Dr. Lenchus
“Regardless of who is elected, I would like to believe they would build off of what already exists,” says Joshua Lenchus, DO, RPh, SFHM, a member of SHM’s Public Policy Committee and a hospitalist at the University of Miami Jackson Memorial Hospital. “The populace doesn’t have the stomach for going through healthcare reform again.”
One of the biggest issues to emerge in the Democratic primaries is drugs: the pricing set by and regulations governing the pharmaceutical industry. Sanders wants to see a higher level of transparency, Clinton wants to require companies receiving federal support to invest in research, and both want to see the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs reduced dramatically. This includes allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and allowing the sale of drugs from other countries that meet FDA standards.
“That resonates with the general public,” Blendon says, “because it’s very hard for people to understand that if we’re free trade in everything, why aren’t we for free trade in pharmaceuticals?”
Dr. Lenchus believes Democrats are going to “double-down” on health reform.
“To ensure the financial underpinnings and some of the partisan concerns are addressed,” he says. “I think with respect to hospitalists, the thing that impacts us the most is how medicine is going to get paid for doing what it does.” TH
Kelly April Tyrrell is a freelance writer in Madison, Wis.