Trump upset will force healthcare leaders to rethink the future - Modern Healthcare Modern Healthcare business news, research, data and events

Republican Donald Trump's shocking victory Tuesday will force a major shift in the healthcare industry's thinking about its future. Combined with the GOP's retention of control of the Senate and the House, a Trump presidency enables conservatives to repeal or roll back the Affordable Care Act and implement at least some of the proposals outlined in the GOP party platform and the recent House Republican leadership white paper on healthcare. 

Addressing supporters just before 3 a.m. ET, Trump struck a conciliatory tone and did not specifically mention the ACA. “It is time for us to come together as one united people,” he said. “It's time.”

But the assumption of Republican control over both the White House and Congress most likely means an end to the expansion of Medicaid to the 19 states that have not yet implemented it, and puts the expansion in the other 31 states in serious jeopardy. 

Still there are divisions even among conservatives over issues such as Medicare restructuring and how to help Americans afford health insurance. And Senate Democrats almost certainly would try to use their filibuster power to block major ACA changes.

After being behind in the polls for the entire general election campaign, Trump shocked political analysts. Democrat Hillary Clinton reportedly called Trump to concede the race. 

Healthcare leaders were not prepared or eager for the healthcare changes a Trump victory would bring about. Modern Healthcare's second-quarter CEO Power Panel, a survey of 86 healthcare CEOs, found that the chief executives overwhelmingly backed the Affordable Care Act and supported its goal of pushing providers away from fee-for-service medicine and toward delivering value-based care.

The overwhelming message from the survey was that the next president and Congress should stay the course set by President Barack Obama and the ACA. “I think the Affordable Care Act needs to stay, and we need to keep improving it,” said Dr. Gary Kaplan, CEO of the not-for-profit Virginia Mason Health System in Seattle. “I think that we can put together great minds and make some further improvements and hopefully take it out of being a pol




Trump upset will force healthcare leaders to rethink the future - Modern Healthcare Modern Healthcare business news, research, data and events