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The 2024 Democratic National Convention ended on Thursday. Here are the healthcare topics that were covered during the convention, and where the party stands on healthcare according to its recently released party platform.
The Democratic platform on healthcare
The Democratic Party on Monday released its official party platform, a 92-page policy plan that covers a variety of topics, many of which are related to healthcare.
The Democratic platform noted some of President Biden's efforts to protect reproductive rights during his administration following the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned the constitutional right to an abortion established in Roe v. Wade.
Specifically, the platform noted that Biden signed three executive orders and a presidential memorandum "to stand up for reproductive rights." This includes creating a path for pharmacies to dispense abortion medication approved by FDA, as well as clarifying federal laws ensuring emergency medical care preempts state abortion bans.
The platform says that a Democratic Congress would "pass national legislation to make Roe the law of the land again" and "strengthen access to contraception so every woman who needs it is able to get and afford it." It also notes that Democrats "will protect a woman's right to access IVF," as well as repeal the Hyde Amendment and support access to FDA-approved medication abortion.
In the platform, Democrats said they commit to "never let" Republicans repeal the ACA and instead will fight to "protect and expand the Affordable Care Act, making quality care more accessible and affordable."
The platform pointed to the 21 million people currently signed up for health coverage through the ACA and noted that it has reduced the rate of uninsured Americans from 16% in 2010 to 8% in 2024.
In addition, Democrats said they will "support Medicaid expansion, encouraging states to provide health coverage to low-income Americans on the federal government's tab," and noted that they will push to further expand Medicaid-like coverage to the 2.8 million uninsured, low-income Americans living in states where "Republicans still refuse the help."
The platform also proposes permanent subsidies for ACA plan premiums, a proposal the Congressional Budget Office estimated would result in a net impact of $335 billion on the federal budget over 10 years.
In the platform, Democrats said that the party "took on Big Pharma and won," capping the price of insulin at $35 a month for nearly 4 million Medicare beneficiaries through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The party proposed expanding the $35 cap to "cover everyone, saving millions of Americans with diabetes nearly $1,000 a year."
The party also noted the IRA will cap total out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 for millions of people on Medicare starting next year and said that "Democrats will fight until that cap covers every single American."
The platform also touted Medicare's ability to negotiate drug prices through the IRA and said that Democrats "will push to add at least 50 drugs a year to that list, lowering prices for 500 drugs this decade." In addition, the party said that Medicare Part D is working "to cap cost-sharing for life-saving generics at $2 a dose" and that Democrats "will make this mandatory for all Medicare beneficiaries."
The party also noted the Biden administration is "leading the charge against Big Pharma price gouging by requiring drugmakers that raise prices faster than inflation to pay the difference back to Medicare, which will then pass savings on to customers." The platform said that Democrats will fight to expand the rebates, "applying them when drugmakers overcharge not just Medicare, but private insurers as well."
Advisory Board's Chloe Bakst noted that, while Medicare drug price negotiation and insulin price caps "tend to divide across party lines, there is generally bipartisan interest in lowering drug costs and improving patients' (especially seniors) access to medications. Given many proposals for drug pricing regulation are likely to involve congressional approval, it's hard to predict what might move forward after the election this November."
Bakst added that drug price regulation "is riding on more than just the Presidential race — healthcare leaders should pay close attention to potential flips in the House and Senate as well."
The healthcare issues raised at the 2024 DNC
Healthcare was a significant focus of the 2024 DNC speakers, especially reproductive rights and access to fertility treatments like IVF.
Reproductive rights
In her acceptance speech, Vice President Harris warned that policies outlined in Project 2025, a conservative policy agenda drafted by allies of former President Donald Trump, could have a devastating effect on reproductive health and could lead to a nationwide abortion ban as well as further restrictions to women's healthcare.
"As a part of [Trump's] agenda, he and his allies would: Limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban with or without Congress," Harris said, adding that Trump would create a "national anti-abortion coordinator" that would "force states to report on women's miscarriages and abortions."
Harris said that if "Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom," she would "proudly" sign it into law.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said in her speech that if Republicans win the next election, they will "prosecute doctors" who perform abortions and "will shame and spy on women."
Duckworth noted that her daughters "would never have been born without access to reproductive care. Because after 10 years of struggling to have them, I was only able to have them through IVF," adding that if Republicans win in the next election, "they will not stop at banning abortion, they'll come for IVF next."
Former First Lady Michelle Obama also discussed her personal experience with IVF.
"Cutting our healthcare, taking the freedom to control our bodies, taking away the freedom to become a mother through IVF like I did, those things are not going to improve the health outcomes of our wives, mothers, and daughters," Obama said.
And former President Barack Obama said that former President Trump "doesn't care if more women lose their reproductive freedom because it doesn't affect his life."
"The anti-freedom, anti-family policies of MAGA Republicans are driving workers away from states with strict abortion bans," said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D). "Americans don't want to be forced to drive 100 miles to deliver a baby because a draconian abortion law shut down the maternity ward. Americans want the hope of giving birth through IVF, not the fear that it might be taken away."
Vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) in his speech talked about his family's experience with infertility, calling it "hell" and recounting the "agony" he felt when fertility treatments didn't work.
Drug pricing and insurance benefits
Other speakers at the DNC spoke about drug costs, with President Joe Biden saying, "we finally beat Big Pharma," touting the IRA's provision capping insulin costs for Medicare enrollees at $35 a month and its provision capping out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 a year.
"Oligarchs tell us … we shouldn't expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing, and vision," said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). "Well I've got some bad news for them. That is precisely what we are going to do. And we're going to win this struggle because this is precisely what the American people want from their government."
Sanders added that the United States needs "to join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people as a human right, not a privilege. And we need to take on Big Pharma and cut our prescription drug costs in half so we no longer pay any more than other countries."
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) said that Trump and vice-presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) "want to repeal the Affordable Care Act and eliminate protections for preexisting conditions," adding that Vice President Kamala Harris "will protect your right to care. She'll cap drug costs, and ensure every woman who needs it can access reproductive healthcare."
Former President Obama similarly noted that as vice president, Harris "helped take on drug companies to cap the price of insulin and lower the cost of healthcare. She's running for president to lower the cost even more and protect Medicare and Medicaid, and she will sign a law to guarantee every woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions." (2024 Democratic Party Platform, accessed 8/22; Zhang, STAT+ [subscription required], 8/19; Frieden, MedPage Today, 8/21; Frieden, MedPage Today, 8/20; Lebowitz, NBC News, 8/21; Zhang, "D.C. Diagnosis," STAT, 8/22; Rogers/Epstein, New York Times, 8/23; Kamala Harris speech transcript, accessed 8/23)
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