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SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND
"We are likely to have an immense stalemate. And I would not be surprised if we shut down the federal government over funding of discretionary healthcare early next year." 3
- David Cutler
"Something happened on the way to this election, and we have lost the political center in this country." 3
- Robert Blendon
"We will have seen the leading edge of unwinding this bill take place through the discretionary spending process. It will slow down the implementation, and in that way, put it on a timetable to coincide with the 2012 election. I think that is exactly right. That is when this will ultimately be resolved." 10
- Douglas Holtz-Eakin
Implementation of the new health care reform law will slow down—and some pieces may disappear altogether—now that Republicans control the U.S. House of Representatives, according to a panel of health policy experts who spoke at The Forum at Harvard School of Public Health on November 5, 2010, following the 2010 elections. The event was presented in collaboration with Reuters.
Background
- Understanding the Affordable Care Act
- HealthCare.gov
- Voters' Different Views on What the Next Congress Should Do about the New Health Care Law
- HSPH Press Release
- Promise of Renewed Battle Over Reach of Health Care
- The New York Times
- Health Law May Be Unrecognizable in a Year
- Reuters
This forum took place before Reuters (which collaborated in this forum) reported on November 10 that nearly 59 million Americans lack health insurance. [http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A905U20101110] This comes from the CDC. This figure is up from the 30+ million citizens used to fashion the 2010 bill. But what I found even more disheartening from the panel participants is that what to do about health care reform come 2011--if you will, the discussion became "jelloesque"---a lot of wiggling and no real movement. The health reform bill should be strengthened, not decapitated. But the lynchpin for any movement going forward should be, just what is health care in this country? No, I know it means to be free of sickness or illness if possible. What I mean is that health care should be viewed as a right for all Americans. If this is the basic premise, then how do we ensure it? The 2010 bill addresses only the accessibility side of the ledger, not the affordability side. To address the latter means to lower prices to obtain health care, notably through insurance policies. Lowering the cost for these policies means to inject more competition to the private markets--like a public option or something comparable.