President Biden and former President Trump are now having a face-off in the presidential debate 2024, marking the first for this election cycle.
With this, health policy experts believe that some healthcare matters would surface during the discussion.
Will Biden and Trump Talk About Health Care?
Across the US, healthcare costs are still on the rise. More Americans are saying that they cannot afford the care that they actually need.
In light of this pressing issue as well as several other related matters, some healthcare topics are expected to surface during this presidential debate.
Reproductive Rights and Abortion
In light of the decision of Dobbs, the campaign of Biden saw the abortion rights stance as a primary issue that he could clearly contrast with Trump and sell himself to voters. Based on polls, Biden has quite an advantage over the matter.
The campaign of Biden has hammered the former president for his stance, picturing him as a reproductive rights threat.
Trump may also expect questions regarding his view on contraception. Last month, he declared that he would never push for restrictions on contraceptives.
Medicare and Insurance
It is likely that Biden would picture Trump as a Medicare threat after the former president released entitlement cuts to programs. However, the former president has said that he would not place Medicare at risk.
On top of this, Trump has also been floating the idea of looking for an Affordable Care Act replacement. This is something that Biden may seize over.
Pricing of Drugs
The two candidates have waged war against each other when it comes to taking credit for insulin cost reductions for seniors. Biden could be expected to pitch the work of his administration to reduce prices, especially with the Inflation Reduction Act. He may also opt to push building it by enabling Medicare to negotiate on more prices of drugs.
With the law signed by Biden, Medicare was allowed to negotiate the prices of drugs for the first time. It also gives a co-paying cap for Medicare patients, settling for $35 a month.
This is something that Trump has tried to bag the credit for. Though the former president's administration held a voluntary program, the action taken by Biden was wider.
On top of this, the administration also recently announced plans to remove debt from the medical reports of individuals.
Health Care Crisis
Based on estimates of individual healthcare costs, a whopping figure of $14,424 was seen in 2023.
This is significantly higher compared to 2021 ($13,012) and 2022 ($13,493).
Americans are being widely affected by the costs of healthcare. Around half of adults in the US find it difficult to afford healthcare costs. Roughly one in four also say that they or their family members found a hard time dealing with health care payments in the previous year.
Because of this, people may be forced to delay or skip their needed care. Healthcare costs are among the biggest economic issues faced by American households. It would be no surprise if both Biden and Trump delved deeper into the matter during the presidential debate in 2024.
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