A personal option would help more Latinos access the health care they need
What do Latinos want in their health care — another top-down, one-size-fits-all government program or a personal option that allows them to see the provider of their choice?
The LIBRE Initiative President Daniel Garza sat down with television host and contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy last week to answer that question. The two discussed the problems with our current health care system, why government-run insurance wouldn’t work, and the benefits of a “personal option.”
“[We want] to see the doctors of our choice, conveniently and affordably, and access to effective treatments,” Garza said. “We want access to good insurance that meets our needs but is also affordable.”
He added that Americans want to know how much their care will cost before they purchase it, without any surprises.
How do we get there, Campos-Duffy asked?
Garza recommended a few solutions, which he called a “personal option”:
- Expand access with reforms that break down unnecessary government barriers to care.
- Reduce costs by promoting choice and competition in the market.
- Pursue price transparency by fostering a closer relationship between doctors and patients.
Unfortunately, some lawmakers aim to create another government program — Medicare X, or a “public option” — that would worsen health care outcomes, Garza said.
He added that a personal option would promote price transparency and enact significant reforms to the onerous government mandates that privilege insurance companies over patients by making affordable care more difficult to access.
“You would have a better system that actually provides you [with] the information that you need,” he said. “That way, you could choose the doctor, choose the clinic, choose the health care provider of your choice that is going to be more convenient, more affordable for you — and then, of course, you won’t have sticker shock at the end.”
Learn more about The LIBRE Initiative’s plan to improve health care with the personal option.