![]() Telehealth expansion and mental health care access are already being worked on by various committees on a bipartisan basis. There are also areas of potential bipartisan opportunity-either for the lame duck session or the next Congress. ![]() ACA-related policy has not been abandoned altogether: the Healthy Future Task Force makes at least one explicit call to eliminate certain ACA administrative burdens and emphasizes the need to “empower states to approve health insurance plans more suitable to their constituents' needs by lifting burdensome regulations that require cookie-cutter coverage.” But explicit references to the ACA are otherwise limited, if not nonexistent. This suggests that broad repeal will not be a focus of the House during the next session. One thing worth noting is that most, though not all, Republican candidates abandoned prior calls to repeal and replace the ACA. But it remains unclear which, if any, of these policies might be prioritized by new House and committee leadership. Examples include long-standing Republican priorities such as an expansion of health savings accounts, legislation to authorize association health plans, and a codification of Trump-era transparency rules for hospitals and payers. More specific policies are hinted at in materials from various subcommittees of the House’s Healthy Future Task Force. Campaign materials from House Republicans were very general, espousing a commitment to values like personalized care, transparency, and competition. If those policies are off the table, what might Republicans focus on? It is not entirely clear. ![]() ![]() Bills on these issues were passed by the House but failed in the Senate and not included in recent budget reconciliation packages. Some Republicans have vowed to repeal those provisions, but lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries have not stoked the same level of opposition as the ACA.Įven if those policies are stable, it is unlikely that Congress will adopt or fund other long-sought Democratic health priorities-such as a federal mechanism to close the Medicaid coverage gap, funding for COVID-19 pandemic relief, or a federal law to codify Roe v. And implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act’s prescription drug policies now sits with the Biden administration. Enhanced marketplace subsidies were extended through the end of 2025, meaning a further extension could be punted to the next Congress. Those two policies appear to be on stable ground. This includes significant expansions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and historic changes to Medicare’s prescription drug benefits. The election most certainly ends Democrats’ ability to enact sweeping changes like those that were made over the past two years. But it will increase gridlock, require more compromise, and make it harder for Congress to pass new substantive laws. (While this would be the status quo overall, it has significant implications for judicial and executive branch appointments, and it is worth watching to see if there will be changes to the leadership of key health care committees.) The House is predicted to flip from Democratic to Republican control but also with a narrow margin.Īssuming this comes to pass, a divided Congress is nothing new. But analysts project that Democrats will maintain narrow control of the Senate. House of Representatives has not yet been determined. A Divided Congress?Īs of this writing, control of the U.S. Based on what we know now, this article takes a first pass at how the results of the midterm elections might impact health policy. Even so, health care, and especially abortion rights, seems to have been a key factor in many congressional and state races. With votes continuing to be tallied in several key states and a Senate runoff race in Georgia in early December, it may take days or weeks to know the full results of the 2022 midterm elections. However, there are areas of potential bipartisan opportunity-either for the lame duck session or the next Congress-such as telehealth expansion and mental health care access. A divided Congress would likely neither dramatically expand nor broadly repeal the Affordable Care Act.
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