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The 2014 Governors’ Races and Health Care: A Campaign Web Site Analysis

The November 2014 midterm election was the first election since key coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were implemented, including the Medicaid expansion and creation of the health insurance exchanges. The pre-election variability in the states’ implementation of these provisions c...

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Autores principales: Scott, Kirstin W., Blendon, Robert J., Sommers, Benjamin D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5813621/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25943977
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0046958015584798
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author Scott, Kirstin W.
Blendon, Robert J.
Sommers, Benjamin D.
author_facet Scott, Kirstin W.
Blendon, Robert J.
Sommers, Benjamin D.
author_sort Scott, Kirstin W.
collection PubMed
description The November 2014 midterm election was the first election since key coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were implemented, including the Medicaid expansion and creation of the health insurance exchanges. The pre-election variability in the states’ implementation of these provisions coupled with the large number of states selecting their next governor made the election important at the state level. To better understand the role of health care in the recent gubernatorial elections, we analyzed health policy content presented by 71 candidates for governor on their campaign Web sites. Nearly 80% of all candidates discussed health policy on their Web site, including the subset of the 36 winning governors. The predominant focus of health policy content was on the ACA as a whole or its provisions. Medicaid was discussed more often by candidates in non-expansion states than those from expansion states. Based on the statements of winning governors, we expect serious consideration of the Medicaid expansion to occur in at least 4 states, whereas 2 states may make efforts to reverse course. Relatively few winning governors (33%) mentioned the exchanges. Only 1 expressed interest in switching from the federal exchange to a state exchange, which has particular relevance given the Supreme Court’s pending decision on King v. Burwell that could invalidate tax credits on the federal exchange. The prominence of health care in the gubernatorial campaigns strengthens the likelihood that governors will play an influential role in the health system’s future, especially as the ACA undergoes further federal debate.
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spelling pubmed-58136212018-02-21 The 2014 Governors’ Races and Health Care: A Campaign Web Site Analysis Scott, Kirstin W. Blendon, Robert J. Sommers, Benjamin D. Inquiry Research Letter The November 2014 midterm election was the first election since key coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were implemented, including the Medicaid expansion and creation of the health insurance exchanges. The pre-election variability in the states’ implementation of these provisions coupled with the large number of states selecting their next governor made the election important at the state level. To better understand the role of health care in the recent gubernatorial elections, we analyzed health policy content presented by 71 candidates for governor on their campaign Web sites. Nearly 80% of all candidates discussed health policy on their Web site, including the subset of the 36 winning governors. The predominant focus of health policy content was on the ACA as a whole or its provisions. Medicaid was discussed more often by candidates in non-expansion states than those from expansion states. Based on the statements of winning governors, we expect serious consideration of the Medicaid expansion to occur in at least 4 states, whereas 2 states may make efforts to reverse course. Relatively few winning governors (33%) mentioned the exchanges. Only 1 expressed interest in switching from the federal exchange to a state exchange, which has particular relevance given the Supreme Court’s pending decision on King v. Burwell that could invalidate tax credits on the federal exchange. The prominence of health care in the gubernatorial campaigns strengthens the likelihood that governors will play an influential role in the health system’s future, especially as the ACA undergoes further federal debate. SAGE Publications 2015-05-05 /pmc/articles/PMC5813621/ /pubmed/25943977 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0046958015584798 Text en © The Author(s) 2015 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm).
spellingShingle Research Letter
Scott, Kirstin W.
Blendon, Robert J.
Sommers, Benjamin D.
The 2014 Governors’ Races and Health Care: A Campaign Web Site Analysis
title The 2014 Governors’ Races and Health Care: A Campaign Web Site Analysis
title_full The 2014 Governors’ Races and Health Care: A Campaign Web Site Analysis
title_fullStr The 2014 Governors’ Races and Health Care: A Campaign Web Site Analysis
title_full_unstemmed The 2014 Governors’ Races and Health Care: A Campaign Web Site Analysis
title_short The 2014 Governors’ Races and Health Care: A Campaign Web Site Analysis
title_sort 2014 governors’ races and health care: a campaign web site analysis
topic Research Letter
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5813621/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25943977
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0046958015584798
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