The New England Journal of Medicine invited both presidential candidates to write an op-ed answering the following: "What specific changes in policy do you support to improve access to care, improve quality of care and control healthcare costs for our nation?"
Hillary Clinton accepted the offer, but Donald Trump did not. Ms. Clinton used the opportunity to highlight the progress made so far by the Affordable Care Act — including the 20 million Americans that gained health insurance and expanding access to free preventive services like cancer screenings and vaccines — and discuss how she would meet the challenges that still exist.
Ms. Clinton outlined four primary goals she feels we need to accomplish to achieve affordable and quality healthcare for every American. Here is an overview of those four goals.
1. Build on the ACA. Ms. Clinton again stressed in her op-ed her belief that repealing the ACA would be a step backward for U.S. healthcare. Rather than repealing the law, Ms. Clinton wrote that she wants to continue to expand Medicaid in the 19 states that opted out, enhance tax credits, bring down the cost of prescription drugs, increase payer competition, allow people ages 55 and up to buy into Medicare and offer a public option on the federal and state exchanges.
2. Improve affordability of healthcare. Ms. Clinton highlighted her proposed policy to offer a refundable tax credit of up to $5,000 per family for out-of-pocket health costs that exceed a specific portion of income, as well as her plans to limit out-of-pocket spending on prescriptions to $250 per month. To further tamp down on drug costs, she wrote she plans to streamline the approval process for biosimilar and generic drugs by requiring pharmaceutical companies to justify their prices, doing away with "pay to delay" practices that block or slow generic drugs from hitting the market and allowing Medicare to negotiate prices directly with drug companies. Lastly, she vowed to "aggressively weed out fraud, waste and abuse in any federally subsidized program."
3. Integrate the healthcare delivery system. Ms. Clinton stressed several areas in need of development to remove fragmentation within the healthcare delivery system. Those areas include: value-based care policies; partnerships between public health departments, health systems and community organizations; mental health integration; response to public health emergencies; women's health rights; and reforms that help providers spend more time with patients.
4. Invest in research to better diagnose, treat and cure diseases. Ms. Clinton stressed a commitment to investing in basic research, health innovation and entrepreneurship. She pledged to increase funding specifically to biomedical research for diseases such as Alzheimer's and HIV/AIDS, as well as the Cancer Moonshot, an initiative launched by Vice President Joe Biden. Ms. Clinton also wrote about her commitment to making more cost and quality data available to inform patient and physician decisions.
"Health and healthcare in America should not be a partisan or divisive issue. As president, I will work tirelessly with anyone dedicated to improving our families' health and ensuring that the promise of affordable, quality healthcare is achieved for all Americans," Ms. Clinton concluded.
Read the full op-ed here.
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