Urging President Trump, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has publicly backed his proposal for collective health insurance purchasing across state lines.

The crux of Paul’s advocacy involves promoting his “Healthy Competition for Better Care Act,” co-authored with Georgia Representative Rick Allen and Texas Representative Jodey Arrington. This legislation seeks to enable any group – including large retailers like Costco, Amazon, or Sam’s Club – to buy health insurance collectively, thereby allowing these entities to negotiate as a single bargaining unit.

Paul highlights that increased competition is crucial for lowering healthcare costs. He contends the current system subsidizes individual plans and inadvertently drives up premiums. Legalizing collective purchasing, he argues, would create larger markets and grant unprecedented negotiation power to major retailers like Costco or Amazon, leading to significantly lower health insurance premiums across America.

In his op-ed published by Newsweek, Paul stressed that his plan is unique among Republican proposals in its potential effectiveness for reducing prices without taxpayer subsidies. He pointedly stated it’s the only plan offering a genuine path “to drive prices down.” Other variations on the theme proposed by compliant Republicans, like extending Obamacare subsidies into Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), he claims would not lower premiums and risk aligning with aspects of Obamacare itself.

Paul specifically called out President Trump as an ideal partner for this effort. His recent communication echoed his long-standing criticism, aiming to persuade the administration of its benefits regarding labor laws enabling group purchases from retailers.