Politico Health Care Summit: The Issues That Will Shape The 2024 Campaign

Health care issues could determine whether it’s President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump in charge next year.

Polls show both abortion rights and the cost of care are top of mind for voters.

Those issues, and others, such as fentanyl’s toll and the shape of the public health bureaucracy following Covid, will form the larger battleground.

POLITICO will explore them all at today’s 2024 Health Care Summit.

Democrats hope the GOP threat to abortion rights will put Biden over the top, as it has helped Democratic congressional candidates since the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade nearly two years ago.

Trump may try to defuse the issue by considering a 16-week ban and could renew the fight over Obamacare the GOP seemed to have lost during his term in office.

Here are five things to watch for at the summit — today in Washington:

Health care issues will help determine how Americans vote.

Biden’s domestic policy adviser, Neera Tanden, and Kellyanne Conway, former counselor to Trump, will discuss the two candidates’ health care pitches.

Biden gave a preview of his plans during last week’s State of the Union address, in which he pledged to restore abortion rights lost in the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision and expand his efforts to reduce drug prices for Medicare patients. In his budget proposal this week, Biden said he’d raise taxes on the wealthy to keep Medicare solvent.

Trump’s hinted at his plans, including mulling a 16-week abortion ban and a renewed push to repeal Obamacare. Former aides are hoping he’ll rein in the public health bureaucracy.

Mollyann Brodie, who oversees polling at KFF, the health research group, will analyze where voters stand.

Leaders will make the case for and against Biden’s effort to bring down Medicare drug prices.

Congress authorized Medicare to negotiate prices for a small number of high-cost drugs in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, and the negotiations are now underway.

They’ll continue through the summer.

Expect Democrats at the summit, from HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), to defend the strategy and promise savings in lower drug costs and Medicare premiums.

Lori M. Reilly, chief operating officer at PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry group, will have a chance to respond. PhRMA is suing to block the negotiations and says it will curtail innovation if they proceed — especially into new cancer therapies.

Tough problems, from battling fentanyl to getting ahead of the next pandemic, will be tackled.

Fentanyl was the driver of a 60 percent rise in fatal drug overdoses during the pandemic. It’s yet to abate, even as the pandemic has.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who represents one of the states hardest hit and has a seat on the Appropriations Committee, will address what he thinks needs to be done.

Congress hasn’t demonstrated much consensus on what to do next. The 2018 SUPPORT Act, a bipartisan law once billed as a solution, expired last year.

Samantha Power, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, will discuss global health at a time when the U.S. is fighting with developing countries over the terms of a potential new pandemic treaty — and as U.S. commitment to the fight against HIV and AIDS in Africa is in question.

Health leaders will confront the challenges they face in running a health care system, from burned-out physicians to shrinking Medicare reimbursements.

Care providers are still recovering from Covid and the burden they bore in helping its victims.

And even as the health care workforce seeks a new normal, obstacles remain. Hospital administrators complain of poor reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid. Doctors aren’t happy that their Medicare fees are going down for the second straight year.

Providers and insurers are warring over so-called surprise medical bills and prior authorization requirements.

Two GOP representatives who also happen to be doctors, Brad Wenstrup of Ohio and Larry Bucshon of Indiana, will explain how lawmakers see the problems and potential solutions.

Expect a reality check on the promise of artificial intelligence in health care — and the risks.

AI could impact nearly every part of the health system, including drug development, billing, paperwork and diagnoses.

Namandjé Bumpus, the new principal deputy commissioner at the FDA, could have a lot to say about that. Her agency regulates AI-powered medical devices now, but it’s not clear the extent to which it will write the rules of the newest generation of products.

Bumpus’ boss, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, has said his agency doesn’t have the personnel to keep tabs on technology that can learn and evolve over time. Last week, he endorsed an industry-led effort to self-regulate with a network of assurance labs.

At the same time, big money’s going into advancing AI’s role in health care. Dr. Andre Trister, chief scientific and medical officer at Google subsidiary Verily, could speak to that.