Milken Institute School of Public Health Professor Sara Rosenbaum is only too aware that the status of U.S. healthcare policy is currently a fast-moving target. But the observations she made on the history of healthcare policy in the Health Policy and Management department’s inaugural Health Policy Expert Series lecture, now available on YouTube, include almost everything needed to understand how we got to where we are now.
Dr. Rosenbaum is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on federal health legislation in the areas of public and private health insurance coverage and programs affecting health care access and quality for low-income and medically underserved Americans. Her talk focuses on the policy underpinnings of the U.S. health insurance system and the key structural reforms made by the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (also known as Obamacare) in terms of the accessibility, affordability, and scope of coverage.
In addition to going over some issues discussed in classes on comparative health policy, Dr. Rosenbaum reviews what are expected to be the emerging elements of “repeal” and “replace” in the context of ACA Titles I and II, the public and private health insurance reforms. This includes her expert opinions regarding how the ACA could be improved.
The many aspects of the history of U.S. healthcare policy and the current debate elucidated in the video include:
- The “original sin” of U.S. healthcare policy and why our country takes a different approach than other wealthy nations.
- How insurance companies work, why insurers are not “bad people,” and a little about the industry’s operating principles.
- Why, even though GW is the largest employer in the District of Columbia, actuaries deem its risk pool too small not to have its rates rise significantly due to a few sick people.
- Why even states such as New York and Washington may be too small to effectively pool risk.
Watch Dr. Rosenbaum’s lecture, “The ACA in the 115th Congress: Starting the Repeal and Replace Discussion” for all this and much more.