The point of campaign rhetoric is to convince people to vote for one side or the other, catering to hopes those words will turn into policy. The ads and news clips blaring at voters are impossible to avoid. But what happens when a vital issue is all but missing from the debate?
That’s a question stakeholders in the healthcare industry need to at least consider this election season when immigration, inflation, crime, abortion and the fate of democracy are the dominant themes on the hustings.
Related: How Biden transformed Medicare Advantage
Healthcare is not exactly absent from the 2024 campaign, but it has been relegated to a supporting role. That lack of prominence could have implications for the healthcare sector when Congress starts legislating shortly after Election Day, and next year alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, or former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate.
There is an enormous roster of lingering healthcare priorities and bipartisan bills sitting in Congress that are important to the industry and could be fodder for campaigns.