Democrats Push to Retool Health Care Programs for Millions
The $3.5 trillion domestic agenda bill touches almost all aspects of American life, from taxes to climate change, but the health care components are a cornerstone for Democrats, amplified during the COVID-19 crisis. For the nearly 145 million Americans covered by government health programs, along with their families and communities, the investment in the nation's services could make a difference in the quality of life for decades.
“It's a holistic look at how health care can be not just expanded, but better directed to the needs that people actually have,” Kathleen Sebelius, federal health secretary under President Barack Obama, said of the Biden bill. “You've got a plan that's really aimed at the serious gaps in health care that are still causing people to either go totally uninsured, or run out of money in the course of their treatments.” But Democrats can only succeed if they bridge divisions among themselves. Don't look for Republicans to help.
Polling has shown that core health care provisions appeal to voters across political lines. Many Republican voters, for example, generally approve of Medicare negotiating prescription drug prices, even if GOP lawmakers do not. While the Obama health law focused mainly on helping uninsured working-age people and their families, Biden's coda puts a big emphasis on older people, who also happen to be reliable midterm election voters.
Expanding Medicare to cover dental care, vision, and hearing aids for seniors. This provision, championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has been a long time coming. Vision care would begin the latter part of next year and hearing aids in 2023, but in an apparent concession to costs, dental coverage would not start until 2028.
article and more details at:
https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2021-09-19/democrats-push-to-retool-health-care-programs-for-millions