Introductory Remarks: Lawrence Mone, President, Manhattan Institute

The Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) is a poorly crafted law that drives up the underlying cost of health insurance, spends over $1.5 trillion when fully implemented—and still leaves 23 million Americans uninsured. Given the political challenges inherent in repealing the law before 2017, Republicans should consider a menu of reforms from “repeal and replace” to using the exchanges as a fulcrum for addressing the problems of high costs and uneven access to care that continue to plague patients, consumers, and employers.

In his new report, “Transcending Obamacare,” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Avik Roy lays out a comprehensive plan for using the ACA’s insurance exchanges to drive far-ranging reform of America’s crushing health care entitlement programs through the use of consumer-driven health insurance plans. Scored by University of Minnesota Professor Stephen Parente, the plan is projected to reduce the deficit by $29 billion over 10 years and by $8.5 trillion over 30 years. These savings come as the plan renders the Medicare trust fund permanently solvent, insures 12 million more people than under Obamacare, and reduces individual insurance premiums by 17 percent by 2020.

Please join us as Roy, one of the nation’s preeminent health care experts, explains why the ACA is a failure, addresses common misconceptions about the U.S. health care system, and shows how consumer driven health care reforms can lead America closer to universal coverage, fiscal solvency, and long-term economic growth while eliminating the individual and employer mandates.

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