For Immediate Release:
Contact: Kelly Broadway, 202-808-8853
[email protected]
Washington, D.C. – Joel White, President of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC), testified today before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, in a hearing titled “Defining Our Healthcare Problem, and Principles We Should Follow to Solve it.”
In his testimony, White cautioned that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is increasingly failing the families and small businesses it was designed to help. He pointed to rising premiums, higher deductibles, and fewer plan options as signs that the system is moving in the wrong direction.
White also noted that consolidation across the health care sector – among both insurers and hospital systems, which is encouraged by the ACA’s structure – is reducing competition and raising prices.
“The government created an expensive product and told people it would help subsidize and pay the insurance company for that plan. But the subsidy is only available for the most expensive plans, even if more affordable options are available. And the subsidy increases dollar for dollar as the premium goes up. The incentive is to increase the premium to get more subsidies, and that is partly why premiums increased five times faster than inflation,” said Joel White, President for the Council for Affordable Health Coverage. “Insurers are colluding with health care providers to drive costs up across the board. They make more money when the costs are higher, because the subsidies are linked to the premiums.”
He called on Congress to empower consumers, not companies, and prioritize reforms that expand consumer choice, strengthen market competition, and give individuals and small businesses more flexible, affordable pathways to coverage.
“The current system is set up to empower insurers over consumers. We need to give the power back to consumers, forcing competition and transparency. This will lower costs,” White said.