Implications of Election on Healthcare

Regardless of your political leanings, yesterday's election was monumental. With control of the executive branch and both houses, the President-Elect will have more power to alter existing and enact new legislation than in the preceding six years. While it's too early to tell what policy priorities the new administration will have, here are a few early thoughts:

1) Drug & biotech stocks have been up so far in early trading, indicating that the market has priced in greater scrutiny of price increases across the industry and now expects a more friendly regulatory environment.

2) Healthcare policies from the new administration include the repealing of the ACA and replacing federal Medicaid funding with block grants to the states. According to an analysis by the RAND foundation, this will be net neutral to the deficit, but reduce insurance coverage for 40-60M Americans (full analysis here: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/blog/2016/trump-clinton-presidential-health-care-proposals). Safety net hospitals and provider groups who treat these populations should be particularly affected.

3) Many of the value-based care programs in place today are initiatives of a department created by the ACA called the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Innovation (CMMI). Regardless of what happens to CMMI, these initiatives have triggered similar programs in the private sector, which will not be directly impacted.

Just my early thoughts--would welcome comments from others around the industry around what changes you expect to see and how your organization is planning on working through them.