Pub. 16 2019 Issue 2

18 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G N E W M E X I C O R E A L I Z E D R E A M S THE ISSUES THAT MAY DEFINE THE 2020 ELECTION By Mark Anderson, Legal and Legislative Assistant, New Mexico Bankers Association I n this hyper-information age that we live in, it would be virtually impossible to not be aware that the upcom- ing 2020 Presidential and Senate races are viewed as crucial to the direction of the United States. One could define it as a “bellwether election”. We will be bom - barded with information in the next 15 months, which can be overwhelming. There is a tendency for many people to throw their hands up in exasperation at the prospect of following the machinations of political races, and rightfully so. Our elec- tions in this country are impossibly drawn-out, to the point where fatigue of the candidates occurs early on in the race. However, there is certainly merit in the notion that this is a bellwether election. Given that, what are the issues that are going to define the election? There are six issues that I will look at briefly: healthcare, the economy, foreign policy, the envi - ronment, marijuana, and education/student loan debt. All six are worth studying in how they define what each political party currently represents and the direction this country will go. Healthcare: In polling, one of the main concerns of American voters is rising healthcare and prescription drug prices. There are three main camps as far as a solution to the problem. The first camp, which is where President Trump appears to be squarely in, is essentially going back to the system that we had pre-Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act forced insurers to cover pre-existing conditions, expanded Medicaid eligibility, and, in 2016, covered an additional 20 to 24 million Americans. In fact, the plan was initially devised by the Republican think tank The Heritage Foundation in the 1990s and was adopted by Republican Governor Mitt Romney in Massachusetts. Trump has indicated, largely through executive orders, that he is intent on dismantling the Affordable Care Act and going back to more of a Wild West health insurance system, where insur- ance companies are largely left unchecked and unregulated. Joe Biden, who is currently viewed as the front-running moderate candidate, has indicated that he wants to maintain and improve