The Big Beautiful Bill’s Healthcare Opportunity

Originally published by the Wall Street Journal

Health-insurance companies have long dictated which doctors Americans can consult, trapping patients in narrow networks and bureaucratic red tape. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act breaks that monopoly. By loosening the grip of insurers and empowering families with greater choice and flexibility, this bold reform restores control to patients.

Most Americans pay for medical care through traditional health insurance provided by their employer or through the individual market. This system puts insurers in charge of determining which physicians and facilities families can visit, often through network restrictions and prior-authorization barriers. It also forces healthcare providers to spend large sums of money on billing departments to request and negotiate payments from health insurers. One 2009 study estimates that physician practices spent 13% of their revenue on administrative overhead for insurance billing and reimbursement. Every dollar that healthcare providers spend on their billing departments shows up in higher prices.

Traditional insurance can often lead to lower-quality care. Because insurers pay providers on a fee-for-service basis, these middlemen create incentives for physician practices to spend less time with more patients. On average, primary-care doctors spend 13 to 16 minutes with each patient. Less time with physicians can lead to diagnostic errors, medically inappropriate prescriptions, and more-frequent hospital stays.

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