FreedomWorks asks, “We can all agree to support ‘patient-centered care,’ but what does that really mean?”

To answer that question Joshua Withrow of FreedomWorks writes on the 10 Principles for replacing ObamaCare.

Withrow writes:

Nothing is more personal and particular to the individual than health. Every person is different, with different needs,different preferences, and different responses to treatment.Doctors are trained to take these individual differences into account, and many develop relations with their patients lasting years.

The Affordable Care Act was designed with the assumption that remote bureaucrats know better, that the government is a better arbiter of health care decisions than either patients or their doctors. We know that this is not the case.

First, ObamaCare tells you that you must have health insurance that pays for treatments you’ll never need. Then its bureaucratic agencies (PCORI and IPAB) will “recommend”what treatments are most effective, which will overrule your doctors by determining what your insurance ought to pay for. The government doesn’t understand the health care industry, and it should not be able to make these decisions for individuals.

That is why any efforts to reform the health care system must uphold the principle that patients and their doctors maintain control of their health care decisions. Anything less is not consistent with patient-centered care.