For more than a decade in Congress, I fought to make healthcare work better for patients. As a physician and a combat surgeon who has treated Americans in the clinics and on the battlefield, I have always believed that the foundation of good healthcare is a simple one—put patients at the center of any decision. That belief drove everything I did on the House Ways and Means Committee, on the Intelligence Committee, and as Chairman of the COVID-19 Select Subcommittee. It also inspired me to co-chair the GOP Doctor’s Caucus. Now, it is that same belief that brings me to the helm of Americans for Health Excellence.
Leaving Congress was not leaving the fight. Instead, it was a chance to take this work to a new level, in a new arena. That is why I am proud to serve as the founding Executive Director of Americans for Health Excellence, a coalition built to support and expand upon the progress this Administration is making on healthcare affordability, access, and transparency – all tenets of the GOP Doctor’s Caucus.
President Trump has already done something I spent years working toward in Congress: he delivered real savings to real patients without delay. He brought pharmaceutical companies to the table voluntarily, launched TrumpRx, and is working to end decades of foreign governments exploiting American innovation and shifting costs onto U.S. patients. These are genuine, historic wins that deserve serious, sustained support.
But as any doctor will tell you, treating one symptom is not the same as healing the patient. Drug prices are one piece of a much larger problem. Patients across this country are being squeezed by opaque insurance practices, hidden hospital fees, and a system where the people who are supposed to be helping them are often the ones profiting from their confusion. Worse, when patients cannot afford their medications or avoid care because of cost, everyone pays the price—in emergency room visits, preventable hospitalizations, and lost productivity. Real affordability is not just the right thing to do. It is the smart investment for our entire healthcare system. Every dollar spent keeping patients healthy returns far more than the cost of treating a crisis that could have been prevented.
Every actor in healthcare, including insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, hospitals, and drug companies, must be held accountable. And we must restore something that has been quietly eroded over the years—the relationship between patients and their physicians.
When patients cannot afford the treatments their doctors prescribe, or when bureaucratic barriers force physicians to spend more time fighting with insurance companies than caring for the people in front of them, that sacred relationship is interupted. Giving doctors the freedom to practice medicine and patients the confidence that their care decisions are driven by their health, not someone else’s bottom line, is central to everything AFHE fighting for.
This is personal for me. I have held the hands of patients, and I have seen injured soldiers brought back to life without delay. I know what it looks like when the system works, and I know what it costs when it does not.
I am honored to lead Americans for Health Excellence, now, let’s get to work.