Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy ( left) and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch teamed up on a sequence of landmark legislative well being care achievements, such because the Ryan White program on AIDS therapy, the People with Disabilities Act, and the primary main federal little one care regulation.
John Duricka/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
John Duricka/AP
Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy ( left) and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch teamed up on a sequence of landmark legislative well being care achievements, such because the Ryan White program on AIDS therapy, the People with Disabilities Act, and the primary main federal little one care regulation.
John Duricka/AP
Relating to well being coverage, former Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, who died Saturday at age 88, leaves a posh legacy of main legislative achievements, altering positions, compromises and fierce opposition. In some ways, although, Hatch’s evolution and management on well being coverage throughout his 4 many years within the U.S. Senate mirror that of the Republican Social gathering.
When he got here to Washington as a neophyte politician after an upset victory in 1976, Hatch was a conservative firebrand, one of many early leaders of the “New Proper” bent on dismantling the federal welfare state and banning abortion. A former trial lawyer, the brand new senator had by no means earlier than held public workplace.
However the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and the Republican takeover of the Senate that made Hatch chairman of the highly effective Labor and Human Sources Committee (now the Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee) turned him into one thing of a pragmatist. That pragmatism, it needs to be famous, was considerably compelled: Though Hatch was technically the chair, there have been sufficient average Republicans on the panel to offer the rating Democrat, Massachusetts’ Edward Kennedy, efficient management over what could possibly be handed by the committee.
So Hatch discovered to compromise — and to legislate. In 1984, he negotiated with liberal Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., what remains to be known as the “Hatch-Waxman Act.” It is higher often known as the regulation that allowed, for the primary time, approval of generic copies of brand-name medication. Though removed from a panacea, it’s nonetheless the single-biggest advance within the combat to rein in excessive drug costs.
When the Democrats took again the Senate after the 1986 elections, Kennedy turned chairman of the committee and Hatch, the rating Republican. The 2 teamed up on a sequence of landmark legislative achievements, from the Ryan White program on AIDS treatment and the Americans with Disabilities Act to the primary main federal child care law. And whereas Hatch was a robust foe of nationwide medical insurance, he and Kennedy in the end pushed via Congress in 1997 the invoice to create the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which offers low-cost medical insurance for low-income households who do not qualify for Medicaid.
The stridently anti-abortion Hatch was outspoken about his assist for federal funding for analysis on embryonic stem cells derived from aborted fetuses. “I believe it is the last word pro-life place, as a result of I consider being pro-life isn’t just caring for the unborn however caring for many who reside,” he advised NPR in 2007.
However like a lot of the Republican Social gathering in Congress, Hatch returned to his conservative roots after the election of President Barack Obama in 2008. A supporter of the so-called particular person mandate requiring individuals to have medical insurance when it was the quasi-official GOP place within the early Nineteen Nineties, Hatch turned an outspoken foe. “Congress has by no means crossed the road between regulating what individuals select to do and ordering them to do it,” he stated in 2010.
After average Utah Republican Sen. Robert Bennett was ousted in a main in 2010 and changed by conservative favourite Mike Lee, Hatch grew extra conservative to win reelection in 2012. His last time period within the Senate was marked by efforts to overturn the Inexpensive Care Act and additional restrict abortion access. The religious Mormon, who in his spare time wrote lyrics for best-selling Christian music, even known as the ACA “the stupidest, dumb-a** invoice that I’ve ever seen. Now a few of you will have beloved it; if you happen to do, you might be one of many stupidest dumb-a** individuals I’ve ever met.” He later apologized for the assertion.
A former Kennedy aide, Jim Manley, advised The Salt Lake Tribune that “nobody epitomizes the rightward lurch of the Republican Social gathering greater than Sen. Hatch.”
In a single last twist, nevertheless, Hatch pushed as his successor the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, Mitt Romney. In simply his first few years, Romney has grow to be one of the vital average Republicans within the chamber. Which will show to be Orrin Hatch’s last legacy.
KHN (Kaiser Well being Information) is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points. It’s an editorially impartial working program of KFF (Kaiser Household Basis).
Discussion about this post