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Over the past week, we’ve seen several updates to healthcare policies on Capitol Hill. Below, we breakdown which healthcare stakeholders are most likely to feel the heat as they go into effect.
Policy update: The Trump administration says it will impose at least a 10% tariff on nearly all Chinese imports beginning September 1. Revealed via tweet last Thursday, Trump proposed that the tariff rate could be lowered, or raised — potentially to as high as 25% — for the $300 billion of Chinese imports yet to be caught up in the ongoing trade war, according to Medtech Dive.
In an apparent response, China’s central bank let the value of the yuan drop 1.4% — the lowest value of the currency in a decade — in a move that Senior China Economist for Capital Economics Julian Evans-Pritchard told Reuters "suggests that they have all but abandoned hopes for a trade deal with the US."
Impact: It’s difficult to fully assess how such a drastic tariff increase might trickle down to US healthcare costs, but medical device lobbying group AdvaMed has expressed concerns. The medical device industry has already felt the sting of the trade war between the US and China, contending with tariff rates of up to 25% on both $860 million in Chinese imports to the US and nearly $5 billion in exports to China, per AdvaMed.
If China in turn increases tariffs on US imports, that could undermine the strength of medical device suppliers: The US currently makes up more than 30% of China’s med device and diagnostics imports.
Policy update: The House and Senate have put their surprise billing efforts on hold until after August recess, which could give hospital lobbyists more time lean on lawmakers. While the legislative bodies’ bills both cap provider charges at a percent rate of the median cost of in-network care for the area, the House recently incorporated a last-minute amendment from Reps.
Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) and Larry Buschon (R-Ind.) that would allow for third-party arbitration between hospitals and patients if the two parties are unable to come to an agreement over the cost of service — a move that many patient advocates are saying is out of line with the spirit and purpose of the bill. The debate delay can afford lobbyists more time to push for amendments that benefit hospitals, as we’ve seen with the House’s incorporation if Ruiz and Buschon’s.
Impact: Patient advocates, insurers, and employers generally seem to support a surprise billing ban without arbitration, but hospitals and physicians have claimed that tying payment to in-network rates could harm small, rural hospitals. Physician staffing and emergency transportation companies could also be squeezed by surprise billing legislation, as hospitals that outsource these kinds of operations tend to have higher rates of out-of-network bills.
Policy update: Rumors suggest Trump plans to announce his administration’s healthcare plan, reportedly a response to the Affordable Care Act, in early September. It’s unknown exactly what a Trump healthcare plan would look like, though it could include a guarantee to maintain coverage for people with preexisting conditions, the expansion of health savings accounts, and efforts to encourage sales of insurance across state lines, per Bloomberg.
This could be the administration’s first step on the long path to the 2020 elections, with several 2018 polls indicating healthcare is the No. 1 issue for voters.
Impact: Political uncertainty is bad for any industry because it can make long-term strategizing difficult and result in more risk-averse companies. Trump’s move is likely intended to signal to healthcare companies that his administration has an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, which remains under assault from Republican lawmakers and legal challenges.
However, the backdrop for nearly every healthcare policy discussed at the moment are plans from many Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who have declared their support for the abolishment of private insurance altogether under a single-payer Medicare-for-All system, which has enjoyed support from over 50% of people in the US since February 2016, according to polls from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
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See Also:
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- AI IN MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS: How top US health systems are reacting to the disruptive force of AI by revolutionizing diagnostic imaging, clinical decision support, and personalized medicine
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Zachary Hendrickson)