When health care enters the political conversation, the debate often extends beyond the scope of hospitals, insurance plans, and public health. It becomes a conversation about the economy, public trust in systems, and the decisions voters make at the ballot box. That intersection of health care, economics, and policy was the focus of Axios Live: Health Care’s Emerging Battlefield event on June 24, where researchers, policymakers, and advocates joined in discussion about the future of health care access and affordability, and how the public views these issues.
Continuing my focus on public health policy this summer, I attended the event hosted by Axios and sponsored by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. The event featured KFF’s Ashley Kirzinger, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), and Planned Parenthood Action Fund President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson.
I experienced the greatest insight from Axios’ first guest, KFF’s Director of Survey Methodology Ashley Kirzinger. Kirzinger focused on the politics surrounding health care, especially in elections. Health care is a hot topic in politics, especially affordability. This, however, presents health care not as a public health topic, but as an economic one. People being able to afford health care is voter's most pressing concern. Kirzinger discussed three categories: Democrats, Republicans, and independents. When explaining independents, she noted that, historically, many align with Democrats with regards to health policy and Republicans regarding economic policy. Her question: “what happens when those are combined?”
This question not only raises an internal debate for voters in deciding which representative to support, but places additional pressure on political candidates to frame debate responses around health care affordability in a manner that both educates constituents and gains their trust. Kirzinger continued to emphasize the importance of voter concerns about health care costs when asked about the positioning of the Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, saying that affordability and lowering costs are still the number one concern of these voters. In terms of other policy areas such as vaccines and food safety, it is clear that these topics will not earn candidates voter support unless framed around affordability.
Having now been to several DC summits and events, I can appreciate way Axios organized this event. In this post, I chose to focus on Ashley Kirzinger’s points because she represents a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. Beginning the event with a data-driven speaker whose career centers around gathering data regarding public health and health policy was extremely beneficial. While I am sure much of the audience is well-versed in health policy matters, DC is a whole different animal. As a student intern, still learning the language of DC policy, beginning the event with evidence instead of advocacy made the discussion significantly more accessible and digestible. Having Kirzinger answer questions of voter preferences and the policy landscape from an nonpartisan, research perspective, allowed the audience to follow the conversations fluently.
While debates over vaccines, food safety, and reproductive freedom generate headlines, the data shows that voters consistently turn to one baseline question – Can they afford the health care they need? For me, that was the most valuable takeaway. As I continue my internship at Creative Investment Research this summer, I look forward to following how public perceptions evolve and how data, including the manner in which it is presented, can translate into more equitable health policy decisions.