From a communications perspective, this year’s Republican presidential campaign is a little on-the-nose. It features chants of “Fight, fight, fight” at its rallies, had a former WWE star and current Medicare beneficiary ripping his shirt off at the convention and more. The message of this campaign has been clear from day one: We want you to think we’re strong.
The problem? Republicans’ plans to fix things are pretty weak. And they’d leave Virginians much worse off.
Take health care. Voters have been clear that it costs too much. From health insurance premiums to the price of prescription drugs at the pharmacy, Americans need some relief from the high prices they’re forced to pay whenever they try to stay healthy, and the choice in this election is clear.
Look at prescription drug prices. Eight out of every 10 Americans believe prescription drug prices are too high and, according to the nonprofit Freedom Virginia, drug prices in Virginia are roughly a third higher than the national average.
The Trump administration pushed for new rules to open the U.S. to drug importation from countries such as Canada with cheaper drugs. The results have been disappointing. Other countries aren’t as eager to voluntarily share their drug supply with consumers in the U.S.
The Biden-Harris administration took a tougher stance. Not only did it cap the cost of insulin at $35 for people on Medicare, a bit below the $50 price cap that Virginia set in 2020, but it went a step further by empowering Medicare to bring drug companies to the negotiating table. This means we’re seeing the first-ever public negotiation process for what Medicare pays for drugs that treat cancer, diabetes, heart failure, arthritis and more — drugs that more than 193,000 Virginians on Medicare take today. The Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” proposes eliminating the process altogether.
Even simple visits to the doctor are getting more expensive.
The Trump administration took aim at this through “price transparency,” assuming that if everyone could see the prices that different hospitals and health systems charge, the market would bring costs down. But in a health care system as fragmented as ours, with price differences across where we get our care and which insurance company pays for it, transparency by itself doesn’t do much. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it would only reduce costs by 1% or less in the next decade.
The Biden-Harris administration has taken a middle ground, not advocating for hard price caps on health care services but taking a hard look at the ways hospitals, health systems and private equity firms conspire to drive up prices. In December, President Joe Biden announced a “cross-government public inquiry into corporate greed in health care” to bring more scrutiny to health care mergers and acquisitions before they raise costs and worsen care. An aggressive federal effort such as this could have protected numerous Virginia communities.
Perhaps the greatest measure is how someone uses their strength to protect those who need it most. On this, the two candidates for president are as far apart as possible.
The Trump administration famously attempted to cut health care for tens of millions of Americans by repealing the Affordable Care Act and slashing Medicaid. Under the Biden-Harris administration, more Americans have health coverage than ever before and, most importantly, nearly 1.4 million children have gained health coverage since Biden took office, making up for the children who lost coverage between 2016 and 2020. In Virginia, these efforts brought the uninsured rate to its lowest level in history.
Virginians don’t need the performative “strength” of reality television, professional wrestling or online rants. They need leaders who are strong enough to go toe-to-toe with the massive companies in our health care system and force them to put patients first.
Brian Chiglinsky of Falls Church is a graduate of William & Mary and a communications consultant. He previously served as the former director of speechwriting at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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