Candidates' Healthcare Reform Positions Will Hit Pharmacy Workforce Hard

2/13/2008

Healthcare policies touted by the major presidential candidates are likely to significantly impact the healthcare workforce.

Republican candidates are pushing market-based policies they believe would expand access to healthcare and plan to offer tax breaks to encourage people to buy health insurance. Democrats, while proposing different tactics, espouse universal coverage.

The positions from both sides would mean more people using a healthcare system with an already strained workforce.

“The demand from 47 million uninsured people will definitely put a toll on an already overexerted workforce and system,” said Brian Meyer, ASHP Director of Government Affairs. “We need to address that demand so we can provide meaningful care to all new patients.”

ASHP policy supports full health insurance coverage for all people in the U.S. and the Society is a key player in the American Hospital Association (AHA)’s healthcare reform initiative, Health for Life.  The Society is also a member of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, a national coalition of patients, providers, community organizations, business and labor groups and health policy experts, that is working to make the presidential candidates aware of the impact that the rising rates of chronic disease have on the healthcare system.

Click here to read ASHP’s policy on full health insurance coverage.

Click here to read more about the Health for Life initiative.

Click here to read more about the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease.