Vice President Harris and former President Trump will face off in their first, and possibly only, debate tonight. Health care is likely to be an important topic. |
Reproductive rights: Abortion, birth control and in-vitro fertilization have been front and center on the campaign trail for Harris, in contrast to President Biden. -
Trump has largely been trying to stay away from what is a clear Republican vulnerability while tying himself in knots every time he answers a question about it.
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Harris is likely to attack Trump on abortion, but will she and the moderators be able to pin Trump down on taking a position?
Drug pricing: Both Harris and Trump have signaled they want to take on the drug industry over high prices, and Harris is likely to be better messenger about her plans than Biden was during his debate with Trump in June. -
Harris has touted her vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and enact Medicare’s drug price negotiations. Republicans largely oppose the effort and want to repeal the IRA.
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While in office Trump made some drug pricing moves, namely on drug importation and his “most favored nation” plan, but has rarely spoken about it in recent weeks.
Medical debt: An estimated 100 million people in the United States have medical or dental bills they are paying off or that are overdue. Harris pledged last month that she would eliminate billions of dollars in medical debt. -
But the pledge didn’t come with many details. If pressed, will she talk more about the plan? On the other side, Trump hasn’t mentioned medical debt at all, so it’s unclear how important this issue is for him.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.
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