President Biden pledged that fighting COVID-19 and protecting the U.S. from another pandemic would be his top health care and economic priority. Although it has only been two weeks in office, his intentions are taking shape.

In the first 24 hours, the United States reversed its prior decision to leave the World Health Organization (WHO) effective July 2021 and rejoined its consortium to share coronavirus vaccines fairly around the globe. Honored, Dr. Fauci announced this decision to a virtual and cheering audience of the world’s public health leaders. He shared that the U.S. will work with them to strengthen and transform WHO, transparently investigate the organization’s initial response to the pandemic, and prevent the next outbreak from becoming a pandemic.

A COVID-19 Taskforce of experienced public health and infectious disease leaders was established, as was the COVID-19 Response Office, responsible for coordinating the pandemic response across all federal departments and agencies. The new National COVID-19 Coordinator will report directly to President Biden.

Day two, Biden released a 200-page document, National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness. While those that have been following the national dialogue on pandemic response will not find much new, it is an organized plan with clearly stated goals, with a commitment to follow science-based interventions, be transparent, and coordinate actions. Importantly, it recognizes testing as a critical public health tool in tracking and fighting this and future pandemics and commits to expanding testing supplies. The federal government’s role in ensuring the production and supply of adequate protective equipment is defined. 

An Executive Order directs the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to create standards to ensure the safe reopening of schools, businesses, and travel. Most businesses and schools have already taken many of the steps to protect their workers and customers, as outlined in OSHA’s Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace. Yet, employers will want to monitor these as they may be expanded and become requirements, rather than recommendations.

The Biden administration aspires to fixing more than COVID-19 when it comes to health care. Expanding coverage through increased federal subsidies, particularly among those residing in states that have yet to expand Medicaid, is included in Biden’s stimulus plan, and a recent Executive Order reopened and made changes to support broader enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces. While these needed actions make access to care more affordable and equitable for low-income families, they do little to reduce health care spending.

Prominent in Biden’s campaign claims were furthering transparency, bringing accountability to drug pricing, and the more controversial additions of a public option and reducing the eligibility age for Medicare. There is only so much that can be done by Executive Order. Steps needed to reduce health care inflation to levels at or below overall economic growth will require legislative action and be more difficult to achieve, even with the recent Democratic wins in both chambers of Congress. While off to a good start, it’s too soon to tell if the bipartisan support needed to finally transform American health care into the high-value system we all want and deserve has arrived.

Warm Regards,

Louise Y. Probst,

BHC Executive Director