Financial Bailout Will Hamper Next President?s Health Care Reform Efforts

Health care policy experts may not agree on which presidential candidate’s plan health care would be better for the country, but they do agree that both John McCain’s and Barack Obama’s plans will cost billions to implement.

Health care analysts and experts last week provided insideARM with details of how each candidate’s plan would impact the medical industry. Experts said that McCain’s plan, which would rely on tax code changes to fund the program, could run up bad debt at hospitals. Meanwhile, Obama’s plan to insure all Americans could impact hospitals’ top line revenues as the source for cost savings.

But no matter which candidate wins the November election, the ongoing U.S. financial crisis that has credit markets frozen across the globe will hamper the new President’s efforts to implement his health care reforms.

“Both will end up with incremental reform,” Joseph Antos, a health care policy expert with the American Enterprise Institute told insideARM.

Robert Moffit, director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation agreed. “They can’t do it,” he said. “Not right away.  Full blown health care reform, in light of what has just happened in Congress, is highly unlikely.”

Antos said it’s difficult to predict where the winning candidate would begin making reform, but he believes either would start first by expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. 

“It’s hard to oppose expanding coverage to children,” Antos said.

Antos and Moffit also think the candidates might immediately expand the use of information technology and disease management programs.

“Those are things both candidates have in common,” Moffit said. “They have the foundation for a lot of bipartisan agreement.”

Still, both candidates’ overall proposals are ambitious and will take years to implement, even in good economic times.

“These are big health care reform proposals,” said Moffit.  “Both candidates are talking about tackling big, big stuff.”