Gingrich Sees Potential for "Bitter, Brutal Fight" Between GOP and White House

WASHINGTON, DC, Dec. 2, 2014 — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich today told senior health care executives at an Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy forum that Congressional Republicans are weighing whether to “get into the death grip of Obamacare” or to wait out President Obama’s term seeking “specific, practical, doable reforms.”

Speaking at the AMCP Health Plan Executive Forum in Washington, D.C, Mr. Gingrich offered several prognostications:

• Congressional Republicans will vote to repeal the ACA as a part of the budget reconciliation process.
• Rather than starting a “bitter, brutal fight” over the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the GOP will likely pursue “specific, practical” reforms, which could gain large bipartisan support.
• If the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down federal subsidies for individuals living in states with federal exchanges, “you will have chaos.”
• Faced with the growing cost of new, expensive medicines, the American people will eventually decide not to pay for marginally better ones, while continuing to pay for “life-saving or life-changing” medicines.

“The Republican capture of the Senate and multiple governors’ mansions continues to reverberate, not only on Capitol Hill and in state capitals, but also in executive suites of health care companies around the nation,” said AMCP CEO Edith A. Rosato, RPh, IOM. “The Academy is committed to initiating important dialogues like today’s Forum so key health care stakeholders better understand the policy and business climates in which they operate.”

Hosted by AMCP in partnership with CVS Health, MedImpact, and Novo Nordisk, the Forum brought together 60 executives from health care plans, health systems, patient groups, pharmacy benefit managements firms, governments and pharmaceutical companies for a full day of dialogue on critical issues facing the health care system. Moderating the panel discussions was David Nash, M.D., MBA, Dean of the Jefferson School of Population Health, Thomas Jefferson University.

About AMCP

The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy is a national professional association of pharmacists and other health care practitioners who serve society by the application of sound medication management principles and strategies to improve health care. The Academy's 7,000 members develop and provide clinical, educational and business management services and strategies on behalf of the 200 million Americans covered by managed pharmacy benefit.www.amcp.org.