Hopes to see continued progress in reducing administrative burdens and improving payments for primary care, which were addressed by previous Trump administration
Nov. 22, 2024 (ACP) -- In the wake of the election of President-elect Donald Trump, there has been much media speculation about who he will appoint to his Cabinet and what health care legislation may be repealed or dissected for parts, and the American College of Physicians is currently working to make sure its voice will be heard.
“Our policies will be the same, but we will need to consider where we focus and what we focus on, and tailor our messaging to the new administration and Congress,” said Shari Erickson, ACP chief advocacy officer and senior vice president of governmental affairs and public policy.
The ACP advocacy staff is composing a letter to the transition team outlining its top priorities. “This exercise will identify where we really need to try and be proactive,” Erickson said.
ACP learned a lot from working with the past Trump administration during his first term in office. “Under the prior Trump administration, several steps were taken to reduce administrative burdens and improve payment for primary care, which are in line with ACP's advocacy initiatives, and I hope to see continued progress in these areas,” Erickson said.
Other ACP advocacy initiatives that she predicts will likely gain traction under the new administration include Medicare Advantage reform, pharmacy benefit manager reform and prior authorization reform.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allowed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to negotiate prices directly with drug companies to improve access to costly brand-name drugs for the first time. “The Trump administration and Congress are concerned with high drug prices, and we have an opportunity to really lay out and use the data we have on what is expected to be saved now that the first 10 drugs have been negotiated by CMS,” Erickson noted.
ACP also hopes to see telehealth access for Medicare beneficiaries maintained and improved under the new Trump administration. “Our hope is that the ‘lame-duck’ Congress may even pass the Telehealth Modernization Act prior to the end of this year that would extend telehealth flexibilities established during the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency for two years through December 2026,” Erickson said.
All Eyes on ACA
The new administration and Congress could take aim at the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to Erickson. “We will be watching out for efforts to repeal parts of the ACA,” she said, “and we will be vigilant and try to provide the right types of messaging that will resonate with this new administration.”
Educating the new members of Congress and their staff about the potential repercussions of repealing parts of the ACA or other legislation will be paramount to these efforts. “There are a lot of new members of Congress coming in and a lot of new staffers, and we will help educate them so that they understand that if they cut back or repeal aspects of the ACA or the Inflation Reduction Act, there will be implications beyond the act in question,” Erickson explained. “We really need to help those coming in to understand what those implications may be.”
For example, the ACA provides families with refundable tax credits to purchase health insurance through both state and federal marketplaces. “If you let tax credits expire, premiums will double in at least 12 states,” Erickson noted, “and this will have broad implications for the economy, as many people will lose coverage and emergency rooms will start backing up.”
She urged caution in jumping to any conclusions about what may or may not happen under the new Trump administration. “We plan to hold back and see what actually plays out and then engage in ways to make sure it aligns with our policy,” she said. “We are not going to abandon policy priorities such as climate change, reducing gun violence injuries and death, and improving access to reproductive health care and LGBTQ+ and gender-affirming care.”
Back to the November 22, 2024 issue of ACP Advocate