Editorial

There are two approaches to meet the health care needs of Americans. The first way is a command economy approach, such as the Medicare for All effort, which uses mandates to force patients, providers, and insurers to take action – demonstrated under Obamacare to worsen access and drive up costs. The second way is to use the marketplace to drive down costs and improve consumer access like we used in constructing Medicare Part D to improve prescription access for seniors. An important part of this process is Medicare Open Enrollment, which runs from October 15 through December 7.

In 2016, the last year of the Obama administration, 3,853 federal regulations were issued. While some regulations, such as those explaining how the executive branch will implement new laws or setting how much Medicare pays medical providers each year, are necessary, many merely pile new bureaucracy onto old in an effort to micromanage our nation from Washington. Fortunately, Congress has a mechanism to provide expedited consideration of disapproving of overreaching regulations, and in 2017 we passed and President Trump signed into law 14 bills repealing many of the most egregious overreaches of the outgoing Obama administration. The Trump Administration has also rolled back many of these regulations, such as Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, which we could not repeal legislatively because the resolutions were vetoed by President Obama.

The United States has enjoyed a strategic partnership and friendship with Israel since President Truman recognized the modern state only eleven minutes after its founding in 1948. They remain our most important ally in the Middle East as the only true democratic republic in the region. From the early days of this republic until now, the U.S. has worked steadfastly to help Israel defend itself while remaining committed to the ultimate goal of peace in the region. We have not lost sight of this goal, even as COVID-19 has impacted day-to-day life in both our nations.