and help them live longer,” said Guthrie and Buchanan.

Overview of solutions:

• Improve workers’ ability to control and afford their health care, and improve small business owners’ ability to provide health insurance at a low cost and high value for employees
• Promote innovation and transparency to empower patients and to provide more affordable options
• Lower costs and increase choices by fostering competition and targeting incentives that drive consolidation and limit competition

Click HERE for a more detailed one pager.

Recap of Affordability Subcommittee Roundtable

Healthy Future Task Force Affordability Subcommittee members held a roundtable with small business owners, who are members of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) on June 15, 2022. You can watch the full roundtable discussion HERE.

Rep. Kevin Hern (OK-01), Chairman of the Affordability Subcommittee, said, “Our subcommittee is proud to present this plan to make health care more affordable by improving health care options for workers and small business owners, improving innovation and transparency, and lowering costs by increasing competition.”

Rep. Rick Allen (GA-12), Affordability Subcommittee Member, said, “When health care decisions are made by bureaucrats in Washington, the result is a top-down, one-size-fits-all system that never works. We want all Americans to have a high-quality, affordable, and personalized approach to their health. To do that, we must remove the barriers that prevent employers from banding together to help their workers get the most out of their benefits.”

Rep. Victoria Spartz (IN-05), Affordability Subcommittee Member, said, “Improving health care value is a national security issue. I appreciate the work of my colleagues to develop real policy solutions and deliver results on this important issue for all Americans.”

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy created the 17-member Healthy Future Task Force to develop solutions to modernize the American health care system to lower costs, keep Americans healthy, develop better therapies and cures, and provide Americans with more choices. The Affordability Subcommittee is one of five subcommittees part of the Healthy Future Task Force, which also includes the Treatment Subcommittee, Security Subcommittee, Modernization Subcommittee, and Doctor/Patient Relationship Subcommittee.