Business/Policy

Physician Challenges McCain in Primary Election

By Patrick O’Connor

Arizona is entering its hottest season of the year: not summer, but rather election season. The Arizona Medical Association (ArMA) recently issued its endorsements for the August 30th primary elections but they decided not to weigh in on one noteworthy race [1-2]. Sen. John McCain is being opposed in the upcoming Republican primary election by Dr. Kelli Ward, a former state senator and physician from Lake Havasu City. Whoever emerges from the primary will be running against the unopposed Democratic nominee Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, so let’s dissect the two candidates’ views on health and medicine.

Ward:

Ward was elected as state senator in 2012 and began her term in office in January of 2013. She was reelected but stepped down in late 2015 to focus on her current campaign. Ward graduated with a D.O. from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and later completed an MPH from the A.T. Still School of Health Management. She completed her residency in family medicine and was in primary care until beginning her political career where she transitioned to practicing emergency medicine [3].

As vice-chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, Ward oversaw many initiatives by the senate to change healthcare in Arizona. Ward sponsored SB 1353, which required insurers to compensate telemedicine providers for services they already covered in an in-person facility. The bill was signed into law by former Gov. Jan Brewer on May 23, 2013 at The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix and went into effect in 2015 [4]. Ward also sponsored legislation that would regulate music therapy and require health care providers to provide access to costs of procedures and diagnostic tests, but both these bills were vetoed [5-6].

Her tenure has not been without controversy. In 2013, Ward cosponsored a bill, that was later signed into law, that removed requirements for foster parents to vaccinate their own children before being allowed to care for foster children [7-8]. She also attracted national media attention after hosting a meeting in Kingman concerning chemtrails: a conspiracy theory that concerns the condensation trails from aircraft [9].

McCain:

Ward is challenging McCain who has been representing Arizona as senator for almost 20 years [10]. Governor Doug Ducey and the Republican nominee for president Donald Trump have endorsed McCain in the upcoming primary election (although Trump insulted McCain for his military service and has stated that he would not endorse him, but then reversed his position three days later) [11-13].

McCain has recently sponsored many new bills that would repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Ward also hopes to repeal “Obamacare”) [14-15]. He has recently proposed legislation that would allow Americans to import prescription drugs from Canada as long as the medication was available in the United States.

McCain’s biggest health-related controversy came in 2008 when he suggested that vaccines cause autism [17].

References:

  1. Arizona Medical Association. 2016 Congressional Primary Endorsements. 1st ed. Phoenix: Arizona Medical Association; 2016. Available at: https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/azmed.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/files/2016ArMPAC_AZCongressPrimary.pdf. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  2. Arizona Medical Association. 2016 Congressional Primary Endorsements. 1st ed. Phoenix: Arizona Medical Association; 2016. Available at: https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/azmed.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/files/armpac_2016_az_primaryendors.pdf. Accessed August 24, 2016

  3. Arizona State Legislature. Kelli Ward. Phoenix; 2016. Available at: http://www.azleg.gov/MembersPage.asp?Member_ID=112&Legislature=51&Session_ID=110

  4. Bravo A. Governor Signs Telemedicine Bill at UA College of Medicine-Phoenix. UANews. 2016. Available at: https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/governor-signs-telemedicine-bill-at-ua-college-of-medicine-phoenix. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  5. Arizona State Legislature. SB1437 Music Therapists; Licensure. Phoenix: Fifty-first Legislature - First Regular Session; 2013:http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=SB1437&Session_ID=110. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  6. Arizona State Legislature. SB1115 Direct Pay Prices; Health Care. Phoenix: Fifty-first Legislature - First Regular Session; 2013:http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=SB1115&Session_ID=110. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  7. Arizona State Legislature. SB1108 Foster Home Licensure; Immunizations. Phoenix: Fifty-first Legislature - First Regular Session; 2013:http://www.azleg.gov//FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/51leg/1r/bills/sb1108o.asp&Session_ID=110. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  8. Reinhart M. Arizona vaccination-waiver bill advances. azcentralcom. 2013. Available at: http://archive.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/20130130arizona-vaccination-waiver-bill-advances.html. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  9. Mersereau D. Chemtrails Are Too Crazy for Even the Tea Party to Believe. Gawker. 2016. Available at: http://thevane.gawker.com/as-long-as-we-all-appreciate-this-level-of-anti-science-1699882986. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  10. United States Senate. John Mccain Biography. Washington D.C.; 2012. Available at: http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/biography. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  11. Nowicki D. Gov. Doug Ducey endorses Sen. John McCain in GOP primary. azcentral. 2016. Available at: http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/azdc/2016/07/14/gov-doug-ducey-endorses-sen-john-mccain-gop-primary/87069132/. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  12. Bash D. Trump endorses Paul Ryan, John McCain. CNN. 2016. Available at: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/05/politics/donald-trump-endorse-paul-ryan/. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  13. Sullivan S. Broad array of military luminaries condemn Trump over attacks on Khan family. Washington Post. 2016. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mccain-adds-latest-salvo-in-gop-dismay-over-trump-clash-with-khan-family/2016/08/01/10ca7e10-57e8-11e6-831d-0324760ca856_story.html. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  14. Civic Impulse, LLC. Search Bills in Congress - GovTrack.us. GovTrackus. 2016. Available at: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/browse?sponsor=300071&subject=6130#_. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  15. Ward K. The Patient Power Plan. Ward for Senate. 2016. Available at: http://www.kelliward.com/patient_power_plan. Accessed August 24, 2016

  16. 114th Congress (2015-2016). S.122 - 114th Congress (2015-2016): Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act of 2015. Congressgov. 2016. Available at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/122. Accessed August 24, 2016.

  17. ABC News. John McCain Enters the Autism Wars. ABC News. 2016. Available at: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/02/john-mccain-ent.html. Accessed August 24, 2016.