Michael Hash
Now that our president has advised “letting Obamacare collapse,” we might remind our representatives that they were elected to govern. There is clearly work to be done as long as we see other nations delivering better outcomes to more of their citizens at less cost.
The Talbot County Democratic Forum and FamilyCare of Easton, Aesthetics are sponsoring a program on why the act was created, what it has done, how it can be improved, and what changes to it might mean for people on the Eastern Shore.
The program will be Thursday, March 30, at 7 p.m. at the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, 114 South Washington St. in Easton. It is free and open to the public.
The featured speaker will be Michael Hash, who served as director of the Office of Health Reform at the Department of Health and Human Services from 2011 to 2014. Before that, he was deputy director of the White House Office for Health Reform. He has a long history of involvement with health care policy at the highest levels in Washington and has taught at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown.
“Before passage of the Affordable Care Act,” Hash said recently, “people with preexisting health conditions were denied coverage, denied benefits, or charged exorbitant rates. The uninsured rate in the U.S. stood at 16 percent. Today that rate is below 9 percent and more than 22 million Americans, who were previously uninsured, now have health insurance.”
He said that the ACA, also known as Obamacare, has also improved the quality and outcomes of care. “Hospital re-admission rates and infection rates have significantly declined and electronic medical records have made patient records more accessible,” he said. “But more progress needs to be made. In some places consumers don’t have an adequate choice of health plans, premiums may be unaffordable, and the cost of prescription drugs is out of reach.”
He said that a constructive, bipartisan effort is needed to strengthen the ACA or else the progress that has been made and the health and well being of millions of Americans are at risk.
Susan Delean-Botkin, a nurse-practitioner in Talbot County, will discuss what the ACA has meant for individuals in the Mid-Shore.
The program will end with a question-and-answer session.
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