Kenneth Frazier not saying anything and staying on the council would not have taken Merck down (currently has the world's second largest diabetes drug by sales on its books). If Frazier didn't make a stand, I would guess that no one else would have and the council would not have been mentioned in this context.
The long game for Merck is for health insurance to keep funding their products. Millions of people being priced out of healthcare by killing or crippling ACA isn't going to move more product.
I'm not sure ACA has a huge impact either way. If the US centralise purchasing in the way the NHS does to drive better deals then the world will totally have to re imagine how it is proven that drugs are both safe and effective.
Kenneth Frazier not saying anything and staying on the council would not have taken Merck down (currently has the world's second largest diabetes drug by sales on its books). If Frazier didn't make a stand, I would guess that no one else would have and the council would not have been mentioned in this context.