17 Practical Ways Politicians Can Lower Costs — From Groceries To Health Care And Home Appliances

"Affordability" is now a central political theme in the United States. Politicians from different parties are promising quick relief — rent freezes, capped utility bills, city-run grocery stores — and voters are demanding action. But what policies actually reduce prices in durable ways?

Why Quick Fixes Fall Short

Inflation drove cash prices roughly 20–30% higher since 2020, and many voters want prices to return to 2019 levels. Restoring those nominal prices would require compressing demand so severely that output and employment collapse — a deep recession no responsible policymaker should seek. That political pressure, however, often produces short-term interventions like price controls, rent caps, or broad subsidies that can create shortages, distort markets, and shift costs rather than reduce them sustainably.

A Better Approach: Expand Supply, Cut Costs

Historical episodes — notably deregulation in the 1970s that reduced transportation costs — show an alternative: reduce the regulatory and trade barriers that inflate production and distribution costs. Americans spend nearly 70% of household budgets on a handful of categories (shelter, transport, food, health care, utilities, and furnishings). Targeted supply-side reforms in those areas can deliver faster, more durable relief than price controls or one-off subsidies.

Food

Food spending has risen about 29% since 2019, and lower-income families can spend more than $1,000 a month on groceries. Some cost swings reflect supply shocks (for example, an avian flu outbreak reduced U.S. egg-laying hens in early 2025), but policy choices also play a role. Practical steps:

• Repeal Or Reform The Sugar Program: U.S. sugar quotas and tariff-rate quotas have kept domestic sugar prices well above world levels, costing consumers an estimated $2.4–$4 billion annually.
• Cut Tariffs On Food Imports: Removing duties (for example on beef, sugar, juice, coffee) produces immediate price relief in supermarkets.
• Expand Agricultural Labor Supply: Broader agricultural visas and less unpredictable immigration enforcement reduce harvest losses and lower produce prices.

Health Care

Decades of subsidies and third-party payments have complicated price signals in health care. While comprehensive reform is difficult politically, supply-side changes can expand access and reduce costs:

• Broaden Scope-Of-Practice Laws: Let nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and clinical psychologists practice independently where safe; states with full-practice rules deliver more services at lower cost with similar outcomes for low-risk primary care.
• Allow Safe OTC Medications: Approving over-the-counter access to safe drugs (for example, birth control pills like Opill and, where appropriate, future GLP-1 formulations) can reduce barriers and prices for consumers.
• Accept Approvals From Trusted Foreign Regulators: Automatic or expedited review for medicines approved by agencies in the EU, UK, Japan, or Australia can increase competition and bring more generics and me-too drugs to market.

Appliances And Home Services

Durable goods and home services are significant budget items — appliance prices have been tracking roughly 4% above pre-2025 trends after recent tariff increases. Policy fixes include:

• Remove Tariffs On Appliances And Inputs: Section 232 and other tariffs on steel, aluminum, and copper raise manufacturing and grid-upgrade costs; rescinding these duties lowers sticker prices quickly.
• Easing Occupational Licensing: Relax excessive HVAC and plumbing licensing for routine work (favor registration and insurance) to expand competition, cut wait times, and reduce repair and installation costs.

Housing

Increasing supply is the clearest path to cheaper housing:

• Upzoning And Relax Growth Boundaries: Allow denser development by removing restrictive urban-growth limits and zoning that bans multi-family housing, height, or density.
• Adopt By-Right Permitting And Permit Shot Clocks: Automatically approve projects that meet existing zoning unless governments quickly justify blocks; strict deadlines and judicial review reduce delays and developer risk.

Energy And Transportation

Energy and transport costs are major household expenses (average household electricity: ~$1,730/year; gasoline: ~$2,700/year). Supply bottlenecks and protectionist rules raise volatility and prices:

• Approve More Pipeline And Grid Capacity Faster: Faster federal and state approvals for flexible gas and transmission capacity reduce winter price spikes and reliability risks.
• Remove Tariffs On Energy Materials: Eliminating duties on steel, aluminum, and copper lowers the cost of poles, wires, and transformers.
• Reform Jones Act And Other Shipping Rules: Relaxing cabotage restrictions can lower fuel and shipping costs (studies estimate roughly $770 million/year in East Coast fuel benefits historically).
• Abolish The Chicken Tax And Ease Auto Trade Barriers: Removing the 25% tariff on light trucks and permitting direct-to-consumer sales can reduce vehicle prices; rethinking CAFE complexity may also lower costs.
• Loosen Buy-American Restrictions In Transit Procurement: Allowing waivers for competitively priced imports can reduce capital costs that otherwise raise fares or local taxes.

Other Considerations

An affordability agenda could also address child care, clothing, and many other essentials. The common principle is to unleash supply through trade liberalization and smart deregulation so consumers gain cheaper or lower-frills options and markets deliver better value. Even where nominal prices do not fall dramatically, greater efficiency and choice tend to raise real incomes.

Conclusion

Voters want relief now. Politicians should avoid short-sighted price controls and subsidies that create distortions and instead pursue targeted, market-friendly reforms that reduce production and distribution costs. At the same time, policymakers should reflect on fiscal and monetary choices that can amplify inflationary shocks to avoid repeating these painful episodes.

Note: Figures and policy examples referenced here reflect published research and reporting on trade, regulation, and sectoral costs. Specific legislative or regulatory changes would require careful transition plans to protect workers and manage distributional impacts.