Washington state’s health leaders ponder future in Trump administration
That future is slowly coming into focus now, with Trump announcing this week his picks to run the federal
The announcements prompted both optimism and wariness in the health care arena. In
Rep.
Price has made his position on so-called Obamacare "fairly clear," says Dr.
"For example, wanting to preserve guaranteed issue -- no (denial based on) pre-existing conditions -- but also ... no individual mandate ... They're going to get a lot of pushback from the insurance industry when they try to disassemble things that are inextricably linked," Maples said.
And both Verma and Price have indicated they want to give states wide latitude in how they manage health care.
"My anticipation is that, to the extent they're successful at dismantling things at a federal level, it will change the focus for the discussion from D.C. to
However, state
In
"But we didn't get a clear answer on will funding follow through for the states in order for them to have that flexibility," she said. "I think that's the question that remains front and center on our minds."
The
"At first glance, for us, having a practicing physician in this position is kind of an ideal situation when it comes to looking at the heaps of regulations that have been put on health care and some of the challenging components that come with health care reform," she said.
The state
"But along with that, as regulations are addressed to kind of move us in that direction, there appears to be a lack of appreciation for how that impacts patient care," Hanscom said. Every additional documentation or billing requirement distracts from time spent actually providing patient services. "
Access remains everyone's top concern and priority, said
Diminished access would be especially harmful in places "where there've been big changes in industry and where we haven't seen new industries arise where people can access employer-based health care," Clunies-Ross said.
Everyone will be closely watching for developments of the
"They have written legislation to repeal Obamacare before," Clunies-Ross said. "But the legislation you write when you know it's going to be vetoed is a little different from the legislation you write when you're going to be taking away insurance from people in your home state, and weakening the providers in your home state, and filling up the emergency rooms in your home state."
Under the new administration, she said, "What I hope is there's a sincere and open look at how we can make the health insurance system and health delivery system work better."
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