Last major threat to law reforming healthcare erased

President Barack Obama’s re-election erased the last major threat to his signature healthcare reform law, but left questions about implementation as the focus shifts to tackling the mounting US deficit.

Thu, 08 Nov, 2012 - 00:00

David Morgan and Anna Yukhananov, Washington

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the biggest overhaul of the $2.8 trillion US healthcare system since the 1960s, aims to extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans, beginning in January 2014.

Republican challenger Mitt Romney had vowed to repeal the law if elected, calling it a costly government expansion, despite the fact that the reforms are based on healthcare legislation he signed as governor of Massachusetts.

“There’s sort of an immediate acceptance that this law will stay in place in some meaningful way,” said Chris Jennings, a top healthcare adviser to former Democratic president Bill Clinton. “It’s sort of like a big barrier has been removed.”

Shares in hospitals and other healthcare companies that will benefit from the health reform law jumped yesterday, but health insurers fell as the law sets limits on their profits and sets mandates on coverage.

Obama still faces challenges in Congress. Republicans who retained control of the House of Representatives are expected to press for healthcare reform concessions, including delaying and scaling back a planned expansion of Medicaid for the poor, during negotiations to cut the federal deficit later this month.

But Julie Barnes, director of healthcare policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said Tuesday’s victory should embolden the president to set the healthcare segment of any deficit-cutting compromise largely on his own terms.

During the campaign, Obama’s staunch defence of Medicare, the healthcare programme for the elderly and disabled, likely did not end up helping his re-election.

The economy was the dominant issue among older votes, as it was for the broader population. Only 9% of senior citizens selected healthcare as the top issue influencing their vote, and 6% chose Medicare and Medicaid — about twice the rate for those under 65.

The healthcare law that Republicans deride as “Obamacare” has already survived repeated attacks and emerged mostly intact.

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