This edition of the AASM coverage of the 2016 election focuses on the health care platforms for the Republican and Democratic candidates in competitive Senate races. States that have tight races include: Illinois, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Illinois
Sen. Mark Kirk (R) is in a close race with Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D). Sen. Kirk, who suffered a stroke in 2012, has sponsored a number of bills to assist survivors of a stroke. Legislation has included: a bill to help stroke survivors return to work; legislation to modernize rehabilitation research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and an initiative to preserve access to rehabilitation innovation centers under the Medicare program. The senator also assisted in increasing the NIH budget from $29 billion to $30 billion for fiscal year 2014. Rep. Duckworth supports the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and has stated that there is a need to “keep the parts of the bill that improve access to affordable health care coverage for individuals and families and fix the parts that could potentially hurt small businesses.”
Nevada
Rep. Joseph J. Heck of Nevada’s 3rd District will face Catherine Cortez Masto, the former attorney general of Nevada, in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Harry Reid, the minority leader of the Senate. An emergency medicine physician, Rep. Heck (R) has advocated for the repeal of the ACA and is in favor of expanding health savings accounts and flexible savings accounts. In addition, Rep. Heck believes that the growing doctor shortage in underserved states and regions is one of the nation’s most critical public health challenges. In March 2015, Rep. Heck, along with Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida, introduced HR 1117, the Creating Access to Residency Education (CARE) Act, to establish a federal grant program for states to create new residency programs or increase slots in those that already exist. In contrast, the Democrat, Catherine Cortez Masto, supports the ideals of the ACA while expressing a willingness to accept modest revision to some aspects of the legislation. In spring of 2010, when she was the Nevada attorney general, she decided against joining other states in suing the federal government over the ACA’s requirement for all Americans to have medical insurance or face financial penalties, stating that it was her belief that Congress acted within its legislative powers to enact the insurance mandate.
North Carolina
Incumbent Sen. Richard Burr (R) is squaring off against General Assemblywoman Deborah Ross (D). In his first term, Sen. Burr has introduced legislative initiatives reflecting his concerns with our health care systems. Introduced early in 2015, The Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility, and Empowerment (CARE) Act is a legislative proposal that would repeal the ACA and replace it with patient-focused reforms, while modernizing Medicare to address its sustainability and reforming the medical malpractice system. In addition, as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Burr has advocated for increasing NIH appropriations for continued disease research. Meanwhile, in the N.C. State House, Deborah Ross supported expanding Medicaid in North Carolina to about 500,000 low-income residents, which was designed to improve health care, reduce pressure on the health system, help rural hospitals, create thousands of new jobs statewide, and boost the North Carolina economy. In her platform, she has pledged to continue to fight for expanding Medicaid throughout N.C. and the nation, while encouraging additional tax support for small businesses to help them provide health insurance to their employees, repealing the ACA tax on medical device manufacturers, and working toward a bipartisan solution for the deficiencies in the ACA.
Pennsylvania
This race is between Sen. Pat Toomey (R) and Katie McGinty (D), who has served as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and also ran for governor of Pennsylvania in 2014. Sen. Toomey opposes the ACA and supports alternative health care initiatives, such as: giving individuals who buy their own health insurance the same tax benefits as employers; allowing individuals and businesses to buy health insurance across state lines; and enacting comprehensive tort reform. The senator is working on legislation to suspend the medical device tax while also supporting legislation to improve Medicare’s solvency. Ms. McGinty supports the ACA and has stated that she will build on the ACA by promoting access to affordable medical coverage while also lowering copays and deductibles and reducing the cost of prescription drugs. Ms. McGinty also supports parity for mental and behavioral health care.
