Election 2012: Healthcare front and center

WASHINGTON ­– Is it too early to start thinking about the 2012 elections and potential candidates' takes on healthcare? I don't think so.

 

Healthcare promises to be the mother of all topics for this upcoming election.

 

With more than half of all Americans getting their healthcare from some form of government plan, and Medicare and Medicaid currently on the GOP budget chopping block, healthcare will likely be a pivotal platform for presidential, gubernatorial and congressional candidates.

 

This doesn't even take into account that the largest entitlement law since Medicare was passed in 1965 – the Accountable Care Act – is under siege, even while states, health plans and employers are scrambling to abide by million-dollar requirements launched by the law.

 

So what kind of environment will candidates face over the next 18 months? It's likely efforts to repeal or block aspects of the ACA in district courts will work their way through appellate courts to face a Supreme Court ruling.

 

The Republican-run House may be successful in swaying Senate Democrats to help them defund or eliminate parts of healthcare reform. The White House will have had more time to establish the ACA and broadcast its benefits to American voters, especially independents.

 

The grass roots effort that helped to usher President Barack Obama into the White House will either kick in stronger than ever or lose steam because of battle fatigue.

 

Two well-funded Republican presidential hopefuls – real estate mogul Donald Trump and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney – not so long ago supported some form of universal healthcare. They will face a harsh ad campaign highlighting their reversals.

 

Expect Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker, to tackle healthcare directly in his campaign. He has been at the forefront of healthcare issues since 2003, when he founded the Center for Health Transformation in Washington, D.C.

 

Obama will be called upon by Democrats to do more than he has in the past to promote healthcare reform. He will have to get down even deeper in the muck with Congress at the brawling town hall meetings over healthcare that are sure to come.