The 2016 Presidential election is only a few weeks away. While healthcare has not been central to the Presidential campaign, the election’s outcome will be a major determining factor in the country’s future healthcare policy. The outcome of the 2016 election is likely to influence several key healthcare issues, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA), rising prescription drug costs, and women’s health issues. As Americans go to the voting polls, understanding where each candidate (and party) stands is important as the two parties are in stark contrast with each other on most key issues.
The future of the ACA is one of the biggest healthcare issues likely to be affected by the outcome of the 2016 election. Democratic Presidential Candidate Secretary Hillary Clinton supports policies to maintain and build upon the Act. Specifically, Secretary Clinton would increase premium subsidies in the marketplace so no participant would be required to pay more than 8.5 % of their income for coverage. Secretary Clinton has stated that she would also fix the “family glitch” to allow people to buy coverage through the marketplace regardless of their immigration status. Additionally, Secretary Clinton has maintained that she would incentivize states to expand Medicaid and would make enrollment through Medicaid and the ACA easier by dedicating more funding for outreach and enrollment efforts. Further, Secretary Clinton claims she would make a public plan option available in every state, giving people the option of buying into Medicare starting at age 55.
Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has proposed a much different approach to healthcare policy relying more on the principles of the free market to regulate healthcare and less on government involvement. Mr. Trump supports a complete repeal of the ACA, including the individual mandate to have coverage. In lieu of requiring insurers to provide coverage to everyone regardless of health status, Mr. Trump has stated he would work with states to create high risk pools for individuals who have not maintained continuous coverage. Specifically, this means to fund pools at the state level that would subsidize premiums for people with pre-existing medical conditions (high risk individuals) so that they can get affordable insurance coverage. Mr. Trump also supports a law that would allow Medicaid to be transformed into a state block grant program, and he would modify existing laws that inhibit the sale of health insurance across state lines. Further, Mr. Trump has maintained that he would encourage increased use of health savings accounts and allow people receive tax deductions for insurance premium payments.
The different positions of both candidates highlight an emerging truth: President Obama’s signature domestic achievement will almost certainly have to change to survive. The Democratic and Republican parties each agree that for too many people, health plans in the individual insurance market are still too expensive and inaccessible.
Another key issue in this election is the rising price of prescription drugs. Secretary Hillary Clinton believes in reducing prescription drugs costs and protecting consumers from unjustified price increases from companies that face little to no competition. The Democratic Presidential nominee has proposed increasing generic competition by prohibiting “pay-to-delay” deals whereby companies make payments to competitors for agreeing to delay market entry. She also supports eliminating tax deductions for direct-to-consumer advertising; requiring approval of advertisements by the Food and Drug Administration; tying federal support for drug companies to their investment in research and development; increasing transparency of the additional value new drugs have over existing treatments; and allowing Medicare to negotiate drugs and biologic prices. To address out-of-pocket spending on prescriptions, Secretary Clinton has proposed a $250 per month cap on cost sharing for covered drugs, and a rebate program for low-income Medicare beneficiaries that mirror those in Medicaid.
To contrast, Mr. Trump supports allowing importation of drugs from overseas that are safe and reliable but priced lower than in the U.S. He also supports greater price transparency from all health providers, especially for medical exams and procedures performed at doctors’ offices, clinics, and hospitals. However, he does not specify whether this policy would also apply to retail prescription drugs, which typically are not considered services or procedures.
Finally, an important topic to consider in the 2016 election is each candidate’s position on women’s health issues. For women, a key provision of the ACA has been the requirement that all new private insurance plans and Medicaid expansion programs cover certain categories of benefits, including maternity care, mental health, and prescription drugs, that were commonly excluded by individual insurers prior to the ACA. Under Secretary Clinton, these policies would remain intact. She has also proposed making maternal depression screening standard practice under Medicaid. Mr. Trump’s plan to repeal the ACA would eliminate minimum scope of benefits standards, jeopardizing coverage of no-cost preventive services.
Additionally, Secretary Clinton supports women’s access to reproductive health care including access to preventive care, affordable contraception, and safe and legal abortion. She also supports paid leave for parents and caregivers. Mr. Trump supports establishing more federal regulations on women’s access to abortion. He has also proposed a family leave plan that includes six weeks of paid maternity leave that would be paid for by eliminating unemployment insurance fraud.
One thing that is clear this election season is that the candidates (and their respective parties) have contrasting views on several issues. The 2016 election will be important in determining the future of these key healthcare issues.