Major issues in healthcare policy loom large over the remaining candidates in the GOP primary race for 2024.
The Republicans are facing an effort by President Joe Biden to make healthcare a strength for his reelection effort. As part of his broader “Bidenomics” agenda, his campaign in recent weeks has touted his administration’s record on lowering healthcare costs and expanding coverage options.
In 2023, Biden’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began the rollout of the Drug Price Negotiation program, which effectively sets prices for the most expensive prescription medications for seniors. The Department of Health and Human Services has also lauded that record numbers of people are enrolling in Obamacare insurance plans either through Healthcare.gov or a state exchange program.
The rising costs of healthcare and federal spending on national health policy will continue to influence the race heading into upcoming primaries.
Obamacare
Former President Donald Trump in recent weeks has rekindled his 2016 pledge to repeal Obamacare. He said at a campaign stop in Iowa that he is “going to fight for much better healthcare.”
After Trump’s victory, congressional Republicans were unable to pass an Obamacare replacement proposal. The effort proved unpopular and contributed to their electoral loss in the 2018 midterm elections.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in December touted a plan to “supersede Obamacare,” emphasizing the need to utilize concepts in free market economics to lower costs. DeSantis has said that he will release a comprehensive healthcare plan this spring.
As governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley was a staunch critic of Obamacare, but she has not referenced how she would address it as president.
The campaigns for Trump, DeSantis, and Haley did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on the fate of Obamacare in their respective healthcare proposals.
Rising costs of healthcare
A spokesperson for the Haley campaign told the Washington Examiner that decreasing healthcare costs would be a key priority for her administration.
“She believes that patients need to be in the driver’s seat and be able to make informed decisions about their treatments,” the spokesperson said.
DeSantis has echoed similar talking points. In December, DeSantis stressed the need for “more transparency, more consumer choice, more affordable options, less red tape, [and] less bureaucracy weighing everybody down.”
The Trump administration had some victories in efforts to cut red tape and reduce healthcare costs that were not overturned once Biden took office.
In 2020, Trump signed the No Surprises Act, a bipartisan measure against unexpected medical bills resulting from payment disputes between healthcare providers and insurers.
Trump also pushed for price transparency regulations that require hospitals and insurers to provide estimated costs for procedures.
Prescription drug prices
Lowering prescription drug prices has drawn significant bipartisan support, as it is a top concern for voters.
Haley has criticized the Biden administration’s efforts to lower prices as short-term solutions rather than addressing the root causes of price increases.
Haley’s campaign also told the Washington Examiner that her administration would work to make pharmacy benefit managers and pharmaceutical companies more transparent.
While then-President Donald Trump was active in reducing prices for prescriptions, many of his proposals were blocked by the courts.
In November 2020, a regulation took effect allowing states to import cheaper drugs from Canada, but the Food and Drug Administration has been reluctant to approve state applications for the program.
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As governor, DeSantis has similarly undertaken high-profile efforts to reduce drug prices. In January, the Florida Department of Health became the first to receive FDA approval under the Trump-era policy to import drugs.
“It’s about time that the FDA put patients over politics and the interests of Floridians over Big Pharma,” DeSantis said at the announcement earlier this month.
