Congressional Republicans Can Win Big with Healthcare Solutions
We are living in a time of high and growing suspicion toward “the Establishment,” be it political, financial, cultural, media – and especially health. Much of this is well-founded. For years, Americans have been told to “trust the science” and not believe our own eyes. The disconnect between experts and normal people has yielded a revolutionary mood across the political spectrum.
Congress, with its perennially dismal approval ratings, sits at the vanguard of this crisis of credibility. And yet it also holds the keys to restoring trust by reining in Big Pharma, tackling anti-competitive practices, and creating openings for transparent, patient-centered care.
Presenting and passing healthcare policies that drive down costs and improve health will be a win for voters, as well as vulnerable members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation.
Keystone State Republicans should lead the charge. Pennsylvania is political ground zero in 2026. It has the greatest number of competitive congressional seats in the nation. It’s also the only state to flip two Democratic incumbents without redistricting in 2024 while flipping a U.S. Senate seat held by Democrats since 2006.
But voters who swung right in 2024 need to see real wins on everyday issues, or there will be a snap-back in the midterms.
June polling from the Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance shows base Republicans have turned against Big Pharma, while swing voters are deeply anxious about drug costs.
This latter group includes Pennsylvania’s growing base of Hispanic voters, who are particularly sensitive to cost spikes. This demographic swung decisively toward Republicans in 2024 (a 14-point swing in Pennsylvania since 2020). Seven in 10 Hispanic voters report being worried about prescription drug costs, compared to just over half of all U.S. adults. Older Hispanics also report difficulty affording prescription medications at higher rates than their peers from other backgrounds. Overall, this voting demographic, which continues to grow, played a decisive role in electing Republican freshmen U.S. Reps. Ryan Mackenzie and Rob Bresnahan last cycle.
The Trump Administration, with Robert Kennedy, Jr., at Health and Human Services, has shown what’s possible on healthcare. Through the MAHA Commission and the One Big Beautiful Bill, reforms on Direct Primary Care and food transparency have already begun to chip away at what seemed untouchable during the throes of Covid, our nation’s last great health crisis.
Some of the actions, including on broadly popular and safe vaccines (measles, polio), risk alienating voters. But others are winners, and Congressional Republicans should follow what’s working with bold action.
Americans pay three times more than our peers abroad for medications, from insulin to asthma inhalers. This is not innovation – it’s extortion. Republicans can help arrest Big Pharma’s well-documented anti-competitive practices. A supermajority of Americans support President Trump’s Executive Order curbing soaring prescription drug prices, including GLP-1s that treat diabetes and are sold for $1,000 when they cost $5 to make. Congress can help make these regulations permanent.
We must expand transparency and choice. From hospital bills to food labels, Americans deserve to know what we’re paying for and what we’re putting in our bodies. Glyphosate and food dyes banned in Europe still sit on U.S. shelves. This is sowing distrust among regular people.
There is also a grassroots push to rein in Big Pharma’s marketing practices, which deserves focus and attention from Congress. Many pharmaceutical companies spend 30% more on television advertising than Research and Development, while they employ legal tricks to keep generic alternatives off of store shelves.
Congress can lower costs by continuing to expand Direct Primary Care and prioritizing overall wellness. A wellness approach won’t pad the profits of our ever-consolidating hospital systems. But it will keep Americans healthier and freer. Our nation’s approach to health should be broad and holistic, including protecting youth from an increasingly medicalized and pathologized early childhood, reducing social media exposure and screentime, and simply leading on policies that provide positive channels like outdoor time in schools.
Action on these fronts would not only save lives but restore trust in a broken system. It would also give Republicans a winning message. Voters consistently rank healthcare as a top concern, and one that Democrats consistently have the advantage on. As I’ve written before, Republicans have embarrassingly lacked solutions and messaging around the topic.
But this prior weakness means there is plenty of runway to offer proactive solutions and take advantage of this key issue.
Our spiraling, costly, and mistrusted healthcare system needs reform. This is a pressing issue for the new, diverse Republican coalition of working voters from all backgrounds. Helping rebalance our policies toward working people will not just mean lowered costs, but restored trust in our medical establishment – something that every functioning society needs. While pharmaceutical profits remain high, trust in their products is in short supply.
Regular voters just don’t care about the Washington intrigues that drive our media cycle. They want solutions that make their lives better. Just as voters crave safe streets and affordable gas and groceries, they want a health system that works for them.
This is the heart of the emerging MAHA movement which catapulted Republicans into office across Pennsylvania and nationally last year. To put our feet on the gas, we need to prioritize lowering costs and improving outcomes. Republicans should act decisively to rebalance power toward regular people. It means proving that the GOP is the party of working families, not corporate boards. And it means developing a healthcare system that doesn’t just put a bandage on chronic illness.
Our political futures, as well as the health and trust of the American people, depend on it.
