Election Results and Health Care

VHCA (11/6/2008)

On Tuesday, nearly 120 million Americans went to the polls to cast their votes for key political offices, at the national, state and local levels.  In a campaign season that has lasted longer than any other, Americans chose Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) to be their 44th President. In addition to the Presidency, the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate was up for re-election.  Even two days later, some races remain undecided – yet voters appear to have sent a message.

Virginians voted for change in four races.  Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, a Democrat,  will go to the Senate to replace the retiring Republican Senator John Warner; Gerald Connelly, a Democrat,  will go to the House of Representatives to replace the retiring  Republican Representative Tom Davis; and it appears that Glenn Nye, a Democrat,  has defeated Republican Representative Thelma Drake in Tidewater.  In a “too close to call” race, Democrat Tom Perriello may have defeated Republican Congressman Virgil Goode, but there will probably be a recount to determine the winner.

In the new Congress Democrats will hold at least 253 seats in the House with Republicans controlling 172 seats, and 10 seats still undecided including Virginia’s 5th district. In the Senate, Democrats hold 56 seats to the Republicans 40 seats with 4 seats too close to call. With Democrats controlling the House, Senate and the White House there are plenty of questions as to what the future holds.

While an official agenda has not yet been articulated, we can assume that the Obama administration will focus on the economy, financial services oversight, energy policy, health care reform, foreign affairs and a new stimulus package meant to help lift the economy out of the current economic downturn. 

As to issues affecting the long term care profession, AHCA has indicated that they will continue to work with Congress to ensure that Medicaid funding to states is included in any stimulus package and will work with congressional leaders to make sure that long term care is addressed in any comprehensive health care reform.  In 2009, beyond the focus of health care reform, we believe that labor issues will fill much of the congressional calendar with the Card Check bill near the top of the legislative agenda. This bill would give unions the right to organize without having a secret ballot. AHCA believes that Card Check and SCHIP funding for Children’s Healthcare will be addressed within the first 100 days of the Obama administration. Other labor issues will also be included in the agenda, including changes to the Family Medical Leave Act, raising the minimum wage to $9.50 and improved whistleblower protections.

Given the realities of this economy at a time when President-elect Obama and others are calling for entitlement reform, we can expect that in 2009 the SNF Medicare Market Basket update and other Medicare funding will be placed in jeopardy. As well, legislation requiring more disclosure and transparency, such as the Grassley/Kohl and Stark/Schakowsky bills will be aggressively pursued during the 111th Congress. Legislation to prohibit pre-dispute arbitration agreements are also likely to be on the agenda for Congress and the Administration alike.

A more comprehensive look at the likely health care issues that will be addressed by the 111th Congress and by President-elect Obama has been prepared by AHCA.