by The Harvard School of Public Health, in conjunction with Reuters, held a panel discussion on Friday, November 5. At the panel, health policy experts predicted that the 2010 healthcare law could be unrecognizable within a year. While even with its new majority, Congressional Republicans may not be able to undo the new law within the next two years, they can likely take much of the potency out of the law by cutting funding to specific provisions found within the bill, especially those elements that were due to become phased in slowly over the coming years.The healthcare law, which passed this year without a single Republican vote, has at its aim to ensure that health insurance coverage is provided to every American, including the 30 million who are currently uninsured. However, now that the balance of power has shifted, key Republicans have made it clear that they aim to try and roll back the law, either totally or in part. Denying funding to elements of the bill may be their best way to achieve this goal. In the words of Robert Blendon, professor of health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health, aspects of the bill may well simply disappear.“Things that are not currently funded are easier to in the future than things that are,” he explained. [The choice is] we can not pay doctors tomorrow, we can lay off teachers… or we can take money out of a bill that most people don’t understand.”Slowing down the realization of the bill over the next two years will then prime the Republicans to use the issue as a major issue in the 2012 presidential campaign. The dynamics of that elections race will continue to unfold in the months to come.
