Making Health Care Affordable
Roy Cooper would lower health care costs by making sure that doctors make decisions about your health care, not insurance companies. Roy will work to reverse the Affordable Care Act tax credit expiration and cuts to Medicaid that have driven up health care costs for everyone; and put patient care first at hospitals. He’d also cap annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, and require Medicare to broaden negotiations with drug makers to make medicines more affordable.
- Let doctors decide about health care, not insurance bureaucrats. End insurance company runarounds by allowing doctors to make coverage decisions, and reform insurance company reviews that result in denial of coverage for what a doctor says you need.
- Reverse cuts that leave people without health insurance or unable to afford the coverage they have. North Carolina saw the largest drop of any state in Affordable Care Act enrollment. Reinstate the ACA tax credits and reverse Medicaid cuts. This will help lower costs for everyone’s premiums, including people who get their health insurance through an employer.
- Require Medicare to broaden negotiations with drug makers to make more prescription medicines affordable.
- Put patient care first at hospitals. Strengthen oversight of harmful hospital mergers and takeovers that put profits over patients.
- Crack down on pharmacy benefit managers and their middlemen who put small town pharmacists out of business and pocket savings instead of passing them along to patients.
- Curb surprise billing. Cap out-of-network charges for non-emergency care so that staying out-of-network isn’t a business strategy for health care companies, and designate emergency ground ambulance services as an essential health benefit—98% of emergency transport is unprotected (Health Cost Institute, December 2024).
- Cap annual prescription drug out-of-pocket costs for consumers.
- Prevent medical debt by mandating hospitals auto-enroll in charity care, lowering drug and medical costs for all.
- Increase enforcement on upfront pricing to make health care costs transparent. Consumers should be able to shop around for the cost of common procedures and tests.
What is Roy Cooper’s plan to lower the cost of health care?
Roy Cooper believes that doctors should decide your health care, not insurance companies and he’d reverse the Affordable Care Act tax credit expiration and cuts to Medicaid that leave people without the coverage they need and drive up prices for everyone. He’d also require Medicare to broaden negotiations with drug makers to make prescriptions more affordable and strengthen oversight of hospital mergers that put profits over patients. He’d crack down on pharmacy benefit managers that pocket savings instead of passing them on to patients, curb surprise billing and cap annual out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs. He’d prevent medical debt by requiring hospitals to auto-enroll patients in charity care and increase enforcement of upfront pricing to make health care costs more transparent.
Where does Roy Cooper stand on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid?
Roy believes that the ACA (or Obamacare) tax credit expiration and cuts to Medicaid should be reversed to get people the coverage they need and wants to lower premiums for everyone, including those who get their health insurance through their employer.
What would Roy Cooper do about my medical bills and prescription drug prices?
Roy believes that Medicare should broaden negotiations with drug makers to make prescriptions more affordable, and cap annual costs for out-of-pocket prescriptions. He would crack down on pharmacy middlemen who pocket savings instead of passing them on, and cap out-of-network charges for non-emergency care.