More people in the United States have health insurance than ever before. Yet between cost barriers and coverage exclusions, for millions of Americans it’s often insurance in name only.
In an op-ed published in STAT, Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D., and Senior Scholar and Vice President of Health Care Coverage and Access Sara R. Collins argue that to tackle this issue, the country must address the underlying cause: the sky-high cost of health care. Enforcing price transparency laws and introducing reforms that promote value in health care — as opposed to the delivery of more services — would slow growth in spending. And to provide relief in the short term, policymakers could make the Inflation Reduction Act’s premium subsidies permanent.
“The U.S. can do better,” the authors write. “People paying premiums for health insurance should be guaranteed affordable care when they or their family members need it.” | 
