If
one
watched
Tuesday’s
presidential
debate
on
ABC
News,
one
might
be
pardoned
for
thinking
that
Trump
and
Harris
could
not
be
more
different
when
it
comes
to
healthcare
policy.
Trump
stripped
women
of
federal
protections
as
it
relates
to
the
Supreme
Court
decision
on
abortion
and
wants
the
states
to
chart
their
own
individual
paths.
Harris
wants
to
resurrect
Roe’s
federal
protections
so
that
women
of
different
states
have
equal
footing
when
it
comes
to
issues
surrounding
their
pregnancy
and
the
decision
to
end
it.
Aside
from
that,
they
are
also
on
opposing
sides
on
the
Affordable
Care
Act
though
Trump
appears
to
be
resigned
to
the
fact
that
it
is
now
a
popular
policy
among
most
Americans
—
when
asked
how
he
would
repeal
the
ACA
and
improve
it,
he
said
he
had
“concepts
of
a
plan.”
Broadly,
the
differences
center
on
the
fact
that
Trump
has
generally
been
in
favor
of
“deregulating
health
insurance
and
rolling
back
public
programs,”
while
Harris
would
likely
continue
with
“increased
federal
spending
on
healthcare,”
said
Cynthia
Cox,
vice
president
and
director
of
the
Program
on
the
ACA
at
KFF,
a
nonprofit
health
policy
research
and
news
organization.
However,
believe
it
or
not,
there
are
some
areas
where
Harris
and
Trump
have
similarities
and
for
those,
you
have
to
glance
in
the
past.
For
instance,
combating
healthcare
costs
through
price
transparency.
“We’ve
seen
so
much
less
in
the
way
of
formal
policy
platforms
on
either
side,”
said
Rachel
Nuzum,
senior
vice
president
for
Federal
and
State
Health
Policy
at
the
Commonwealth
Fund.
“And
part
of
that
is
because
we,
in
essence,
have
two
incumbents.
…
Because
we
don’t
have
those
extensive
policy
platforms
that
we’ve
had
in
the
past,
we
really
do
have
to
kind
of
look
at
their
history,
their
record
and
obviously,
some
of
their
comments.”
Healthcare
costs
One
point
of
similarity
between
the
two
candidates
vying
for
the
top
job
is
combating
healthcare
costs
through
price
transparency.
During
his
presidency,
Trump
signed
the
No
Surprises
Act,
which
protects
patients
from
unexpected
medical
bills
when
they
receive
out-of-network
care.
The
Biden-Harris
Administration
began
implementing
the
No
Surprises
Act
in
2021,
and
proposed
expanding
the
protections
to
ground
ambulance
providers.
The
Trump
administration
also
released
a
price
transparency
rule
that
mandated
hospitals
to
post
negotiated
prices
for
their
services.
However,
there
were
challenges
in
implementing
the
price
transparency
changes
because
there
wasn’t
a
lot
of
standardization,
so
the
Biden-Harris
administration
expanded
on
the
rule,
according
to
Cox.
“The
Biden
administration
came
in
and
actually
kind
of
continued
in
the
same
direction
as
the
Trump
administration,
and
built
on
what
the
Trump
administration
had
started,”
she
said.
“They
created
more
standardization
to
improve
implementation
of
this
rule.
…
I
think
a
lot
of
Biden’s
health
policy
was
a
direct
response
to
what
Trump
had
done,
to
undo
things
that
Trump
had
done.
[But]
this
is
an
example
where
they
actually
built
on
what
Trump
had
started.”
Trump
and
Harris
also
seem
to
have
an
interest
in
addressing
anti-competitive
actions,
like
healthcare
mergers,
Nuzum
said.
“Both
camps
potentially
are
interested
in
having
a
better
understanding
of
what’s
going
on
behind
some
of
these
mergers
[and]
the
role
of
private
equity
in
the
healthcare
sector,”
she
said.
“I
think
there’s
a
lot
of
common
ground
there
that
we
need
more
information,
we
want
more
transparency.”
Prescription
drug
prices
A
major
part
of
healthcare
costs
is
expensive
drugs.
This
is
an
area
that
gets
a
lot
of
bipartisan
attention,
though
strategies
have
been
slightly
different.
For
example,
Trump
created
a
model
that
allowed
Medicare
Part
D
plans
to
voluntarily
cap
monthly
insulin
prices
at
$35.
Instead
of
making
this
voluntary,
the
Biden-Harris
administration
passed
the
Inflation
Reduction
Act,
which
mandates
that
all
Part
D
plans
charge
no
more
than
$35
per
month
for
covered
insulin
products.
Additionally,
it
sets
a
$35
monthly
limit
on
cost
sharing
for
insulin
covered
under
Part
B.
The
Inflation
Reduction
Act
also
allows
Medicare
to
negotiate
with
drug
companies
on
the
prices
of
certain
Medicare
Part
B
and
Part
D
drugs,
starting
with
10
drugs.
It’s
unclear,
however,
where
Trump
stands
on
this
since
the
program
is
in
its
early
days,
according
to
Nuzum.
“We
know
that
policy
change
takes
time.
It
hasn’t
shown
up
at
the
pharmacy
counter
yet
for
patients,
and
so
I
am
worried
that
that
one
could
get
sort
of
weighed
down
in
administrative
change,
bureaucracy.
…
Once
people
have
something,
it’s
hard
to
take
it
away,”
she
said.
“And
I
don’t
think
most
people
realize
that
they
have
lower
prices
on
Medicare
yet
on
the
set
of
10,
because
we
haven’t
gotten
to
that
point
in
the
timeline
yet.”
Another
healthcare
expert
said
that
while
the
two
seem
to
have
a
“shared
interest”
in
addressing
drug
costs,
the
IRA
seems
to
be
where
their
paths
diverge.
While
Harris
would
likely
expand
the
negotiation
program,
Trump
likely
wouldn’t
do
this,
according
to
Adam
Searing,
an
associate
professor
of
the
practice
at
the
Georgetown
University
McCourt
School
of
Public
Policy’s
Center
for
Children
and
Families.
Trump’s
efforts
were
more
focused
on
trying
to
import
drugs
from
other
countries,
like
Canada,
at
the
lower
prices
those
countries
pay.
Searing
added
that
as
far
as
he
can
tell,
pharmaceutical
companies
aren’t
thrilled
by
either
candidate’s
strategy.
In
Vitro
Fertilization
(IVF)
Both
candidates
have
said
that
they
support
access
to
IVF
treatment,
and
Trump
called
himself
a
“leader”
in
this
space
during
the
debate,
though
this
may
conflict
with
his
party’s
platform.
According
to
KFF,
Trump
would
require
the
government
or
insurance
companies
to
cover
IVF,
while
Harris
“supports
guaranteed
rights
to
IVF.”
She
also
came
out
against
the
Alabama
Supreme
Court
decision
that
ruled
that
embryos
created
during
IVF
should
be
considered
children.
How
these
healthcare
policies
will
shake
out
remains
to
be
seen
—
after
all,
all
politicians
pivot
from
stated
positions
when
they
are
actually
elected.
However,
if
one
were
to
paint
with
broad
strokes,
Harris’
healthcare
strategy
seems
focused
on
expanding
access
to
care,
while
Trump’s
policies
are
largely
centered
around
reducing
government
involvement.
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