On Tuesday night, the Vice-Presidential debate between Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz involved a refreshing discussion of policy proposals. The two candidates discussed various health care policies from reproductive care, hospital price transparency, prescription drug prices, and issues related to social determinants of health – especially housing. Vance focused on the policy proposals of the Trump campaign and tying Harris’ record as Vice President to President Biden’s record. Walz largely stuck to the messaging of the campaign while defending his record as Governor.  

Hospital Price Transparency  

When discussing rising health care costs, Sen. Vance pointed to former President Trump’s Executive Order from 2019, which led to the adoption of hospital price transparency rules. Although Vance painted these transparency policies as bolstering patients’ ability to choose where they receive care and drive down costs, the regulations haven’t done much to drive down health care costs. Advocacy groups largely attribute the lack of effectiveness on the limited compliance and inconsistent data. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) addressed some of these issues in its 2024 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS), which implemented standardized reporting structures for hospitals and enforcement mechanisms to bolster compliance. We expect this issue to continue to garner attention, as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released this week a report noting that CMS has no assurance that the pricing data hospitals report are sufficiently complete and accurate.  

Drug Prices and the Inflation Reduction Act 

Both candidates talked about the need to bring down prescription drug prices but didn’t share any new policy recommendations. Walz noted the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which allows CMS to negotiate drug prices under Medicare Part D and that could serve as a model to continue addressing drug prices. Vice President Harris has stated that she intends to ramp up the speed of negotiations to cover more drugs. Meanwhile, Vance again pointed to price transparency as a tool to bring down drug prices. Vance stated that under the Trump Administration, drug prices rose by only 1.5% while rising by 7% under Biden’s Administration. However, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s annual survey puts both statistics significantly higher: a 9% price increase from 2017 to 2019, and 11% between 2020 and 2022. Researchers are still working to parse out the impact of the COVID-19 public health emergency on these rising drug costs and to what extent the IRA will drive costs down going beyond 2022.