What a Schumer-led Senate would mean for the industry
SENATE MINORITY LEADER Chuck Schumer has been one of the hospital industry’s fiercest advocates in Congress and may soon rise to one of the most powerful perches in Washington, a move that would have important implications for healthcare policy.
“If I were a hospital leader right now, I would be dancing for joy at the prospect of Schumer becoming the majority leader,” a healthcare lobbyist said.
Polls going into this week’s election showed Democrats have a fighting chance to take control of the upper chamber. Schumer’s strong ties to hospitals in his home state of New York are well-known in the Capitol, and hospitals there have spent big to flip the Senate. Schumer’s role in brokering deals on healthcare policy from the Affordable Care Act to COVID-19 stimulus bills illustrate the path he could take as majority leader.
Schumer has made clear he felt it was a grave political mistake to take up healthcare reform early in President Barack Obama’s first term while the economy was still in crisis.
“Unfortunately, Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them,” Schumer said in November 2014. “We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem— healthcare reform.”
If Democrats take the Senate, it’s also likely former Vice President Joe Biden will win the presidency and help decide when healthcare policy will be considered. But if the Supreme Court strikes down all or part of the ACA, the decision could force lawmakers into another explosive healthcare fight. The battle would be a minefield for Schumer, who would have to balance New York’s powerful healthcare industry interests with the potential of a progressive primary challenge in 2022.
“I know he’s ready for this moment,” a former Schumer aide said. “He’s a chess player and a brilliant strategist.”
This portrait of Schumer’s health policy perspective is informed by more than 15 interviews with current and former Senate aides, lobbyists and experts, many of whom requested not to be named to speak candidly. Schumer’s office declined to speak on the record.
Empire State hospitals’ political influence
New York is home to some of the most famous health systems in the country, and hospitals in the Empire State have wielded their political influence effectively. The Greater New York Hospital Association represents one of Schumer’s most important constituencies.
“It’s sort of the rule in politics that you dance with the ones who brought you,” said Bill Hammond, director of health policy at the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany, N.Y.based think tank.
Health systems in New York are major employers, and New York also produces the most medical school graduates of any state, according to 2018 data analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation. “If Texas produces oil, New York produces doctors,” a former Schumer aide said.
The GNYHA has invested heavily in flipping the Senate and funneled $9 million into the 2020 election cycle through a super PAC aligned with Senate Democratic leaders, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The GNYHA’s influence is amplified in Washington by its consistent leadership. Kenneth Raske, who has been president of the association since 1984, has become an institution in the state. Raske has known Schumer since he was a “budding young legislator,” Raske said. “We’ve been in foxholes and on the parade field.”
Role in the ACA health reform debate
Schumer played an important role in Senate dynamics during the ACA fight as the third-highest ranking Democrat and a member of the Finance