You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Chains.

• Position: MEDICINE AND HEALTH

In an entertainment venue called the "Escape Room" participants are locked inside a themed adventure room, and they must flgure out how to escape. Themes include prisons, KGB interrogation, and hostage situations. Perhaps a new theme could be ObamaCare.

Despite a large majority of Americans reporting health care as their No. 1 concern, Congress does not have the political appetite for a serious assessment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act It is time for Congress to say, "PPACA and its fixes' are not working; cut our losses; and move in a different direction." New proposals should focus on reducing the cost of pharmaceuticals and medical services rather than shifting costs from one entity to another via mandated insurance benefits and government subsidies.

Congress needs to act on a few simple reforms that will help everyone and hurt no one--except the drug lobbies and middlemen.

First, seniors must demand to be treated like thinking adults--and save the Federal government money in the process. Under current law, anyone age 65 and over who is entitled to Social Security benefits also automatically is entitled to "free" Medicare Part A (hospital coverage). However, if a senior wants to decline Part A and seek or keep other medical care options, that individual must forfeit his or her Social Security benefits. As Judge Rosemary Collyer noted in a legal challenge to this rule, "plaintiffs are trapped in a government program intended for their benefit... They disagree and wish to escape."

Alas, the 1993 regulation was interpreted to confirm the draconian punishment for wanting to break free of the government control. To right this wrong, will one brave congressperson or senator revive the Retirement Freedom Act and support the Medicare Patient Empowerment Act that makes it easier for patients and physicians to opt out of Medicare?

Second, seven of 10 Americans use prescription drugs, and they overpay for these 23% of the time. Patients often are not told they could pay less by not using insurance. If the insurance co-pay is higher than the actual cost of the drug, the middlemen (pharmacy benefit managers) keep the difference.

Legislative remedies exist. The bipartisan Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act prohibits health insurance issuers and group health plans from restricting or penalizing pharmacies who tell enrollees the differential between a drug's cash price and the insurance plan's cost The bipartisan Know the Lowest...