Project 2025, written by The Heritage Foundation (not an official part of the Republican party)โ is a comprehensive plan spanning hundreds of pages that could completely transform the federal government. Its ideas about healthcare could directly impact usโ from health coverage to drug pricing to IVF. Our community may feel the impact in nine ways.
A viewpoint article from the Journal of the American Medical Association openly criticized the document. โFar from prioritizing โthe health and well-being of all Americans at all stages of life,โ as Project 2025 claims, the playbook presents an antiscience, anti-data, and antimedicine agenda,โ wrote Nicole Huberfeld, JD, Elizabeth McCuskey, J.D., and Michael R. Ulrich, J.D., MPH in a paper published in September 2024. We break the specifics below:
Gut The Affordable Care Act, aka (Obamacare)
Project 2025 asserts, โThe Affordable Care Act has made insurance more expensive and less competitive, and the ACA subsidy scheme simply masks these impacts.โ For many in our community, the Affordable Care Act is the only way to obtain coverage.
Limit Drug Pricing Negotiations by the Government
The legislative plan states, โStates should be the primary regulators of the medical profession, and the federal government should not restrict providersโ ability to discharge their responsibilities or limit their ability to innovate through government pricing controls or irrational Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement schemes.โ This could curb the efforts of legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act.
The act names specific drugs that treat common ailments, including diabetes, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, blood cancer, and peripheral artery disease, as mandatory price negotiation selections.
It actively advocates for the actโs repeal. Under the plan, select drugs are subject to mandatory negotiation, which could be expanded.
This โnegotiationโ program should be repealed, and reforms in Part D that will have a meaningful impact on seniors should be pursued. Other reforms should include eliminating the coverage gap in Part D, reducing the government share in โ 466 โ Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise the catastrophic tier, and requiring manufacturers to bear a larger share. Until the IRA is repealed, an Administration that is required to implement it must do so in a way that is prudent with its authority, minimizing the harmful effects of the lawโs policies and avoiding even worse unintended consequences.
Bottom line: We might not be able to afford the necessary drugs we need.
Redefine Reproductive Healthcare.
If you have concerns about your fertility, you need to pay attention to Project 2025. In an effort to restrict abortion access, far-reaching legislation is being proposed that could affect access to in vitro fertilization, commonly known as IVF treatment. as IVF treatment. Two years later, the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade in a decision that shocked many. Nabela Noor, a content creator credentialed at this yearโs Democratic National Convention, spoke to her concerns about IVF being โFor many women, IVF is the only choice. That choice, and more, is at stake in November,โ said Noor.
Abortion restrictions have already begun impacting individuals and families. Social media mourned the life of a Georgia mother and medical professional named Amber Thurman, who died due to receiving prolonged reproductive care, according to reporting from ProPublica.
Restrict Gender-Affirming Care.
Project 2025 could directly impact those seeking healthcare that aligns with their gender expression. It says that the โHRSA should withdraw all guidance encouraging Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program service providers to provide controversial โgender transitionโ procedures or โgender-affirming care. They also donโt want the CDC to collect data on gender identity.
A paper published in the Journal of Nature Human Behavior in September investigated a perceived link between anti-Trans legislation and the high suicide rate among transgender people. The paper found that โThe laws that pose barriers to quality healthcare, especially gender-affirming care, may undermine overall life satisfaction by reducing access to necessary healthcare that could save lives.โ
Prohibit Planned Parenthood Medicare & Medicaid Funding (affecting healthcare beyond abortion access)
Planned Parenthood offers well-visits, breast cancer screenings, pelvic exams, colposcopy, cervical cancer prevention treatments, and other forms of healthcare that have nothing to do with terminating a pregnancy.
Reinstate Moral Exceptions to the Contraceptive Mandate
On January 30, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the Coverage of Certain Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care Act. It was collectively released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor, and the Department of the Treasury.โ
The announcement declared, โThese proposed rules, if finalized, would rescind the moral exemption to cover contraceptive services without cost-sharing while keeping the religious exemption intact and without narrowing its scope or the types of entities or individuals that may claim the religious exemption.โ
โHHS should rescind, if finalized, the regulation titled โCoverage of Certain Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care Act,โ proposed jointly by HHS, Treasury, and Labor,โ according to Project 2025.
What this means. If this happens, people in certain areas might have trouble accessing certain medications. This is because some professionals could be permitted not to dispense them on moral grounds. If you do not live in an area with many pharmacies, this can cause an issue. You would have to learn the telehealth laws in your area to determine your options for getting treatment (but then see what they are proposing about telemedicine below).
Remove the Vaccine Mandate for the Head Start program.
Project 2025 recommends eliminating the Head Start program. However, in the absence of achieving that goal, it suggests, โAt the very least, the programโs COVID-19 vaccine and mask requirements should be rescinded.โ The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services states, โHead Start programs support childrenโs growth from birth to age 5 through services centered around early learning and development, health, and family well-being.โ
Regulate Telehealth Services.
The Heritage Foundation asserts that the legal definition of โthe locus of serviceโ should be โwhere the provider is located during the telehealth visit rather than where the patient is.โ According to them, โWith such a definition, states could continue to reserve their powers to establish the standards for licensure and scope of practice.โ This could tie the hands of certain telehealth providers.
Doctors Could Own More Hospitals, and Private Medical Plans Would Compete with Medicare Advantage
The plan includes legislative proposals to โremove restrictions on physician-owned hospitalsโ and โEncourage more direct competition between Medicare Advantage and private plans.โYour
Please keep these proposed changes in mind when you go to the ballot box. Your health may depend on them.
