Hello Fellow Netizens!
Sunday was certainly an interesting day. I was out for lunch when I found out that President Joe Biden had dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. With this stunning announcement came questions about Harris’s feasibility in winning the Presidential race against Donald Trump, who was officially nominated as the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential candidate at the party’s convention this past week. Given the shakeup, let us examine what (if any) changes are expected from a Biden to a Harris presidency in the field of public health and how it compares to Trump’s platform.
Reproductive Health
Harris has a history of supporting reproductive rights for all women, shifting more to the left than President Biden. During the 2019 Democratic primaries, the Harris campaign was in favor of having any state law limiting abortion rights go under pre-clearance by the Justice Department before enactment. President Biden has not made any such commitments to abortion rights, going only so far as to support the entitlements previously covered by Roe v. Wade. Whether Harris will commit to her prior campaign’s promise remains to be seen, but she has been vocal about reinstating Roe v. Wade, which is in lockstep with President Biden’s campaign commitments.
On the opposing end, barely anyone at the Republican National Convention mentioned abortion or reproductive rights. This notable silence on the issue reflects how precarious the party is when it comes to voters on this specific topic. At the first presidential debate, Trump supported the idea that the regulation of reproductive health should ultimately land in the hands of states and voters. His hesitance to endorse federal regulation of abortion has also been implied with his refusal to acknowledge or adopt Project 2025, a conservative playbook with suggestions for the executive branch to severely limit abortion access and reproductive rights.
Medicare For All… or Most
During the 2020 election season, Harris joined other Democratic hopefuls in promoting changes to our nation’s health insurance system. During one debate, she supported a ‘Medicare for All’ system, which was promoted by other candidates, most notably Senator Bernie Sanders. Her campaign later had to backtrack and state that Harris was in favor of strengthening current insurance regulations like the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as expanding Medicare access to increase the number of Americans who can qualify (‘Medicare for Most’). President Biden has always supported the ACA and expanding insurance coverage. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) noted that the 2024 enrollment period saw a record number of people signing up for health care coverage through the ACA. However, he has been notably opposed to a ‘Medicare for All’ system, citing concerns over costs to the American public, which places him as more moderate than Harris.
Trump, and by extension the Republican Party, has historically been opposed to a national insurance system and has attempted multiple times to repeal the ACA. He claims that he would not impose cuts to Social Security and Medicare, going against traditional Republican stances on cutting funds from entitlement programs. Trump campaigns on improving the ACA should he be elected into office, although he has not elaborated on how his administration would accomplish this goal. If history is a guide, the ACA may yet again be weakened through executive action.
Controlling Drug Prices
Harris has been a supporter of enacting aggressive executive action to control drug prices since the 2019 primaries. She has promoted ‘fair price’ structures where drug prices would be comparable to those set in the member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Harris also supported closing a tax loophole for pharmaceutical companies’ direct-to-consumer advertising expenses, as well as supporting ‘march-in’ rights to license a drug company’s patent to third-party competitors if the invention covered by the patent was developed using federal funds. On President Biden’s record, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) introduced key measures that he touted would improve the cost of drugs in the United States. Examples include capping the cost of insulin for Medicare recipients at $35, expanding the eligibility of Medicare benefits for low-income individuals, and requiring the federal government to negotiate prices for certain drugs covered by Medicare Part D.
The Trump campaign, as you can probably guess by now, does not have any outlined proposals to address the rising drug prices affecting Americans today. In the past, Trump has dealt with the issue through executive orders that largely had no impact and only served to publicly aggravate the pharmaceutical industry.
LGBTQIA+ Healthcare
Vice President Harris has a strong record of supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, which has led to her earning the endorsement of the most prominent LGBTQIA+ political group, the Human Rights Campaign. During her tenure as Attorney General of California, she was a firm supporter of same-sex marriage and led efforts to abolish gay and transgender ‘panic’ defenses in criminal trials (a defense ploy used by aggressors to justify their attacks based on false perceptions of assault motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation). One can only imagine that she will continue to promote the rights of all LGBTQIA+ individuals and will continue to fight for causes that President Biden currently supports.
Trump and the Republican Party have indicated their plans to roll back freedoms for the LGBTQIA+ community. Trans healthcare has seen significant setbacks under conservative state legislatures, especially for gender-affirming care offered to trans youth. If Project 2025 is any indication of the future that conservatives wish to have for the federal government, the future of health equity and inclusivity is at risk of disappearing under a second Trump administration.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Much has yet to be seen on how Harris will fair against Trump; polls indicate that the race is still too close to call even with President Biden bowing out. Even so, it is our responsibility to continue to stay informed and be educated on our candidate choices come November.
Keep a lookout for more posts and, until next time, Fellow Netizens!
Featured Image: Lawrence Jackson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Disclaimer: This article reflects the author’s own opinions and statements. They do not reflect the opinions or stances of any organization affiliated with the author.
