In the race for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate, one big gap in policy is in health care.
Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has been an advocate for Medicare for All for well over a decade.
Republican Mike Rogers is not in favor of such wholesale changes. He laid out his policy at a media event in Taylor on Saturday. He railed against Medicare for All and prefers a more nuanced approach.
“The way we don't do it is blow up the system that we have,” Rogers said. “We fix the system that we have.”
Rogers’ plan would lean into transparency and the free market.
“We go to open books to make sure that hospitals and insurance folks know and understand what the costs are, so that when a patient shows up, they understand what their costs are doing,” Rogers said.
The goal is for the patient to know what they’re paying and if they don’t like how much it costs, they can go elsewhere for care. He also wants insurance companies to make their denial rates publicly available.
“I think you get rid of the eight-dollar aspirins when you do that, and people start to realize that they can make better choices,” Rogers said.
Rogers has highlighted the high cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. in his campaign ads, citing Canada as an example of a place with cheaper medications.
However, he doesn’t want Canada’s government regulated health care system.
“Abdul talks a lot about wanting a system that looks like Canada,” Rogers said. “My argument is he should move to Canada. I mean, he might have better health care there.”
Canada regulates the maximum cost of prescriptions drugs – something the U.S. does not do.
Rogers’ plan calls for an expansion of the TrumpRx program to include more drugs.
El-Sayed argues Medicare for All would allow for further regulation and negotiation to bring down prescription costs. He also advocates for the government to manufacture commonly-used drugs like insulin.
