Mr. Brownstein, a writer for National Review and a senior political analyst for CNN and ABC, told the crowd there are several “great” challenges that confront the U.S. healthcare system, all of which have become major talking points for the political masses: nearly 50 million uninsured citizens that disproportionately affects blacks and Hispanics, Medicaid pressures on state budgets, the rising cost of Medicare as a percent of the country’s gross domestic product, the decline of employer-based health coverage and more.
President Barack Obama’s signature health law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, attempts to mitigate these pressures, but Mr. Brownstein said it has also been a very polarizing piece of legislation. Based solely on reactions from the general populace, Mr. Brownstein said “the healthcare reform law has inspired or ignited greater resistance from more segments from a larger portion of the country than any federal initiative since Brown v. the Board of Education.”
At the heart of the main federal healthcare programs — Medicare and Medicaid — is where President Obama/other Democrats and Republican challengers greatly differ, Mr. Brownstein said. If President Obama is re-elected, his veto pen will be the “last line of defense” to both keep the PPACA intact and to protect Medicare and Medicaid in their current forms. Republicans, on the other hand, have actively voiced their support for a Medicare voucher system in which the government provides a stipend for Medicare beneficiaries, and they then choose their own private insurance or, according to updated proposals, stay within original Medicare.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum are the current frontrunners in the GOP presidential nomination race. Mr. Brownstein expects Mr. Romney to have the Republican nomination wrapped up by June due to his slightly larger appeal to “managerial” conservatives, but “it will be ugly” and will come at the expense of intra-party splits.
Another major reason healthcare has reached the forefront of the political debate is because healthcare comprises such a large portion of the U.S. deficit. After the 2012 election, no matter who wins, Mr. Brownstein said the next president will have to deal with expiring tax cuts on the very wealthy from President George W. Bush’s presidency, sequestration cuts from last summer’s debt reduction deal, another compromise in the debt ceiling and even higher healthcare costs — not to mention another bout with the sustainable growth rate for Medicare physician payments.
In the end, Mr. Brownstein said it is going to take a more collaborative approach across all branches of the government — executive, judiciary and legislative — to make 2013 productive and, ultimately, solve the problems within the U.S. healthcare system. “If we are going to go forward, we need leaders to compromise,” he said.
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