What Would a Republican Win Mean for Health Policy?

Donald Trump supports some common GOP proposals, such as expanding the availability of health savings accounts and turning Medicaid into block grants. But if the election results in a split Congress, will Republicans be willing to work to “fix” the Affordable Care Act? Although it’s not unreasonable to ask how a Republican victory in the 2016 presidential election would affect health policy, it’s important to remember how policy becomes law. Presidents can propose policies — but preferably not in the form of legislative language, as President Bill Clinton did in 1993, when he sent a 1342-page proposal to Congress. Even though Democrats were in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, Clinton’s Health Security Act never came up for a vote — largely because of opposition to the policies it contained, but also because resistance was exacerbated by the way . . .