Philo D. Hall, an Associate in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice, in the firm's Washington, DC, office, authored an article in the Bloomberg BNA Health Law Reporter, titled “Despite Republican Control in Congress and the White House, Health-Care Reform Will Be a Slow Process.”
Following is an excerpt:
The substance of any eventual health reform legislation will not be the product of any one mind. The federal legislative process provides for, and is based upon, necessary input from numerous stakeholders. When the prospects for passage and enactment of legislation are real, all the component stakeholders devote significantly more time simply to determining their own policies.
Once staffed, the transition team and subsequent Trump administration must develop its own principles and priorities for replacing the ACA. Unlike prior presidential candidates, Donald Trump did not develop a substantive campaign health-care proposal beyond a broad promise to repeal and replace the ACA. Republican leaders in Congress must simultaneously conduct the same process within their caucus. An ACA repeal bill was passed by the Republican Congress in 2015 with the knowledge that President Obama would repeal it, which he did. For 2017, Republican congressional members will more carefully consider the means of repeal and substance of a replacement plan, knowing there is a possibility that it could become law.