The following content is sponsored by Save Our States and written by its Founder and Executive Director, Trent England.
America used to be the world’s undisputed healthcare leader, yet today we are paying more and often getting less. For decades, Americans have been lectured that healthcare is complicated, prices are mysterious, and costs can only rise. Families have no real choice but to pay whatever bills come their way. But what if the real problem is not that healthcare is complicated, but that the system has been allowed to operate in the dark, where industry, not the American people, comes first.
Today, Americans are being crushed by health care costs that are rising faster than wages. Often, these costs are reflected in insurance premiums, which are borne by families and employers alike. Small businesses are struggling with rising premiums that have made it harder to hire employees, harder to give raises and harder to compete. Yet, despite spending more than any other country on Earth, we still can’t answer the most basic question before getting care: What will it actually cost?
The good news is that President Trump can fix this and transform health care. The solution starts with something simple, powerful, and long overdue: Give every American the right to see real prices before they choose their care, and then the power to buy the care they choose. These two reforms, giving health care purchasers real prices upfront and giving Americans more control over their health care dollars, will put consumers in the driver’s seat and change health care forever. Together, they are the most pro-worker, pro-family, and pro-growth health care agenda in a generation.
Healthcare is the only major sector where Americans are expected to buy products without thinking. It’s hard to imagine booking a flight, buying a car or signing a mortgage without knowing how much you’ll pay until you get the bill weeks or months later. heck, We won’t buy a cup of coffee like thisTherefore, when it comes to our health, we should not be forced to make decisions without all the information, Nor should we trust a system that has become dominated by big businesses who profit from hiding this information from us,
The Trump administration could act quickly to start a domino effect of changes, requiring mandatory advance notices to patients that show exactly what insurance will cover and how much you’ll pay out-of-pocket — letting you know before you owe. This will give consumers the opportunity to plan, shop and save on care. This will begin to uncover costs that have traditionally been hidden until it was too late to get a better price.
The administration could make this a reality as early as 2026. And it is extremely popular among most Americans. It is at the heart of the issues that Americans care about most on Main Street, including the cost of living and the availability of good jobs. Powering consumers is the fastest path to lower bills, fewer surprises and more financial security. This is a tangible change that Americans can see and feel before next November.
If we combine this price transparency with purchasing power – allowing Americans to shop for their own care – we will see a functional market begin to emerge. The Trump administration is well underway with executive orders focused on “radical transparency” — transparency in coverage and hospital price transparency rules — it just needs to enact and enforce those rules.
What makes these reforms transformative is that they shift power away from big business and into the hands of the American people. When we see real prices, we can make real options. When transparency replaces privacy, competition replaces complacency. And when health care costs eventually go down, workers keep more of their earnings. In this way you can reduce inflation. That’s how you get a raise. That’s how you increase jobs. And that’s how you rebuild trust in a healthcare system that feels rigged against ordinary Americans.
Giving Americans the power to choose and buy their own care is not the only solution to health care. It is a solution that determines the cost of living, a solution that increases wages and a solution that determines economic growth.
This is the rare reform that helps patients, workers, families, small businesses, and the broader economy simultaneously. Transparency is not only good healthcare policy, but also good politics and the kind of common sense solution that will contribute to President Trump’s legacy.
This is the clear path to making health care affordable: give consumers the right to see the real price, let the industry compete, and let Americans keep more of their hard-earned money.
