Daily Update - December 10, 2025

Time To Get Government Out Of Healthcare

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About Reuel Sample

This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Wednesday December 10th, 2025 brought to you by Cape Fear Boat Brokerage at capefearbrokerage.com

It is time for the government to get out of the healthcare business.

According to KFF – an independent health policy research organization – the cost of health care premiums in our country have gone from $15,745 per year for a family in 2012 – 2 years after Obama Care was passed – to close to $26,000 in 2024. That is a 62% increase. The average cost for businesses that provide that insurance has gone from $11,429 per year to just over $19,000.

Clearly, the government’s intervention in 18% of our gross domestic product has failed. We can do better.

We must clear the way for small businesses to band together – even across state lines – in group health insurance policies tailored specifically to their needs and employees. Currently, states make it almost impossible for that to happen.

We must make healthcare costs completely transparent – instead of shrouding prices in mysteries and raising or reducing them in relation to the particular health care policy of the patient.

We need to bring back and expand health care savings accounts so individuals and families can save for medical expenses tax free. We also need to make all health care costs tax deductible – not just for those who itemize their expenses.

We need to put a cap on lawsuits – especially frivolous ones – which drive up the cost of everything and which almost mandates doctors order every test and procedure under the sun in order to practice defensive medicine.

And perhaps we need to be healthier ourselves – as the CDC is reporting that roughly 40% of our adult population would be considered obese.

These are just a few of the ways we can dramatically decrease the cost of our health care. When we unleash the power of the free market – rely on non-profits and other organizations to take up the slack – and take responsibility for our own overall well-being - our health care costs will decrease almost overnight.

But only if the government gets out of the way.

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. Thanks for listening.

Reuel Sample is the Editor-in-Chief of The Wilmington Standard. A graduate of Grove City College and Princeton Theological Seminary, he has served as both a Presbyterian Pastor and a Navy Chaplain. He is the product of a classical liberal arts education combined with real world experience in politics and business and conservative Christian worldview firmly rooted in the Reformed tradition. He is the host of several podcasts including the NHC GOP Podcast, the Pastor's Voice, and co-hosts the Nikki and Reuel Podcast Experience. An avid sailor, he has sailed around the world as a youth and to the Azores as a teen as well as extensive trips up and down the east coast of the United States. He is honored to be married to his wife Pam and makes his home in Wilmington, NC.