Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE NEW IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • COVID-19
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Digital Health
  • Insights
    • ACA 10 Years After
    • Best Practices
    • Special Reports
    • Innovations
  • Data/Lists
    • Rankings/Lists
    • Interactive Databases
    • Data Points
  • Op-Ed
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Awards
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
    • Women in Healthcare
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
    • - Leaders to Watch
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Women Leaders
    • - Women to Watch
  • Events
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Transformation Summit
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Strategic Marketing
    • - Virtual Health
  • Listen
    • Podcast - Next Up
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • MORE +
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Government
January 30, 2014 12:00 AM

Waxman's retirement leaves opening for new leading Democratic voice on healthcare

Virgil Dickson
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Waxman

    Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), a health policy giant who played a leading role in drafting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will retire at the end of this congressional session. His departure leaves pundits wondering which Congressional Democrat will next emerge as the party's leading voice on healthcare.

    Waxman will have served 40 years in Congress by the time he retires. In his previous role as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, he shepherded House consideration of the ACA in 2009. Over the years, he also was involved in legislation involving Medicaid expansion, tobacco regulation and children's health.

    “He will be really missed,” said Tim Jost, a Washington & Lee University law professor. “He understands health policy and how the healthcare system works better than anyone else.”

    In addition to the ACA, other highlights of Waxman's congressional career include several bills he wrote in the 1980s and '90s to expand Medicaid eligibility for children and pregnant women. The Ryan White CARE Act provides medical care and other essential services to people living with HIV/AIDS, and the Waxman-Hatch Act streamlined the generic drug regulatory approval process. Generic drugs now account for 80% of prescriptions filled in the U.S.

    “As a result of that bill, the average American has an access to affordable medications that most people in other countries don't have,” said Avik Roy, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

    In a comment from his office, Waxman noted that he “abhors the extremism of the Tea Party Republicans,” but added that he is “not leaving out of frustration with Congress. “ He insists that that there are opportunities to make real progress, but feels his time has come to move on.

    “He has been a major force for liberal policies, but under President Obama, the policy initiative has largely been taken away from Congress—both Republicans and Democrats alike—and centered in the White House,” said Joseph Antos, a healthcare economist with the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. “I can understand why he would decide to cut out now, rather than being second string to the President.”

    One thing his colleagues will miss is his willingness to put aside partisan differences and find solutions. “Working together over the last three years, we have never allowed our principled differences to prevent us from finding common ground where we can and delivering a number of bipartisan successes, especially in the effort to improve the public health,” Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement. He recalls their most successful collaboration was in the ‘90s when they were able to double research funding for the National Institutes of Health, in an effort to help the federal agency discover new medical breakthroughs.

    The departure raises serious questions about who will succeed him as the champion of health policy issues. Waxman's retirement announcement follows that of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), who also played key roles in the passage of the ACA.

    “I think his absence from the playing field moving forward will have an impact, and will mean, as he said, that others will have to step up,” said John Shadegg, a former U.S. Republican Congressman from Arizona and current partner at the law firm Steptoe & Johnson. “But I'm not sure who that could be, especially with the degree of knowledge he has.”

    Follow Virgil Dickson on Twitter: @MHvdickson

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    Dr. Anthony Fauci
    Fauci: 'Pandemic phase' over for US, but COVID-19 still here
    greenhouse emission
    5 takeaways from HHS' environmental justice strategy
    Sponsored Content
    Modern Healthcare Alert: Sign up for this breaking news email to be kept in the loop as urgent healthcare business news unfolds.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • COVID-19
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Digital Health
    • Insights
      • ACA 10 Years After
      • Best Practices
      • Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Data/Lists
      • Rankings/Lists
      • Interactive Databases
      • Data Points
    • Op-Ed
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Awards
      • Nominate/Eligibility
      • 100 Most Influential People
      • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
      • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
      • Excellence in Governance
      • Health Care Hall of Fame
      • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
      • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
      • Top 25 Innovators
      • Diversity in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
        • - Leaders to Watch
      • Women in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Women Leaders
        • - Women to Watch
    • Events
      • Conferences
        • Transformation Summit
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Leadership Symposium
      • Galas
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Strategic Marketing
        • - Virtual Health
      • Webinars
      • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Listen
      • Podcast - Next Up
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • MORE +
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing