Democrats need to sell a health package that doesn’t kick in right away

Democrats are trying to sell future health-care reforms to voters right now

Democrats are poised to get their health-care win, with the economic package expected to pass in the House tomorrow.

Their next challenge? Selling the public on a package the party believes will lower health costs for many Americans, even as some of the major changes won’t have a tangible impact on voters’ pocketbooks for months to years to come. 

The package has given Democrats running in tight reelection races a fresh way to slam their opponents. They’re preparing attacks on Republicans for voting against legislation aimed at making the costs of prescription drugs more affordable and touting the package as a win against the powerful pharmaceutical industry. 

• “I think our voters are going to see that we’ve been willing to stand up on their behalf against some pretty well-funded special interests,” Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), a vulnerable Democrat, told The Health 202. She added: “For me, it’s about positioning myself as the person that is doing what she promised to do when she got elected to Congress.”

In 2020, Democrats campaigned on an ambitious health agenda if voters would give them control of Congress and the White House. But the negotiations over the party’s economic package were fraught with uncertainty, worrying rank-and-file members that they would head home from Washington this summer without having passed lasting revisions to the health system. Now, Democrats are relishing the prospect of campaigning on their health-and-climate bill.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: 

It will take time to fully implement the health provisions included in the bill, which Democrats have dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act. 

A handful of major policies kick in next year. This includes the $35 per month cap on the cost of insulin for diabetic Americans enrolled in Medicare. Meanwhile, beefed-up financial aid for roughly 13 million Americans enrolled in Obamacare plans is already in effect and getting extended for another three years. The enhanced tax credits would expire at the end of the year if Democrats don’t pass the spending bill, putting Americans on the hook for paying hundreds of more dollars for their coverage. 

But many other measures, particularly the major drug-pricing provisions, don’t begin for another few…