Election Fallout: Where Does U.S. Health Care Go From Here?
Health care topped voter concerns in the run-up to the midterm elections, beating out the economy and jobs. And voters were right to be concerned. The midterm results have enormous implications for the future of U.S. health care policy. With the Democrats winning a majority in the House of Representatives, GOP attempts to legislatively repeal the Affordable Care Act are now thwarted. Three conservative states voted to expand Medicaid, while the outcome of governors' races in states such as Kansas and Maine could accelerate more state expansions. Meanwhile, the Trump administration will still have the administrative power to approve conservative Medicaid waivers and shape the Obamacare exchanges. In this webinar, we'll bring together two leading experts – a Republican and a Democrat — to decode the election outcome so that you can inform your audiences of what’s next. Participants will gain insights on where the health care fight goes from here and which storylines merit attention in the months to come.
Webinars are free and made possible by The Commonwealth Fund and the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation.
Panelists
Jeanne Lambrew, Ph.D., is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation and an adjunct professor at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Previously, she served in the Obama administration as the director of the Office of Health Reform at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In that role, she coordinated work toward passage and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). From 2011 to January 2017, she worked at the White House as the deputy assistant to the president for health policy, helping execute the president’s health policy agenda. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Lambrew was an associate professor at both the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in Austin, Texas and the George Washington University School of Public Health. She also served as senior fellow for health policy at the Center for American Progress. Lambrew also served in the Clinton Administration in the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, the White House National Economic Council, and the White House Office of Management and Budget. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in health policy from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Lanhee J. Chen, Ph.D. is the David and Diane Steffy Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and director of Domestic Policy Studies and lecturer at Stanford Law School. His current research focuses on health policy, retirement security policy, campaigns and elections, and California policy and politics. He has advised four presidential campaigns. In 2012, he was policy director of the Romney-Ryan campaign, and served as Governor Mitt Romney’s chief policy adviser. Chen also advised Senator Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential bid, served as Domestic Policy Director of Romney's 2008 campaign, and was a health policy adviser to the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign in 2004. During the 2014 and 2018 campaign cycles, Chen served as a senior adviser on policy to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. In 2013, Chen was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as a member of the Social Security Advisory Board. In the Bush administration, Chen was a senior official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Chen was also the Winnie Neubauer Visiting Fellow in Health Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Chen earned his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Suggested reading & resources
- “Mitch McConnell: if Republicans do well in the midterms, we’ll try to repeal Obamacare,” by Sarah Kliff, Vox
- “Health Care and the Candidates in the 2018 Midterm Elections: Key Issues and Races,” by Cornelia Hall and Jennifer Tolbert, Kaiser Family Foundation
- “Politicians Hop Aboard ‘Medicare-For-All’ Train, Destination Unknown,” Kaiser Health News
- “What’s at Stake for Health Care in Your District This Midterm Election?” by the California Health Care Foundation
- “Getting Ready for Health Reform 2020: What Past Presidential Campaigns Can Teach Us,” by Jeanne M. Lambrew, The Commonwealth Fund