I’m writing a series of blog posts about each major party’s platform on healthcare and related issues. I take this information directly from the party’s website the link so you can read the complete document.
We’ve already looked at the parties’ views on gun violence and health insurance. This post will look at healthcare costs and quality issues. This is not a commentary or an opinion piece, you can find that elsewhere. This is information for your decision.
Whether you are registered as a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or some other party, ultimately you will vote for a person. Do your research and learn what that person stands for, and if it aligns with their party policy.
Note: the photos are for illustration, are not affiliated with the party platform, and are not intended to influence your opinion.
The Republican Party Platform
This party platform was adopted in 2016, reffirmed in 2020, with plans for a new platform in 2024.
Restoring Patient Control and Preserving Quality in Healthcare
To ensure vigorous competition in healthcare, and because cost-awareness is the best guard against over-utilization,
we will promote price transparency so consumers can know the cost of treatments before they agree to them.
we will empower individuals and small businesses to form purchasing pools in order to expand coverage to the uninsured.
We believe individuals with preexisting conditions who maintain continuous coverage should be protected from discrimination.
We applaud the advance of technology in electronic medical records while affirming patient privacy and ownership of personal health information.
Consumer choice is the most powrful factor in healthcare reform.
Republican Party platform
Better Care and Lower Costs: Tort Reform
Medical malpractice lawsuits have ballooned the cost of healthcare for everyone by forcing physicians to practice defensive medicine through tests and treatments which otherwise might be optional.
We support state and federal legislation to cap non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, thereby relieving conscientious providers of burdens that are not rightly theirs and addressing a serious cause of higher medical bills.
Combatting Drug Abuse
Congress and a new administration should consider the long-range implications of “these trends” for public health and safety and prepare to deal with the problematic consequences.
In the preceding paragraph, “these trends” were identified as
- marijuana legalization in some jurisdictions despite being illegal under federal law
- heroin use doubled and deaths quadrupled from 2003 to 2013
The misuse of prescription painkillers-opioids-is a related problem.
Congressional Republicans have called upon the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to ensure that no physician will be penalized for limiting opiod prescriptions.
We look for expeditious agreement between the House and Senate on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) which addresses the opioid epidemic from both the demand and supply sides of the problem.
(CARA was signed into law in 2016 by former President Obama.)
Advancing Americans with Disabilities
Republicans want to support the inherent rights (of persons with disabiities) by guaranteeing access to education and the tools necessary to compete in the mainstream of society.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has opened up unprecedented opportunities for many students. Congressional Republicans will lead in its reauthorization, as well as renewal of the Higher Education Act, which can offer students with disabilities increased access to the general curriculum. (The IDEA became law in 1975.)
Our TIME Act (Transition to Integrated and Meaningful Employment) will modernize the Fair Labor Standards Act to encourage competitive employment for persons with disabilities. (TIME was introduced into the House in 2017)
Republicans
affirm our support for its goal of minimizing the separation of children with disabilities from their peers
endorse efforts like Employment First that replace dependency with jobs in the mainstream of the American workforce.
oppose the non-consensual withholding of care or treatment from people with disabilities, including newborns, the elderly, and infirm, just as we
oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, which endanger especially those on the margins of society.
We urge the Drug Enforcement Administration to restore its ban on the use of controlled substances for physician-assisted suicide.
exploring the HEART of healthcare policy
I appreciate your interest in the politics of healthcare, an issue that is vital to all of us every day. These proposals will become more focussed and debated as election day approaches; the national election is Tuesday November 8, 2022. Please exercise your right to vote, I intend to.
Dr Aletha
The Democratic Party- “Universal Health Care”
Democrats will keep up the fight until all Americans can access secure, affordable, high-quality health insurance—because as Democrats, we fundamentally believe health care is a right for all, not a privilege for the few.
watercress words by Dr Aletha 
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