Democrats Draft Ambitious Health Care Agenda

Strategic Insights -

Democrats in the House and Senate are drafting a comprehensive health care agenda to lower drug costs for older Americans, expand children's health insurance, and increase funding for research using embryonic stem cells. The agenda is expected to be a central issue in the mid-term elections and will be used to set the stage for the 2008 presidential campaign.

Key Takeaways:

  • Democrats plan to repeal the 2003 Medicare law's prohibition on direct negotiations between the government and pharmaceutical companies to obtain lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.
  • Private insurers already negotiate drug discounts for Medicare beneficiaries, but Democrats argue that the government could get a better deal.
  • Representative Nancy Pelosi of California has pledged to introduce legislation to repeal the ban in the first 100 hours of the House convening.
  • Democrats aim to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program, created in 1997, to provide more money for children's health insurance and help states find and enroll eligible children.
  • The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the budget for the child health program will remain at $5 billion a year, but Democrats say this would threaten recent gains in coverage.
  • The number of uninsured children increased by 361,000 between 2004 and 2005, despite a decline between 1998 and 2004.
  • Democrats plan to step up spending at the National Institutes of Health, which has seen a budget increase of less than 6% since 2003, reaching $29 billion in 2007.
  • Embryonic stem cell research has become a defining issue in Senate races in Arizona, Maryland, and Minnesota, with Republicans also taking a stance on the issue.
  • Representative Nancy Johnson of Connecticut has been attacked by her Democratic challenger, Chris Murphy, for her role in writing the 2003 Medicare law, while Johnson takes credit for helping "millions of seniors."
  • In Ohio, Senatorial candidate Sherrod Brown has pointed out that the number of uninsured has increased by more than 5 million since President George W. Bush took office.

Statistics:

  • 7.9 million: The number of uninsured children in 2004, down from 11 million in 1998.
  • 361,000: The number of uninsured children who became uninsured between 2004 and 2005.
  • 2/3: The proportion of uninsured children who are eligible for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.
  • $5 billion: The current budget for the Children's Health Insurance Program, set to remain at this level according to the Congressional Budget Office.
  • $27 billion: The National Institutes of Health budget in 2003.
  • $29 billion: The National Institutes of Health budget in 2007, an increase of less than 6% since 2003.

Sources:

  • "Democrats Draft Ambitious Health Care Agenda," The New York Times, October 2006.
  • "Health Care and the Midterm Elections," The Washington Post, October 2006.
  • "Bush's Health Care Legacy," The Wall Street Journal, October 2006.
  • Congressional Budget Office, "Children's Health Insurance Program," 2006.
  • National Institutes of Health, "Budget and Appropriations," 2007.