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Kamala Harris has chosen<\/a> a running mate. The vice president and Democratic presidential nominee announced Tuesday that she\u2019s selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz for her 2024 ticket.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he\u2019s delivered for working families like his,\u201d Harris wrote on X<\/a>, formerly Twitter<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s great to have him on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n Now that the Democratic ticket is locked up, plenty are wondering about what a Harris-Walz win could mean for the country going forward. A May 2024 poll by the Pew Research Center<\/a> found that health care is a major concern for voters going into this election, with questions about what Harris and Walz would potentially change across a range of health care issues in the country. Harris\u2019 campaign is still in the early stages, and she hasn\u2019t spoken out about her all her views on the topic just yet. But her history with several areas of health care suggests her stance on a range of topics.\u00a0<\/p>\n Health policy experts stress that a lot of what Harris and Walz could do in office largely depends on what happens in Congress. \u201cThis is still a divided country,\u201d says Leighton Ku<\/a>, PhD, MPH., director of the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University\u2019s Milken Institute School of Public Health. \u201cI don\u2019t think Harris would be likely to have control of both houses of Congress, but all sorts of things can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo matter who the president is, reforming health care in the United States is a tall order given the power and lobbying abilities of the health insurance companies,\u201d says Perry N. Halkitis<\/a>, Ph.D., dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what health policy researchers and a doctor anticipate may change if Harris and Walz take the election in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n Harris has repeatedly been vocal about her support for reproductive-care access. In December, she launched a Reproductive Freedoms Tour<\/a> for which she hosted events to highlight the fallout of abortion<\/a> bans and shared the stories of people who were impacted by strict legislation around reproductive rights in their states.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cExtremists across our country continue to wage a full-on attack against hard-won, hard-fought freedoms as they push their radical policies\u2014from banning abortion in all 50 states and criminalizing doctors, to forcing women to travel out of state in order to get the care they need,\u201d she said in a statement at the time. \u201cI will continue to fight for our fundamental freedoms while bringing together those throughout America who agree that every woman should have the right to make decisions about her own body\u2014not the government.\u201d<\/p>\n In March, Harris also made what is believed to be the first official visit to an abortion clinic by a sitting president or vice president. During that visit, she called abortion access a \u201cvery serious health crisis facing women,\u201d per NPR<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHarris is a longtime supporter of abortion rights, while Trump touts his appointments to the Supreme Court that resulted in Roe v. Wade getting overturned,\u201d Larry Levitt<\/a>, executive vice president for Health Policy at KFF, tells Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Walz also has a history of supporting access to abortion care. In 2023, he signed several bills<\/a> into law to protect people who sought or provided abortions in Minnesota. \u201cToday, we\u2019re protecting the rights of Minnesotans and making sure our state remains a place where people have the freedom to get the care they need to live their fullest lives,\u201d he said in a statement at the time. \u201cWe\u2019re putting up a firewall to ensure Minnesotans have the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n But Levitt says that a Harris-Walz administration is likely to be limited in what it can achieve. \u201cHow much either Harris or Trump could do to affect abortion access would depend a lot on who controls Congress, but there are executive actions they could take to shift policy to some extent,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Ku agrees. \u201cShe may have some room to do more in terms of executive actions or really trying to pursue legal actions to sue states that try to further restrict abortion access,\u201d he tells Fortune<\/em>. Harris could continue to push a requirement on hospitals to provide abortions in emergencies where a woman\u2019s health is at stake, even in states where abortion is banned, Levitt says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ultimately, Ku says that Harris is likely to have the biggest impact on reproductive rights if she\u2019s able to put a new judge or two in the Supreme Court. \u201cIf she is elected president, I would expect that she would have the opportunity to name one or two Supreme Court justices over her term,\u201d he says. \u201cThat leads to the possibility of potentially changing the Court.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, policies on this are vague at the moment. \u201cHarris supported<\/a> Medicare for All in the past, offering a proposal in 2019 that would have extended Medicare to everyone gradually with an option to enroll in a private insurance plan,\u201d Levitt says. \u201cHarris\u2019 previous support for Medicare for all is indicative of her desire to achieve universal coverage, but I don\u2019t expect her to push it on the campaign trail or if she wins the presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n Walz has also stressed the importance of healthcare access. \u201cWhat Minnesotans want from their health care is simple,\u201d Walz said during his 2019 inaugural speech<\/a>. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to get sick in the first place. But if they do, they want care at a price they can afford and at a location close to home.\u201d<\/p>\n Levitt says he\u2019d expect the administration to focus more on making the Affordable Care Act\u2014also called Obamacare\u2014coverage more affordable.<\/p>\n Ku agrees that it\u2019s unlikely that Harris would put Medicare for All on the front burner right now. \u201cShe continues to be in favor of Medicaid expansions and to keep the Affordable Care Act marketplace strong,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Levitt points out that Harris has campaigned on the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s political victory over the pharmaceutical industry that gave the government authority to negotiate drug prices in Medicare<\/a> for the first time, including capping insulin copays at $35 per month. \u201cShe has indicated she wants to take these drug cost relief measures further,\u201d Levitt says.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI assume that she will continue to pursue this,\u201d Ku says. However, he points out that \u201csome of this is tied up in courts.\u201d<\/p>\n Walz also has a history of working to help constituents afford their medication. In 2020, he signed<\/a> a bill into law that would help Minnesotans afford their insulin. \u201cMinnesotans should not die because they are forced to choose between putting food on the table and affording the drug they need to survive,\u201d he said in a statement<\/a> at the time. \u201cDespite resistance from the pharmaceutical industry, the grit and determination of Minnesotans with diabetes, Minnesotans who have lost loved ones with diabetes, and their legislators moved this bill forward. It is downright inspiring. This hard-fought law will provide much-needed relief to Minnesotans struggling to afford their insulin. We must continue to put Minnesotans first and ensure people don\u2019t struggle to afford the care they need.\u201d<\/p>\n Mariana Socal, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, expects that this will be a \u201ckey issue\u201d for the Harris-Walz campaign. \u201cHaving prescription drug affordability front and center and building on the accomplishments that Vice President Harris had during the Biden Administration will probably be highlighted even more,\u201d she tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cThere would be a stronger ground for drug pricing affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris was previously California\u2019s attorney general, and she actively fought against health industry consolidation\u2014situations where hospitals and other similar health-related companies merge\u2014during her tenure, according to Politico<\/em><\/a>. The driving reason was concern that prices would increase.<\/p>\n A Harris-Walz administration could also try to fight private equity ownership in health care systems, Ku says. \u201cPrivate equity makes investments because there is money to be made there,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the quality of care may deteriorate somewhat when private equity is involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris hasn\u2019t said much publicly on the topic, but Ku anticipates that she will with time. \u201cThat\u2019s the kind of thing I think a Harris administration might be interested in,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ku points out that the height of the pandemic revealed a lot of issues with nursing homes in the U.S. \u201cNursing homes are still struggling,\u201d he says. \u201cThey are having great difficulty getting quality staff.\u201d Under the Biden-Harris administration, the Department of Health and Human Services issued new staffing requirements in nursing homes, Ku notes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Walz, too, has a history of trying to support nursing care. In August 2023, he helped bring $173 million in funding to support nursing care for Minnesotans. \u201cThis session, we worked across the aisle to prioritize the needs of middle class families and seniors. We\u2019re providing direct support to nursing homes across the state to ensure Minnesota\u2019s seniors have the quality care and safe environments they deserve,\u201d he said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cBy funding nursing homes and investing in workforce incentives, we\u2019re working to ensure our seniors have access to high-quality care while bringing new workers into this critical profession and building the workforce of the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\nReproductive rights will become a focus<\/h2>\n
Health care may become more accessible and affordable<\/h2>\n
There may be more price caps on select medications<\/h2>\n
Health care consolidation may be limited<\/h2>\n
There may be more funds for nursing home care\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n