 December 2002 • Volume 8 • Number 12 |
Republicans seized control of the U.S. Senate in the November elections. What difference will it make to family physicians and their patients to have Republican leadership in the White House and both chambers of Congress?
"As they campaigned this year, President George Bush and some senatorial candidates talked about trying to do three things related to health care: to push through a tax credit for the uninsured; to look at various problems with Medicare, including the need for seniors to have prescription drug benefits; and to come forward with some type of federal liability reform, including a cap on noneconomic damages," says AAFP President James Martin, M.D., of San Antonio.
"We may see some action on these three legislative issues next year," Martin says. "We now need to identify congressional leaders and staff members at the White House who will help us move our agenda."
The two parties have very different positions on prescription drug benefits and liability insurance reform, cautions Martin. However, he says Republicans have not been "big government," so they may help medicine free itself from some burdensome federal regulations.
"I hope the Republicans will take a more jaundiced view of some of the onerous regulations we're dealing with right now," Martin says.
FP Report is published by the
AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2002 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.