Rick Scott

I recently met with President-elect Donald Trump on how we can undo the terrible damage of Obamacare and reinvent great health care for America’s future.

Other than President Obama and a few stragglers, everyone now realizes that Obamacare was a terrible notion. It was sold on a lie. It was invented by liberal academic theorists who have no interaction with real families and businesses and therefore it doesn’t work. Costs are skyrocketing, and the news of 25% premium increases during the two weeks before the election put the final nail in Hillary Clinton’s electoral coffin.

Obama thought the problem with American health care was access. He was wrong. The real problem with American health care has been cost, a problem which Obamacare made far worse. The only way to achieve good access to quality care is to reduce costs. There is no other way, unless we just want to enact socialist policies from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. By electing Donald Trump, voters said “no thanks” to that approach.

The Washington insiders like to say that Obamacare cannot be repealed, it can only be modified. That’s absurd, just like all the other stuff they tell you can’t be done in Washington. We are Americans and we can do anything we set our minds to. Donald Trump is bringing that can-do attitude with him to Washington.

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We need a major do-over for this failed policy and we can do that by:

Acknowledging that we have a problem: Before turning to the road ahead for reform we must acknowledge that Obamacare was supposed to lower the cost of health care in our country. That was part of the sales pitch we heard — and “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” The sales pitch was a lie. Many Americans lost the doctors they liked, and many even have fewer doctors to choose from. The increases in health care costs are now at a 32-year high and are expected to continue increasing in the coming months.

Creating more competition: We have to open up the market and create more competition. Families should be able to purchase coverage that works best for them. This can start by allowing individuals to buy insurance across state lines. Not only will this increase competition and reduce costs, it will also encourage more individuals to participate and create a safety net for those who truly need it. We need to encourage more providers to enter the marketplace and empower individuals to buy health care by giving tax breaks or incentives to those who purchase it — we already do this for employers, why not individuals?

Giving states control: If the federal government returned families’ tax dollars back to the states, each state could create a system that works for families there. A system where states take the lead in designing what works for their residents can happen if all states are treated the same regarding the money the federal government allocates; the citizens of each state can decide who to cover; and all money from the federal government would be spent transparently on health care. Governors know the dynamics of their states' health care landscape better than Washington.

Removing mandates: We should not be telling people what insurance to buy. Our health care system will work best if there are no individual or company mandates. Just like with any product or service, people should buy the insurance they want — not what government thinks they need.

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Rewarding personal responsibility: People need to be rewarded for eating right, exercising and not smoking. When people have an incentive to make healthy decisions and focus on prevention, health care costs will be driven down and people will lead healthier lives. This can happen if insurance companies give people meaningful incentives for making healthy choices, like a reduction in premiums or reimbursing things like gym memberships.

I know what it is like to live without health insurance. I remember the anguish my parents felt when they couldn’t afford to help my brother when he had a serious hip disease. But, I also see what the lie of Obamacare has become in our country. People living under federal penalties for not buying insurance is crazy. Premiums that increase 25% a year on families are absurd.

Washington has become accustomed to creating massive federal programs we cannot afford. But usually the bill isn’t due for decades, so the incentive for real reform just limps along. This time, Obamacare crashed in only a few years. It is evident to everyone, even Bill Clinton, just how crazy this Washington lie was.

The time for major change in health care is now. There is no doubt President-elect Donald Trump is the man for the job and I look forward to helping him and incoming Health and Human Services Secretary, Representative Tom Price, implement real reform every step of the way.

Rick Scott is the Republican governor of Florida and founder of Columbia HCA.

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