Endocrine Insider
November 13, 2008

The recent election of Barack Obama to the office of President of the United  States and the increased Democratic majority may mean many changes in health care and research that could positively impact endocrinologists. 

President-elect Obama has laid out an aggressive plan for his first days in office and has placed the economic issues facing the country at the top of his agenda.  Obama has indicated that a second stimulus package should be passed shortly after his inauguration, which may present an opportunity to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health in fiscal year 2009.  As reported in the October 1, 2008 edition of Endocrine Insider, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Robert Byrd (D-WV) introduced a $56.2 billion economic stimulus package in September that included $1.2 billion for the NIH.  Portions of this stimulus package may be included in the stimulus package now being discussed by House and Senate leaders.  President-elect Obama has stated that the budgets for physical and life sciences should be doubled over the next decade.

Another high priority for Obama after his swearing-in on January 20, 2009 will be to repeal some of President Bush’s more controversial executive orders, including the order which restricts federal money for research on stem cell lines created after August 9, 2001.  President-elect Obama would allow all scientists to participate in stem cell research in accordance with the ethical guidelines proposed by the National Research Council.

Throughout his campaign for president, Obama expressed his desire to see comprehensive health care reform during his first term.  Democrats in Congress have already begun working on a single, comprehensive bill to revamp the health care system and will likely follow many of the tenets of Obama’s plan.  Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) is developing a plan that will overhaul the current health care system, with a focus on coverage, cost, and quality.  Preventive care will be an important tenet of Senator Kennedy’s bill, opening the door to a possible fix for the DXA payment cuts in order to increase screenings for osteoporosis.  Kennedy’s bill may also address the physician payment cuts scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2010, although whether it will be a long-term fix or a one-year fix is unclear.  Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) also released his health care policy proposal this week, calling for health coverage for all Americans. Prominent committee chairs in the House have also expressed their intent to address health care reform in the 111^th Congress.

Passage of many of Obama’s policy proposals will be made easier by the increased Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.  Although there are races yet to be decided in both the Senate and the House, the Senate now has a 57-40 Democratic majority, and the House Democratic majority is 255-174.  Committee appointments have not yet been determined, but there will be some shuffling of committee chairmanship with the election of Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) to Vice President, and Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) announcing his intention to step down as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Although the election brought many changes to Washington, The Endocrine Society is well positioned to push its advocacy agenda forward with strong ties to members on both sides of the aisle of the House and Senate.  Look for updates on the Society’s activities in future issues of Endocrine Insider.