Attention to healthcare legislation is likely to increase with the Democrats’ mid-term election victories, according to lawmakers and industry analysts. “With the Democrats in control of both the House and Senate, the attention to healthcare will be much greater than we have seen,” says Richard L. Gundling, FHFMA, Vice President of HFMA. “I am expecting to see much more focus on approaches to healthcare policy that rely on a greater role of the federal government in addition to those that are solely market-based solutions.”
In their new position of power, Democrats are vowing to curb healthcare costs by lowering prescription drug prices to Medicare beneficiaries and paying less to insurers that offer Medicare Advantage plans. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has pledged legislation that will allow the government to negotiate directly with pharma to reduce the cost of drugs offered through Medicare Part D, a measure drug makers liken to price controls, reports the Associated Press. Democrats say they will also close the “donut hole” in Medicare drug coverage. And Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) is expected to target insurers of Medicare Advantage plans, having claimed that Medicare is overpaying them by at least 10%, according to The Hartford (Conn.) Courant.
Shares of Humana, the largest provider of Medicare Part D plans, fell 5.9% on Wednesday, and shares of UnitedHealth Group, the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, dropped 3.2%. Shares of drug stocks also fell in response to election results.
Some policy experts, however, believe that the shift in power in Congress will have only a modest impact on health care. Uwe Reinhardt, professor of political economy, economics, and public affairs at Princeton University, told ABC News that, although insurers “will find a less-friendly audience” in a Democrat-controlled House, “whatever House Democrats might want to legislate, they are constrained by the federal government's large fiscal deficit and the president's veto pen. But I do believe a different mindset will rule, in the House at least.”
