Your correspondent just returned from the 2011 Annual Research Meeting of the AcademyHealth meeting held in Seattle. At this meeting I heard some truly interesting talks about health care, politics and the public debate. While looking for additional resources I also came upon a presentation from last year’s meeting (ARM2010) that provides interesting background on how the debate unfolded.
To begin, I would suggest that you listen to the 85 minute presentation and questions from a session, “How Health Services Research Was Used in Health Care Reform”
Panelists: Jack Ebeler, Committee on Energy and Commerce; Elizabeth Fowler, Senate Finance Committee; Jonathan Gruber, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Mark McClellan, Brookings Institute; Cathy Schoen, The Commonwealth Fund
Description: Karen Davis chaired a special session at the 2010 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting that looked at the role of health services research in informing Congressional health reform discussions. During the session, panelists Jonathan Gruber, Mark McClellan and Cathy Schoen focused on issues around affordability and delivery system redesign. Schoen’s presentation included a discussion of the Commonwealth Fund Commission Path Report and its contribution to the health reform framework, while Gruber discussed how health services research and simulation modeling contributed to health insurance design decisions, and McClellan reviewed contributions to payment and delivery system design decisions. Respondents Jack Ebeler and Liz Fowler provided their perspectives on the contribution of health services research to the key health reform decisions in the House of Representatives and Senate.
http://www.academyhealth.org/Training/ResourceDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=5662
Then we can discuss what I heard this year, at a session on Health Care and the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
- Discussion started with $14B debt, then adds unfunded promises (pensions, etc), grows to $60T,
- but that’s conservative, worst case is $124T
- total capital of USA, $50T [actually, tangible assets and financial assets are tough, see http://rutledgecapital.com/2009/05/24/total-assets-of-the-us-economy-188-trillion-134xgdp/]
- [interestingly, the presenter had not heard of the IOUSATHEMOVIEÂ website.
- Pelosi and (D) kicked the can to the (R) [which raised a conspiracy theory, (R) all know the wreck is coming, so they will let (D) hold white house in 2012 so Dems take the hit]
- One credible analysis says 5yrs to “impact”.
- ACA means you will have access to insurance, but hospitals going bankrupt means you may not have access to a doctor. It is not a health care bill, it is an insurance bill.
- [and it basically bankrupts the insurance industry by making it an arm of the government, unable to set fees to cover risks]
- Analyses suggest that about 50% of health care expenditures is waste (from the patients’ perspective)
So, anyone feeling sick yet?
What: Politics and a Pint
Where: Northfield, Contented Cow
When: 26 Jun 2011, 6-7:30PM
