What Would a Republican Win Mean for Health Policy?

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 375; no. 14; pp. 1312 - 1313
• Main Author: Wilensky, Gail R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Massachusetts Medical Society 06.10.2016
• Subjects: Health care policy; Health Policy - legislation & jurisprudence; Health savings accounts; Insurance premiums; Insurance, Health - economics; Insurance, Health - legislation & jurisprudence; Medical Savings Accounts - legislation & jurisprudence; Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act 2010-US; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - legislation & jurisprudence; Politics; Trump, Donald J; United States; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1610716

Donald Trump supports some common GOP proposals, such as expanding the availability of health savings accounts and turning Medicaid into block grants. But if the election results in a split Congress, will Republicans be willing to work to “fix” the Affordable Care Act? Although it’s not unreasonable to ask how a Republican victory in the 2016 presidential election would affect health policy, it’s important to remember how policy becomes law. Presidents can propose policies — but preferably not in the form of legislative language, as President Bill Clinton did in 1993, when he sent a 1342-page proposal to Congress. Even though Democrats were in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, Clinton’s Health Security Act never came up for a vote — largely because of opposition to the policies it contained, but also because resistance was exacerbated by the way . . .