Replace Obamacare mandates with consumer choice

The president's healthcare law has weathered four years of perils, only to find itself plagued at launch by high premiums, a broken website and millions of angry “customers” losing their insurance. Initial exchange enrollment is dismal.

A bipartisan movement has sprung up to let people “keep their (canceled) health plan,” but no one can reverse all the cancellations—not even President Barack Obama. His recent action to permit renewal of canceled plans, sans mandated benefits for a year, if insurers and states agree, is thin gruel.

Assuming the Republicans continue to fail in their drive for full repeal, what could the two parties agree on right now to improve our troubled healthcare system?

Admit we have a problem. Democrats need to admit their reforms are unpopular and not working as advertised. Republicans need to stop being in denial about how wonderful healthcare was before Obamacare and step up with better solutions.

Start over. This doesn't necessarily mean starting from scratch. Why not agree to fix what's broken and keep the parts that work?

Listen to Americans. They want lower healthcare costs and lots of personal convenience and control. They dislike the individual mandate. They don't want “universal coverage” if it means significantly higher premiums. They don't appreciate losing their health plan absent affordable alternatives. Not everyone wants a Cadillac health plan; some are content with a Smart Car.

Hit the brakes. Clearly, the exchanges are broken. They should be scrapped, or put on hold for at least a year. Suspend the individual and insurance mandates. Pass a few targeted reforms to lower costs: Allow 100% deductibility of medical expenses. Provide temporary funding for state pools to cover pre-existing conditions. Grandfather health savings accounts. And discuss ways to shift control to the states.

Such changes would constitute an honorable truce in the great healthcare war. The goal should not be “universal coverage,” which not even the president's law can achieve. It should be a consumer-driven system in which costs go down and coverage goes up as individuals freely choose their insurers, doctors, and therapies based on personal needs and preferences.

Dean Clancy, a former senior White House budget official in President George W. Bush's administration, is vice president of public policy at FreedomWorks.