The Shadow
One agenda item for Republicans in 2026 is to make life more affordable.
We recognize that high prices on everything from groceries to gas make it harder to purchase a home, raise a family and send your kids to school.
These rises in the costs of living were fueled in large part by the high levels of inflation we saw during the Biden-Harris years.
Under President Biden, inflation was rampant, at one point hitting 9.1%. This was the highest inflation rate since the President Carter years.
According to FactCheck.org, consumer prices rose 21.5%, gasoline rose 31% and home prices rose 37.4% under Biden-Harris.
Meanwhile, private sector growth took a hit as real wages adjusted for inflation fell.
As a result, and to the frustration of many, Americans are paying more for everything.
Given the Biden-Harris economic setbacks, President Trump and Republicans in Congress are working to reverse these Biden-Harris inflationary pressures, tame the cost-of-living crisis and provide more affordability for Americans.
One area of my focus as Health Subcommittee Chairman is to lower the costs of health care.
There are many root causes to the increases in health care costs. Some trace back to before Biden-Harris.
One reason patients see rises in health care costs, which are outpacing inflation, is due to President Obama’s signature health care policy, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare.
Obama pledged at the time, “I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.”
PolitiFact found this to be a broken campaign promise.
In fact, as you all know, insurance rates have continued to climb and outpace general inflation as measured by the consumer price index.
Further, Obamacare spurred consolidation in the health care marketplace, gutting competition.
In a recent Health Subcommittee hearing with health insurance company leaders, I detailed the impacts of dwindling competition and low transparency on patients in Virginia’s Ninth District.
When it comes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace, a 2017 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation reported on U.S. communities at risk of having no insurers on the marketplace. Virginia had the most number of counties at risk! Fortunately, at this time, every Virginia Ninth District locality does have at least one provider.
This is further proof that Obamacare ACA plans have weakened competition, thereby failing to deliver the lower health care costs that were promised to American patients when Obamacare was signed into law in 2010.
During the hearing, I made the case that we need to strive to have more competitive insurance plan options that reward quality and focus on affordability, access and outcomes.
Additionally, the big insurance companies own a large share of the health care marketplace. In fact, their networks either own or exert control over pharmacies and Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs).
With such a large share of the marketplace, these big insurance companies wield enough power to influence the cost of health care, raising your costs.
In a separate hearing, my Subcommittee brought in PBMs and others involved in the prescription drug supply chain.
The predatory practices of some PBMs appear to be partially responsible for the increases in prescription drug costs.
Some of these PBM behaviors hopefully will be reined in thanks to recently passed legislation and a settlement between the Federal Trade Commission and a major PBM. These developments will encourage greater transparency with the hopes of lowering costs.
During the drug supply hearing, one of the issues I raised was that the three largest PBMs control roughly 80% of the pharmaceutical marketplace! All three are owned by insurance companies.
This anti-competitive structure limits the ability of pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmacies to deliver more affordable drugs to patients.
There also seemed to be agreement across industries and political party lines that more competition and more choices helps improve health care affordability, and a consolidation of the marketplace does just the opposite!
As I lead the Health Subcommittee forward to address health care affordability, I will continue to advocate for more competition and more transparency in American health care.
I believe these reforms will fix some of the failures in our health care system and ultimately lower health care costs.
To make life more affordable for American patients, change to the health care status quo is needed. I am fighting in Congress to make these changes possible.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at https://morgangriffith.house.gov/.
