It is not a secret that President Joe Biden has a long-standing commitment to addressing issues of serious illness. He has personal family experience with the tragedy of cancer, he helped lead the efforts for the 21st Century Cures Act law and the Cancer Moonshot, and has proposed a new agency “Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health” (ARPA-H) to speed up innovations and critical scientific research to drive breakthroughs in cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and more. Last night’s State of the Union speech was a further reflection of the President’s commitment to many of the issues we deal with each day, and it is worth mentioning some of them.
In addition to calling for bipartisan support for needed research resources and ARPA-H, the President announced a number of new executive branch initiatives and challenged Congress to do their part, as well. Nursing home care: The President announced a package of policies that are designed to improve the safety and quality of long-term care and increase accountability. He stated, “Medicare is going to set higher standards for nursing homes and make sure your loved ones get the care they deserve and expect.” As we know, many nursing home residents have a serious illness and C-TAC believes that care should reflect the aims and care described in our Core Principles for Models with Serious Illness Populations, including ensuring that the values and care preferences of those with serious illness are reflected in their care.
Expansion of family and medical paid leave was also mentioned and reflects the Build Back Better provisions that would help both seriously ill individuals to be away from work in order to receive care and treatments and assist family caregivers who are supporting members of their families with serious illness. Another key important proposal and call to action was related to reducing the cost of prescription drugs. For those with a serious illness, the cost of prescription drugs and other care can be overwhelming and unaffordable. Reducing the burden of the cost of these drugs is a critical part of ensuring access to the care that individuals need. In addition, the President called for a refocus on the opioid crisis. This work is warranted and must include protections for those with serious illness to secure appropriate pain medications while working to reduce the devasting effects of addiction and related overdose deaths.
Also worth noting was the President Biden’s announcement of a national strategy to address the mental health crisis. Those with serious illness, their families, and the well-being of the frontline health workforce will likely benefit from this initiative as well.
Written by: Brian Lindberg, C-TAC Senior Policy Advisor
