Opinion | Michigan can lead the way on health care affordability. Rural families need us to

When you represent rural Michigan, health care affordability is an issue you hear every day. It’s the neighbor who skips his follow-up appointment because he can’t afford the copay. It’s the young family that drives 45 minutes to the nearest emergency room because the local clinic closed. It’s the small business owner who’s had to drop coverage for her employees because premiums went up again.

ken horn — Ken Horn served in the Michigan State Senate representing the 32nd District from 2012 to 2018 and previously in the Michigan House of Representatives. He remains active in health care policy through the Pharma Fairness. (Courtesy photo)

These stories are real. I know this firsthand, having had the privilege of representing the 32^nd district in the Michigan Senate. Affordability was always a concern for our most vulnerable, but it’s reached a fever pitch as families face increasing cost pressures all around. Michigan families deserve relief and Lansing has an opportunity to deliver it.

One of the most promising ideas recently put on the table by the Michigan Senate is establishing state-based health savings accounts (HSAs). I’ve long been a supporter of HSAs as a tool for empowering individuals to manage their own health care dollars.

The idea of creating a state-level HSA program to complement the existing federal structure is a smart and practical step. It allows Michigan to tailor savings incentives to our own residents — potentially offering state tax advantages that make it more attractive for middle-income and working families to set aside money for medical expenses. This is the kind of tangible, pocketbook benefit that people can actually feel. You put money aside, it grows tax-advantaged, and you use it when you need it. It builds a cushion that gives families options rather than forcing them into impossible choices.

In my work since leaving the Legislature, including through the PharmaFairness initiative, I’ve taken the time to look into prescription drug pricing. The pharmaceutical industry has developed some deeply problematic incentives, including charging Michiganders and Americans incredibly higher prices for drugs compared to the rest of the world.

The Senate is looking at how drug advertising drives up costs and influences prescribing in ways that don’t always serve patients. Addressing the role of drug company advertising as part of a broader affordability package is a meaningful signal that Michigan is serious about taking on the structures that inflate health care costs. Patients should be empowered by their doctors’ advice, not a television commercial.

Michigan has a genuine opportunity here. An opportunity that hinges on bipartisan efforts to address the reality that health care costs have become a crisis for the middle class, small business owners, farmers, and retirees on fixed incomes. These are the people I served during my political career, as well as the people I worked alongside as a small business owner for years before then.

Smart policy can lower premiums, expand options, reduce drug costs and protect healthcare services that serve as lifelines in our rural communities. None of these ideas require massive new spending or political sacrifice. They require the courage to act and the wisdom to put patients and families first.

I hope Michigan lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will seize this moment. The folks back home are counting on it.