Republican and Democratic platforms usually don’t mean much as political reality bites, however this Modern Healthcare report on the new GOP platform in worth reading. The article says, among other things:
“The {House Speaker} Paul Ryan wing of the party mostly carried the day, getting its conservative health policy proposals into the platform. The platform statement, which will be voted on by delegates at the convention, left no trace of presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump’s repeated campaign statements about not touching Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and making sure all Americans have healthcare when they need it. And despite Trump’s statements about letting Medicare negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies, there is no discussion about how to control soaring prescription drug costs.
“The platform promises that on the first day in office, a Republican president will use ‘legitimate waiver authority’ to ‘halt’ the ‘advance’ of the Affordable Care Act, and then, with the unanimous support of congressional Republicans, sign its repeal. But the platform makes no mention of what Republicans would replace it with to help consumers afford health insurance. In addition, legal experts say there is no waiver authority in the law that would allow a president to block enforcement of the ACA.”
To read the article, please hit this link.