Two years ago, 81 think tanks and grass roots organizations signed onto Health Care Choices, a comprehensive reform of the health care system.  This was a huge accomplishment – since the conservative think tanks had been at odds over health policy for almost three decades. At 45 pages and 139 footnotes, however, it was very wonkish and not a useful campaign document. No one campaigned on it in 2020.

To be useful in an election, a plan needs to be marketed – and that’s why Marie Fishpaw (Heritage Foundation) and I pulled out 10 key benefits that candidates could promise voters. We got input from Newt Gingrich, key people on Capitol Hill and others. They are briefly explained at this Goodman Institute Brief Analysis and discussed in the April issue of Health Care News. 

The most important innovation in our approach is this: We should begin by saying Obamacare has made health insurance unaffordable and the best doctors and hospitals inaccessible. In other words, we should go right to the heart of what the other side promised and didn’t deliver; and then pledge to do what they didn’t do by empowering individuals and letting markets work.