What Does Senator Kamala Harris’ Record As California’s Attorney General Tell Us About Her Health Policy?

By Richard M. Scheffler and Surina A. Khurana | Published October 1, 2020 in Health Affairs BlogLink to Full Article

Health policy, like most public policy, is autoregressive: The past is usually the best predictor of the future. Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ position on national health policy issues is well known from presidential debates and public statements; less is known about what she actually did while serving as the attorney general for the state of California from 2010 to 2017. Most of her record in health policy as attorney general was in three areas: antitrust (especially mergers and consolidation), pharmaceuticals, and support of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is fair to say that she has been very active and effective in all three areas.