USA Today: How a Trump presidency may reshape health policy
On Nov. 13, 2024, USA Today quoted McGuireWoods Consulting senior vice president Stephanie Kennan for a story on the post-election outlook for health policy, “How will a Trump presidency reshape US public health? A look at his plans.”
The article stated that the health-related policies Trump touched on at rallies, town halls and interviews could reshape the public health system, quoting Kennan on the fact that the new administration would also need to figure out how to implement them.
“There’s a lot of ideas floating around,” said Kennan, but none have yet “jelled” or been “worked through.”
Kennan also said that while Trump has indicated he supports IVF, the procedure is very expensive. The administration would need to answer two important questions: Who would pay for it, and how? “Somebody’s going to have to cover it,” she said. Promising coverage is “a strange statement to make if you understand anything about insurance.”
On the topic of abortion access, there are laws in place that prevent federal dollars from funding abortions, according to Kennan, so extending that rule to gender-affirming care wouldn’t be a heavy lift. However, Kennan worries about the mental health impact for people diagnosed with gender dysphoria, which is distress caused by a mismatch between a person’s gender identity and their sex assigned at birth.
Kennan said she’s also concerned about what will happen to patients without access to safe gender-affirming care who may try unproven, alternative methods. People might seek hormonal therapy from unreputable sources and “end up harming themselves because the substances aren’t what they’re supposed to be,” she said.
MedPage Today: Possible changes to Medicare price negotiations during second Trump term
On Nov. 7, 2024, MedPage Today quoted McGuireWoods Consulting senior vice president Stephanie Kennan for a story on how Medicare price negotiations could be changed during a second Trump term, “What Happens to Medicare Price Negotiations Under Trump?”
Kennan said the lesson Republicans should have learned from attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act is that an effort to repeal a law will only succeed if there is a plan for something to replace it. She added that a determining factor for drug price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act will be which party gains control of the House post-elections. “There’s a lot more chance of being bolder [and] faster if both chambers are controlled by the Republicans,” Kennan said. She noted that even then, achieving consensus across the party could be difficult.
BloombergLaw: Will Trump scrap nursing home staffing rule?
On Nov. 7, 2024, BloombergLaw quoted McGuireWoods Consulting senior vice president Stephanie Kennan for a story on whether Donald Trump will reverse the Biden administration’s rule setting higher staffing levels at nursing homes, “Nursing Home Staffing Mandate Faces Headwinds After Trump Win.”
Even if Trump officials don’t totally scrap the rule, they are likely to “want to significantly
change it, so that it’s not nearly as difficult for the nursing homes to implement, and not nearly as costly,” said Kennan.
“Everybody’s governor, everybody’s senator, everybody’s member of Congress has heard that, on the ground, it can’t be implemented,” she added. “So I don’t think the Trump administration would see much of a loss” by “just eventually having it disappear, whichever way they choose.”
Healthcare Dive: Outlook for the healthcare sector in a second Trump term
On Nov. 7, 2024, Healthcare Dive quoted McGuireWoods Consulting senior vice president Stephanie Kennan for a story on how a second Trump administration may affect the healthcare sector, “How the healthcare industry is reacting to a second Trump term.”
The story noted that the healthcare sector, which saw “significant turbulence” under the first Trump presidency, will probably undergo a similar period of upheaval, but with a more experienced and effective political apparatus in place.
“The focus on healthcare is likely to be similar to that of Trump’s first term but will happen faster and go farther,” said Kennan.
Stat News: Affordable Care Act subsidies under Trump
On Nov. 11, 2024, Stat News quoted McGuireWoods Consulting senior vice president Stephanie Kennan for a story on how the “Trump administration plans have mixed appeal in the health care industry.”
The article noted that the law that created Medicare’s drug negotiation program also extended health insurance subsidies to more people who buy coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. But those subsidies expire at the end of 2025.
Conservatives have been openly hostile to those enhanced ACA subsidies, said Kennan, and if Republicans control the White House, Senate, and House, it’s unlikely that those subsidies will be renewed. If Democrats manage to take the House, it would give them more negotiating leverage, though extending the subsidies at their current levels would cost $335 billion over a decade, Kennan added.
Oregon Public Broadcasting: National elections impact on Oregon abortion law
On Nov. 18, 2024, Oregon Public Broadcasting quoted McGuireWoods Consulting senior vice president Stephanie Kennan for a story on “How a Republican trifecta could reshape abortion access in a deep blue state like Oregon.”
Current Oregon law guarantees the right to abortion, without a waiting period or gestational limit, for anyone who’s pregnant and 15 years or older. The state remains controlled by Democrats, but at the federal level, Republicans have won a trifecta, giving them control of the presidency and both chambers of the U.S. Congress. That has abortion providers in Oregon planning for changes they say could make it harder for them to operate, regardless of protective state laws.
Kennan said that a national abortion ban is politically unlikely. She explained that the rules in the U.S. Senate give the minority party considerable power to derail legislation, and Senate Democrats would filibuster to try to block a federal abortion ban.
Kennan also said that President-elect Donald Trump’s position on the issue is “somewhat confusing,” but added that “Trump has said that it belongs in the states and that’s what he did.”
