In the National Review, Michael F. Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, urges Republicans to codify President Trump’s Obamacare policies and free Americans from the failed law. He writes:

At a time when Republicans should be building on President Trump’s greatest first-term health care victory, some are trying to give Democrats everything they want on Obamacare for nothing in return…

Here’s a crazy thought: if government regulations are making your health insurance too expensive or limiting your choice of treatments or providers, those regulations should be optional. You should have the right to choose better, more affordable health insurance…

The CBO found that Trump’s [policy] enabled most Obamacare enrollees to obtain comprehensive coverage at premiums as much as 60 percent below the lowest-price Obamacare plans — and often with “lower deductibles or wider provider networks.” Imagine: people not needing subsidies to get quality health insurance.

Republicans could free consumers to choose high-quality, affordable coverage by codifying Trump’s rules and writing those consumer protections into permanent law. The resulting health plans would be higher quality than Obamacare plans because they would not face Obamacare’s incentives to discriminate against the sick.

Freeing people from Obamacare holds a bipartisan pedigree — from none other than Barack Obama himself. In 2014, his administration recognized that Obamacare’s regulations are so destabilizing and make health insurance so expensive that they would destroy health insurance markets in US territories.

Obama’s solution was to exempt US territories from Obamacare’s health insurance regulations. For more than a decade, residents of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands have had more freedom than mainland US citizens to choose their health insurance.

Everyone deserves that freedom. Republicans should simultaneously free all employers and individuals to purchase any health plan available in any US territory. Many could buy coverage at a lower premium from the same insurer they have right now. For most Obamacare enrollees, that coverage would be better and cheaper.

Congress absolutely should not extend Obamacare subsidies for the wealthy. Not by one day. Not by one penny.

Read more here.