The Debate Questions as HiAP Policy Review: Question 1, the Supreme Court.

Asked: Where do you think a Justice Barrett would take the court?
HiAP version: Where would a Supreme Court Justice Barrett’s rulings take population, community, and individual health?
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Obviously, one cannot forecast what cases will come before the court in the mid- to distant future. We know that Barrett is also an ‘originalist’ rather than a ‘textualist’. So we might ask: What is the impact on health that a legal position of originalist might have, as compared to other positions (e.g. textualist, or Renquist’s concern with just decisions) a supreme court justice might espouse? This is a rather theoretical question, which is not the point of a presidential debate, so I will leave it to the side for now.

Instead, we do know that the ACA (Obamacare) has come before the court in the past, and is likely to do so again. A follow-up question explicitly pointed this out: “Over the last four years you have promised to repeal and replace Obamacare but you have never in these four years, come up with a plan, a comprehensive plan, to replace Obamacare. So my question sir is, what is the Trump healthcare plan?”

This was a perfect opportunity for Trump and Biden to lay out their respective visions of a health in all policies approach, in concrete detail as it impacts families and individuals on a financial and legally accountable level. I favour a medical system to which all within our borders have access, funded by taxpayers -- of whom the top 1% would be the biggest contributors -- as a contribution to the common good.

In terms of regulation, pharmaceutical companies would be reigned in from profiteering off others’ suffering; doctors on salaries rather than per appointment to bring their caseloads to reasonable levels; and the FDA, HHS, EPA, and CDC would all have enhanced authority to ensure the public’s health through transparent regulation.

​For individuals and families, it means no more bankruptcy due to medical bills; it means acknowledging that accidents happen even with the best precautions in place and not punishing people for true accidents; and it means a targeted and comprehensive approach to address the root causes of the opiate crisis, child and maternal mortality, premature death and disability among working men, and providing a community safety net that allows for the inherent vulnerability we all face to illness, dependency, and age.