Dive Brief:
- Whatever the outcome of the upcoming November presidential election, Congress and the next administration will require bipartisan cooperation to address both routine and new opportunities to shape and advance current healthcare policy, according to a new Health Affairs blog.
- Unless the Affordable Care Act is repealed, it would be possible to work toward numerous bipartisan updates to the ACA, for which many have already been put in motion or generated interest.
- Apart from the ACA, opportunities exist for bipartisan cooperation around current programs due for reauthorization or funding extension, the authors noted.
Dive Insight:
The healthcare landscape for 2017 and beyond will look extraordinarily different depending whether Democrats or Republicans prevail and press their vision for U.S. healthcare. However, the blog argued, it is unlikely that a "wholesale repeal" of the ACA will be achieved because the Senate is not expected to have the 60 votes necessary to do so.
Among the efforts identified as having significant bipartisan momentum are the House’s 21st Century Cures Act and Senate HELP Committee’s medical innovation bills aimed at speeding drug and device development and approval, as well as improving interoperability of EHRs. A sticking point for the bills has been the matter of funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and anything left unresolved this fall can be expected to receive deliberation in the new Congress, the blog noted.
Another subject receiving bipartisan support has been that of federal mental health legislation, though matters remain unresolved around funding levels, gun issues and privacy questions. The opioid epidemic is also generating strong bipartisan attention, including via the recent Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) that has been partially funded through a short-term funding bill but could draw further funding under a subsequent spending bill.
Other matters that may be expected to see bipartisan cooperation include chronic care reform and legislation to lift regulatory barriers around telehealth, the blog noted.
Areas where the authors identified "potential" bipartisan common ground to exist include legislation to support competition and innovation in pharmaceuticals, medical liability reform to reduce pressure for unnecessary tests and procedures, and direction around value-based insurance design.