Both Party Platforms Include Provisions Dentistry Can Get Behind
In its section on health care reform, the 2016 Republican Party platform calls for repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which exempts insurance companies from antitrust laws. The ADA has for years lobbied Congress to repeal at least those parts of the law that apply to health insurance. Here is the relevant text from the GOP platform:
"Consumer choice is the most powerful factor in healthcare reform. Today's highly mobile workforce needs portability of insurance coverage that can go with them from job to job. The need to maintain coverage should not dictate where families have to live and work. We propose to end tax discrimination against the individual purchase of insurance and allow consumers to buy insurance across state lines. In light of that, we propose repealing the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act which protects insurance
companies from anti-trust litigation."
Read the full Republican platform here.
The Democratic Party platform (which is still in draft form) calls for an expansion of Medicaid in the states that still have not broadened their programs as called for in the Affordable Care Act. The Democratic document also calls for improvements to the nation's system of community health centers:
"[…]we will fight for a comprehensive system of primary medical, dental, and mental health care and low-cost prescription drugs through a major expansion of community health centers."
Finally, the draft Democratic platform "encourage[s] providers to work with underserved populations through the National Health Service Corps, and create a strategy to increase the pool of primary care health professionals."
The draft Democratic platform is available here.
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