Retail, pharmacy groups respond to election results

NEW YORK — Americans woke up Wednesday morning to the news that Barack Obama had won a second term as president of the United States. Some people may be happy about that, others unhappy and others neutral — but win or lose, the results of Tuesday's election affect everyone, including those in the retail pharmacy industry.

After the results came in, just as before, the top issue was the economy, but the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act remained high on the list of priorities as well, even though according to several sources, Obama's reelection means total repeal of the law is unlikely to happen. Despite Obama's victory, Congress remained divided, with Democrats retaining control of the Senate and Republicans keeping their majority in the House.

According to exit polls Tuesday night, opinions among voters about the healthcare reform law remained divided, Politico reported. Forty-five percent said they thought it should be partially or totally repealed, while 47% favored keeping it in its present form or expanding it.

Important for chain pharmacy, the vast majority of the candidates it backed were victorious Tuesday night, indicating that the new Congress would understand critical industry issues. In a November 7 note to National Association of Chain Drug Stores members, NACDS president and CEO Steve Anderson said that 92% of the candidates the NACDS-PAC had supported for the House and 93% of those it had supported in the Senate had won. The NACDS-PAC spent $932,100 on the 2011-2012 Congressional election cycle to, which included $617,000 that it had raised through 35 fundraising events and $315,100 raised and distributed by the NACDS-PAC to candidate committees, leadership PACs and party committees, supporting candidates from both parties.

"In determining candidates to support, NACDS-PAC considers — among other criteria — the candidate’s position or voting record on issues affecting the growth and sustainability of pharmacy; the integrity and character of the candidate; the candidate’s leadership or policy-shaping position within his or her party; and the presence of NACDS members in a candidate’s state or district," Anderson wrote.



Key Congressional leaders among the candidates supported by NACDS-PAC included House of Representatives Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA); House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI); House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI); House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ); and community pharmacy champion and vice chair of the House Republican Conference Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), among others.

In official statements, both the National Retail Federation and American Pharmacists Association both pledged to work with the administration.

"Issues affecting the retail industry are the same critical issues facing policymakers in Washington," National Retail Federation president and CEO Matthew Shay said. "On behalf of retailers, their employees and their customers, we want to see healthcare reform that actually reduces costs instead of imposing mandates, tax reform that makes U.S. businesses more competitive, sales-tax fairness that puts Main Street and online retailers on a level playing field, neutral labor policy that doesn't favor either employers or unions over the other, credit and debit card swipe fees based on transparency and competition rather than monopolies, and removal of trade barriers that drive up consumer prices."

APhA EVP and CEO Thomas Menighan congratulated Obama on his reelection.

"The administration and the new Congress have many challenges to address in health care in 2013, and APhA will make sure that the voices of pharmacists are heard both in the halls of Congress and in the offices of the executive branch," Menighan said. The APhA said that despite divided opinions over the healthcare reform law, there was "clear bipartisan support" for medication therapy management and increased roles for pharmacists in the healthcare system, and "The value proposition pharmacists bring to collaborative health care is something APhA will continue to emphasize with the Obama administration and new and continuing members of Congress.

At press time, the National Community Pharmacists Association, a trade group for independent pharmacies, had not issued a statement about the election results.

As many anticipated, the reelection of the President and the deeply divided Congress has resulted in anxieties over the future of the economy. At the close of trading Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 312 points, or 2.4%, to 12,933, over concerns of an approaching dispute over fiscal policy in Congress.

Regarding the economy in general, Politico reported that 53% of voters surveyed said the government was taking on too many responsibilities best left to the private sector, an increase by 10% over 2008, while 41% said the government should do more.

While many believe that health reform will have a positive impact on retail pharmacy, generating millions of ne prescriptions, according to an online poll of Drugstorenews.com readers that at press time had received 1,157 responses, 56% said Mitt Romney would have had the most positive effect on the retail pharmacy business.