TRENDS
Biden’s Healthcare Agenda Affordable Care Act, telemedicine, home-based care intended to promote healthcare equity and accessibility If anyone had doubts about the Biden administra-
tion’s plans for healthcare and payment reform, those doubts were dispelled just eight days after his Jan. 20 inauguration, when Biden issued his “Executive Order on Strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.” Of course, even the best laid plans can get derailed. The courts could disembowel the Affordable Care Act, or natural disasters and global political turbulence could divert the administration’s time and resources. But the guiding healthcare principles of the Biden administration can be summed up in three words: Quality. Cost. Equity. For those in the healthcare supply chain, that means more patients are likely to enter the system.
Affordable Care Act In Biden’s American Rescue Plan, signed into law on March 18, the administration pledged to reduce the cost of healthcare coverage for 9 million consumers currently receiving financial assistance. As spelled out in the plan, one out of four enrollees on Heathcare.gov will be able to upgrade to a higher plan category that offers better out-of-pocket costs at the same or lower premium compared to what they’re paying today. What’s more, an additional 3.6 million uninsured people will become eligible for healthcare coverage savings. As if to underscore the administration’s determination, the Department of Health and Human Services was allotted $50 million to fund advertising to bolster the Special Enrollment Period outreach campaign, which was scheduled to run through August 15, 2021. If the Affordable Care Act were indeed to be fortified, what difference would that make to the industry? If history is any guide, the results will be mixed for providers, suppliers, payers, patients and caregivers. In February 2020, Commonwealth Fund researchers reported that the ACA: 26
June 2021
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