{"id":1000,"date":"2026-07-16T11:13:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T11:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2026-07-16T11:13:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T11:13:49","slug":"democrats-key-to-winning-the-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=1000","title":{"rendered":"Democrats\u2019 key to winning the midterms"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

American voters desperately want relief from rising prices \u2014 especially the increasingly unaffordable cost of healthcare. Democrats have a plan for that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Immigration crackdown cripples America\u2019s caregiving industry<\/a><\/p>\n

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently introduced the Break Up Big Medicine Act with Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a bill <\/span>that would<\/span> split up the huge conglomerates that have made the current healthcare system so expensive and frustrating to navigate. Businessman Mark Cuban recently quipped that breaking up these near-monopolies could bring costs down by 40%.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Democrats run on this healthcare affordability agenda, we stand a good chance of flipping not just the House, but the Senate too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Insurers like UnitedHealth or Cigna don\u2019t just sell coverage. They\u2019ve consolidated power over virtually every part of our healthcare system, operating hospitals, clinics and pharmacy networks. <\/span>And they<\/span> use that control to generate billions in profits \u2014 by pushing patients toward care at the facilities they control.<\/span><\/p>\n

UnitedHealth Group, for example, generates about 40% of its revenue \u2014 <\/span> \u2014 from transactions between its thousands of subsidiaries. Its insurance branch steers patients to its roughly 90,000 affiliated doctors, and pressures those physicians to refer patients to its affiliated hospitals and clinics rather than lower-cost independent providers. And that\u2019s not all. The company\u2019s pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) arm pushes patients to affiliated pharmacies. Those pharmacies frequently upcharge patients for medicines, sometimes by 10 times the acquisition cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

UnitedHealth Group is the largest of these conglomerates, but it\u2019s hardly the only firm that operates this way. CVS Health owns Aetna, one of the nation\u2019s largest insurers, in addition to the more than 9,000 CVS pharmacies it\u2019s best known for. It also owns CVS Caremark, one of the nation\u2019s largest PBM.<\/span><\/p>\n

In theory, PBMs exist to save employers money by overseeing all the drug-related details of health insurance plans, and using their bulk-buying power to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for big discounts and rebates. PBMs often tell employers that they pass along all the discounts and rebates they receive to the employer, minus a small fee for their services.<\/span><\/p>\n

What they typically don\u2019t mention is that many PBMs are affiliated with foreign-based entities called \u201cgroup purchasing organizations.\u201d In 2025, the House Oversight Committee <\/span>launched an investigation<\/span> into whether PBMs are using these overseas entities to skirt government oversight. Lawmakers have raised concerns that these arrangements allow PBMs to retain rebate-related revenue and fees within opaque corporate structures, rather than transparently passing those savings on to employers and patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more FCC officials took pricey gifts from Paramount as company awaited merger approval<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, insurers continually deny coverage for treatments and procedures that patients need. They often force doctors to get insurer approval \u2014 known as prior authorization \u2014 before prescribing, or they force patients onto less effective drugs. That places an immense administrative burden on physicians, who can spend an average of 12 hours per week completing prior authorizations, time that they\u2019d certainly rather spend with patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior authorization can have dire consequences for patients. <\/span>More than eight in 10 patients<\/span> that face prior authorization simply give up on treatment. About a quarter of doctors say that prior authorization delays have led to a serious adverse event for a patient in their care \u2014 whether that\u2019s hospitalization, permanent damage or death.<\/span><\/p>\n

Breaking up the healthcare conglomerates that have enriched themselves by immiserating patients and cheating employers is good policy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Polls show that voters <\/span>overwhelmingly support<\/span> bold <\/span>healthcare<\/span> reform. <\/span>According to a recent poll, nearly seven in ten insured Americans identified either lowering out-of-pocket costs or nixing prior authorization as the single most important change they want from their health insurance.<\/span> It would be a mistake for Democrats to content themselves with merely tweaking the Inflation Reduction Act, the party\u2019s last major healthcare reform, which primarily focused on reducing the federal government\u2019s pharmaceutical spending.<\/span><\/p>\n

That kind of incrementalism won\u2019t work \u2014 Democrats cannot win by being Republican-lite. We need to target the insurer and PBM practices that directly drive up Americans\u2019 out-of-pocket costs and force too many people to choose between filling their prescriptions and filling their gas tanks.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Democrats are looking for a 50-state strategy for the <\/span>midterms<\/span> \u2014 something I insisted on as chair of the Democratic National Committee during the 2006 blue wave \u2014 Sen. Warren\u2019s bill offers a great place to start.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more \u201cPolicy must change\u201d: Pelosi backs amendment to military aid to Israel<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The party’s healthcare affordability agenda could lower prices and put the Senate in play<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[243,1321,1322,1323,212,877,444,1324,1325],"class_list":["post-1000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-2026-midterms","tag-affordability","tag-affordable-health-care","tag-cvs","tag-democrats","tag-elizabeth-warren","tag-exclusive","tag-health-care","tag-unitedhealth-group"],"yoast_head":"\nDemocrats\u2019 key to winning the midterms - Relocation Across America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=1000\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democrats\u2019 key to winning the midterms - Relocation Across America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The party's healthcare affordability agenda could lower prices and put the Senate in play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=1000\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Across America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-16T11:13:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba2572fa1a7a241291fdc36bdae80fcf\"},\"headline\":\"Democrats\u2019 key to winning the midterms\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-16T11:13:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000\"},\"wordCount\":736,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/3f5c59e0ae5b0124657c23b1af5becc2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"2026 Midterms\",\"Affordability\",\"Affordable Health Care\",\"Cvs\",\"Democrats\",\"Elizabeth Warren\",\"Exclusive\",\"Health Care\",\"UnitedHealth Group\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000\",\"name\":\"Democrats\u2019 key to winning the midterms - Relocation Across America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/3f5c59e0ae5b0124657c23b1af5becc2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-16T11:13:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba2572fa1a7a241291fdc36bdae80fcf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=1000#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/3f5c59e0ae5b0124657c23b1af5becc2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/3f5c59e0ae5b0124657c23b1af5becc2.jpg\",\"width\":1692,\"height\":1142,\"caption\":\"US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat from New York, questions US health care CEOs on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 22, 2026. 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