Presidential Candidates' Views on Healthcare

Terry Wilcox  0:03  
This week on the Patients Rising Podcast, we're doing a slightly different kind of episode. But it's one that I think is going to be informative and timely as we enter this crazy time of election season. Welcome to the Patients Rising Podcast. I'm your host, Terry Wilcox, CEO of Patients Rising. I'm joined by my co host, who still can't find Iowa couscous anywhere. He's Bob Goldberg co founder of Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. 

Bob Goldberg  0:33  
Terry, don't laugh. I really feel betrayed because last couple of months, all I heard was TV and radio Iowa couscous this Iowa couscous that, and not one grocery store, Terry, not even whole foods.

Terry Wilcox  0:51  
I don't know how to break this to you, but that's caucus, not couscous.

Bob Goldberg  0:56  
What? Oh, oh, oh, I see. And I was wondering why all the candidates were pushing middle eastern grain. So thanks for  clearing that up. Oh, my God, I'm so embarrassed.

Terry Wilcox  1:12  
Well, you know, no worries, Bob. Now, you do know that today's show is a little bit different, right? 

Bob Goldberg  1:20  
Yes, that I do. Our listeners may have noticed that at the top of the show they didn't hear an interview. And that's because today, we don't have an interview. But we still have an amazing show. 

Terry Wilcox  1:33  
As the 2024 election season starts to really ramp up. We thought it was important that patients know exactly where presidential candidates stand on healthcare. 

Bob Goldberg  1:44  
And of course, we have to take them at their word. We can't guarantee that each candidate is going to fall through. But we want it to report on what's been said so far, and what it might mean for patients across the country. So how does that sound? 

Terry Wilcox  1:59  
Well, Bob, it sounds great. And I'm excited. I also want to mention ahead of time that we don't have time to discuss every single candidate running for the White House on the show today. But we will link to each campaign in the show notes. So you can see for yourself what they've said about healthcare. Now, Bob, you and I worked all week, tracking down these answers. So let's go ahead and start. Now up first, why don't we start with a view of the Republicans since there are more of them to get through. Now we'll start with the current Republican front runner or President Donald Trump. As you may remember, during his time as president, he tried to repeal Obamacare, otherwise known as the ACA, but wasn't successful. However, he has said that Republicans should never stop trying to do that. The New York Times reports that as recently as November, he said he was, quote, "seriously looking at alternatives to the Affordable Care Act." Now, there's a lot of banter. As somebody who has been president before, he sort of knows the buzzwords of healthcare. He's always very clear, and will this will come up in. In future, folks, we're going to talk about down the line here, other candidates. You know, he's always saying I will protect Medicare, I will protect Social Security and patients with pre existing conditions. It's like he took a class on like the appropriate buzzwords for healthcare right on what you don't want to do. You don't want to touch this. You don't want to touch this, and you don't want to touch this. Right. Right. Right. So he just always does part of his mantra when he's talking about healthcare. 

Bob Goldberg  3:33  
Look, it's hard to predict, but he did not touch Medicare, he focused on drug prices. A lot of the things that he proposed, including passing rebates on to the patients did not get through, because Congress wanted the money. And of course, that money, the increased rebates under the inflation reduction next aren't going to patients. So I would expect Trump to continue to harp on that. And now, I also want to say that a lot of other candidates have not posted very specific health care platforms. So in his patients, we'd obviously liked him to do that. But with that in mind, we can move on to Ron DeSantis, who scored the second place spot in the Iowa caucus. So Governor DeSantis says he also plans to do away with the ACA. But he says he wants to pass legislation that would supersede Obamacare, and while he was in Congress, he voted multiple times to repeal the act, and he says he will provide more detailed health plans from his campaign at a later date. I should add that last week, he announced that the state of Florida some of the agencies would set up a website where they could purchase drugs from Canada. And two days later, the Canadian Canadian Health Minister said no, we're not sending any of our drugs anywhere outside of Canada. So good luck with that. And this is again, by the way, as we will talk about the end of the podcast, this drug importation proposal has a lot of problems and always has. 

Well, and another thing when you talk about he's gonna release a plan in the spring. It's a plan, the big buzz around it, probably one of the reasons why they haven't released it yet, because it's complicated, is to supersede Obamacare, whatever that means. So we shall see, we shall see. So the other Republican, most are keeping their eyes on his former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley. Haley said It is unacceptable for the United States to have some of the most expensive healthcare in the world. And it is. She also has said that she wants to expand Medicare Advantage plans to increase competition and drive down costs. She also said we need to examine entitlement programs to make sure they are doing what they're supposed to be doing, saying, quote, I recognize that Social Security and Medicare are the last thing the political class wants to talk about. But Haley said, any candidate who refuses to address them should be disqualified. They'll take your vote and leave you broke. So she's going where Trump is vowing never to go, right? He's got the sound bites down of "if I say anything against any of these things, I will get attacked. So I am not." And it just shows that, you know, no matter who you are, what party you're running for independent, whatever, you do still take some of these things to heart and sort of have certain things where you're going to play to your audience, right? But she's calling it out here. You know, as we wrap up the Republicans here, I mean, basically, it comes down to there's not a whole lot going on. They are pivoting. Yeah. I mean, let's just be clear. 

Yeah, there's nothing, no one cares. 

Terry Wilcox  6:58  
Yeah. There's not a lot of grand health ideas. I mean, I think if you want to dig deeper into their healthcare ideas, you know, there is a lot of freedom of choice and all of the things that are sort of part of the general Republican platform. I think they've been slapped so many times in the healthcare space, that they're a little bit nervous to even come up with ideas, which is why they pivot. You know, it's, it's pretty clear, you know, you, you hit the dog enough times, and they're gonna just cower in the corner. 

Bob Goldberg  7:28  
They'll figure out to stay away. 

Terry Wilcox  7:30  
They'll figure out to stay away from that. So, overall, their healthcare ideas, you know, Trump is pretty much the same as when he was president. DeSantis is unveiling something we have yet to really see. But we can kind of get an idea of where his head is. He's not really a friend of anybody in the way he's treated healthcare running Florida. So it's not, you don't really feel like when DeSantis is talking, anyone's lining his pockets in the healthcare space? 

Bob Goldberg  7:54  
No, no. 

Terry Wilcox  7:55  
So Bob, what do you think about the independent space?

Bob Goldberg  8:00  
Yes, right. So let's start with Jill Stein, running again, physician, environmental activist, vying for the Green Party nomination. And she's for a Medicare for All style healthcare system. Right. 

Terry Wilcox  8:18  
She's basically government pays for everything. Everything is bad.

Bob Goldberg  8:23  
Single payer government run health system, get the private sector out of it. Dream on.

Terry Wilcox  8:29  
Yeah, I mean, if you look at her answers, I mean, you can just kind of glance through, you know, we did a quick check. I mean, she basically for the most part is in line with the Democratic Party, overall on health care. Now, my favorite is actually, I'm glad this one was given to me, is Cornel West. Okay, now he's another independent previously taught at Princeton, Yale, and Harvard. Also advocates for a Medicare for All system and wants to, quote, guarantee health care to all like every other major country on Earth, according to his website. That's not actually true, we could do like a real big meter on that, because there's countries who don't even have running water, so they certainly don't guarantee healthcare for all but that's neither here nor there. We're not gonna talk about that today. 

Bob Goldberg  9:20  
But yeah, they're not going to stop trying. 

Terry Wilcox  9:22  
They're not going to stop trying. I mean, he is to the left to the left on health. He doesn't even call it healthcare. Reform. He calls it health justice. I always like to look, you know, at the extremes, because there are extremes. I call it the fringe. And he's well known, and he's obviously good TV, as everyone will say. So anyway, that's your Cornel West blurb for anybody who might be looking at or even not knowing who Cornel West is, you know, give him a listen, may or may not agree. 

Bob Goldberg  9:54  
I'm just making a note. It's not corn of the west. I don't want to confuse my grains with candidates this time. Well, we can discuss the Democrat candidates. 

Terry Wilcox  10:04  
Yes, this is where we should. You know, we had to put a little bit of fun there in the middle for you guys.

Bob Goldberg  10:08  
Yeah, yeah. So we mentioned, you know, because he is the president, a few of Biden's proposals many times on the show. He wants to cut drug costs, which we have Patients Rising agree with, but we do disagree on his approach to get there. And through these listening sessions that HHS had, which are a name only, we found that they're not really listening to patients, they are telling private companies, you take our terms, or you're never going to be able to sell a product again, or we'll sue you for civil damages, and they want to confiscate drug patents. We just don't think that the unbalance the president who is passionate about curing cancer is ending cancer as we know it is hurting innovation. So the only thing I can say, you know, there is one other candidate running against him, Dean Phillips.

Terry Wilcox  11:02  
There's actually two, there's Dean Phillips, and I only mentioned this, because she has such a robust healthcare platform of all the things that she's thought about in healthcare, and that's Marianne Williamson. And she's not I'm obviously, but she is running as a Democrat, so I have to put it up there. You know, a lot of people know her. She's, you know, not polling at all. But she has thought, one of the things that intrigued me when I was doing my research was that she actually thought about it. You go to her healthcare page, and she's thought about it, like, what do you agree with it or not is one thing, but she's definitely thought about a whole she calls it her whole health plan. And many, there's parts of it that I really do, like, you know, thinking about the whole person thinking about preventative control, tying everything in, in a way. I mean, a lot of it I like, you know, as somebody who works in healthcare, a lot of it I some of the things I really, really like. So, you know, she doesn't stand a chance in the Democratic Party to be a candidate. But I only put it out there because she didn't really think about it. And so I just want to give her kudos for that, because she did go all in on health care, with a lot of things that she put out. 

Bob Goldberg  12:17  
There is RFK, Jr.

Terry Wilcox  12:22  
RFK actually is interesting, because you would think he would really line up with the Democrats. But he doesn't. He's really kind of an independent like wild. He's like the wild wild west, that guy, as far as like, what he...he's definitely more centrist. He doesn't support Medicare for all, surprisingly. So he's interesting as an independent he's, you know, we all know his thoughts on vaccines, and we, you know, have opinions about that. But as far as a candidate, you know, he even says to the answer, I actually put this in my notes to point out, he was asked: "should health insurers be allowed to deny coverage to individuals who have pre existing conditions?" Yes, he said yes! It mean, that goes against like, every what, everyone, even Republican that goes against everyone. Yes, ensuring people with pre existing conditions drives up costs for everyone. 

Bob Goldberg  13:14  
Yeah. Well, you know, there's something to talk about, I guess. If he does start getting traction, I'm sure that that's something you may want to examine. 

Terry Wilcox  13:26  
I mean, I still I look at the landscape. And I look at everyone, and as somebody who works every day, with patients who need their healthcare to work the most, I'm not saying they're not kernels of good ideas. But nobody's talking about the major hurdles of benefit design, you know, discrimination, nobody's talking about the real day to day struggles of American patients as they try to do something as simple as get a ride to their appointment. And a lot of this, to me, Bob is sort of like, you know, just kind of more of the same. There's nothing really innovative. 

Bob Goldberg  14:06  
There's nothing there. I mean, although I would say in closing, you know, if you're an advocate, and you get to one of these Q and A's or listening sessions, you can raise those issues. And it's one way of getting it memorialized in the campaign. 

Terry Wilcox  14:22  
We're going to be talking about that because we really on the patient advocacy side, if you could a PatientsRisingNow.org and you want to register for our advocacy masterclass, or learn a little bit more about how to advocate one of the things that we really want to try to do during this campaign season, is figure out how we can get real patients in front of candidates. It doesn't matter what party just get them in front of candidates talk about real issues, right? And as much as like Biden is kind of running on health care, because he can, you know, yeah, that's his lane. And everybody else is really like, "do I have to talk about healthcare?" And so they're over there in their lane. So we wanted to lay the groundwork for everyone so that they can, you know, start to form their opinions on the candidates and things they would like to know. You know, you can write the candidates campaigns you can get involved if they come to your state. There's all kinds of ways to engage. And we encourage you to do that because the more candidates hear from actual patients, the more they have to answer the questions, they have to be on the record about the issues that patients care about.

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Bob Goldberg  16:23  
That's all for today then so thank you for joining us. Make sure to follow the Patients Rising Podcast on your favorite podcast player so you can be notified as soon as a new episode is live and we'd love for you to share this episode with someone you know and love. There's no better way to show your love than to share a podcast with me and Terry, trust me, and to help set them up for a smooth, hassle free year when it comes to getting the care they need. 

Terry Wilcox  16:52  
Absolutely thank you Bob. Until next week for Bob and everyone at Patients Rising. I'm Terry Wilcox, stay healthy.