I knew I was facing a complex diagnosis riddled with uncertainty, and I refused to make any treatment decisions based on convenience. On a good day without traffic, I live an hour away from an oasis of health care options and highly specialized medical providers; however, it was a logistical circus to navigate.  

Lawmakers have returned to Washington amid cries to “fix our health care system.” They must be careful not to double down on failed policies.

This past year has been a year of reckoning for American health care policy. Patients, doctors, and lawmakers were asking an important question: Where is our money going?

President Trump unveiled a four-pronged health policy plan designed to lower health costs for Americans nationwide, titled the Great Healthcare Plan. Chief among the president’s proposed reforms is empowering patients with direct government funding that would otherwise go to insurance companies.

Funding patients directly would give patients the power to choose care that works for them, force providers to compete for their business, and ultimately bring prices down and quality up.

Imagine Americans receiving deposits into HSAs to pay for cash transactions and premiums for patient-driven insurance plans, backed by taxpayer-funded reinsurance as a safety net.

American lawmakers showed their constituents the ugliest side of health care policy during this record-setting government shutdown. But if there’s one thing to learn, it’s this: our health care system isn’t about treating patients.

In 2022, Democrats extended billions in ACA subsidies through the Inflation Reduction Act—money meant to keep coverage affordable post-COVID. The catch? A hard sunset at the end of 2025. Now, that expiration was the core of the government shutdown. Lawmakers held the entire federal government hostage—not over border security, not over spending caps, but over whether to keep sending your tax dollars straight to insurance companies.

Health policy experts today announced a new movement with a radical approach to health care policy – empowering patients with greater control, choice, and access by shifting health care funds from third parties and special interests to patients and consumers. 

The group, called Fund The Patient, says it aims to “disrupt today’s health care system” by directing cash straight to patients through vehicles such as health savings accounts, instead of going through government programs or insurance companies.