Why the next Congress could offer help for doctors

Dr. Gary Price is optimistic that the next Congress can tackle healthcare costs, and also do more to support the doctors delivering care.

Price, the president of The Physicians Foundation, says he’s also heartened to see more physicians in the next Congress.

“It's especially important that several of the physicians who are running stressed their commitment to their perspectives of healthcare as part of their platforms,” Price tells Chief Healthcare Executive®.

“I think they bring a personal commitment to helping us grapple with the problems we have with making our healthcare system as good as it can be,” Price says.

There look to be more than 20 physicians in Congress next year.

Echoing a theme from political analysts assessing the election, Price says that affordability and the high costs of living drove Democrats to regain majorities in the House and Senate.

“I definitely heard a sort of a second theme of fixing a broken healthcare system, which physicians have realized we've needed to do now for quite a while. So, intertwined even more, we can't really fix our cost of living without fixing the cost of healthcare. That cost has just gotten out of sight for way, way too many Americans,” Price says.

Even with his enthusiasm after the election, Price says he’s maintaining realistic expectations on the prospect of broader reform.

“Healthcare is a complicated, tough issue that has a huge budgetary impact,” Price says. “I personally don't see that being solved before the next presidential election, but I think this election has set the stage for a faster-paced and more serious discussion about what we need to do going forward.”

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Reducing costs

Price says he is optimistic that the Democratic-led Congress is going to push legislation to restore funding for Medicaid.

President Trump and Republican congressional leaders enacted H.R. 1, which calls for a reduction of $1 trillion in Medicaid spending over the next decade. Millions of Americans are expected to lose coverage, and hospitals and health systems have said Medicaid funding cuts could lead to reduced services and the closure of facilities.

“I do feel that the attention that was paid to this during the midterms, running up to the election itself and the election result, reveal that the American people are feeling the kind of pain that every physician sees,” Price says. “People taken off the rolls of Medicaid coverage, or no longer being able to participate in Obamacare. It's a tragedy for the individuals, but it's also a tragedy for our system.”

U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is expected to be the next House Speaker, has said that Democrats will make restoring funding to Medicaid a top priority. Price says he’s also encouraged that Jeffries and Democrats are also aiming to revive tax credits supporting the Affordable Care Act. Those enhanced tax credits expired last year, leading to higher premiums and many Americans dropping coverage.

“I take heart that Representative Jeffries included that in his early immediate statements, and I think his party will be in a stronger position to advocate that for that certainly come next year,” Price says.

Price says he sees physicians in Congress, including newly elected members, pushing to support efforts to make sure more Americans have access to care, so they don’t end up in the hospital with more serious conditions and requiring more costly stays.

“By neglecting preventative care, access to primary care, proper vaccinations, we're wasting huge opportunities to keep our population healthier,” Price says. “Physicians recognize this, and they also see the patients back when they're much sicker than they needed to be, when their care becomes much more expensive.”

“So I'm optimistic that the new physicians on Capitol Hill will sort of give us an injection of energy to deal with those problems,” he says.

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Supporting doctors

In addition to tackling costs and expanding access, Price says he hopes to see the next Congress take steps to improve reimbursements for doctors and support the physician workforce.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved the 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule with deeper reductions than initially proposed. Price says the new schedule adds to long-running frustrations of physicians over Medicare’s payments.

“This has been a bone of contention for physicians being able to take care of their patients now for quite a long time, with Medicare reimbursement not keeping pace with the cost of living, the cost of care,” Price says.

“I'm hoping for that physician ground level voice of being able to bring the story of what happens to our patients as a result of this is going to get a little bit more attention, and that story will get a little bit more energy directed towards making it better,” he adds.

Price says he hopes to see more funding for graduate medical education. With an aging population and many doctors choosing to retire or nearing retirement, Price says the nation needs more robust medical education and training programs.

“We know we need to train more, particularly primary care physicians,” Price says.

“We also need to change the way we train our primary care physicians,” he adds. “They need to be able to spend more training in rural and high need primary care settings and outside of tertiary care hospitals, big institutions which aren't like where they would eventually work. We need to pay particular attention to funding those slots.”

Price says he’s hoping that the next Congress, and its new physician members, will bring more energy to thorny problems.

“What I really look to the physicians in Congress for is to bring the immediacy and the importance of the story to the halls of Congress,” Price says. “And I think they have an advantage point and understanding of that story that's really far beyond what the average politician can imagine.”