On Tuesday, November 12, 2013, the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy and the Stockton School of Health Sciences hosted an event called “Forum: Affordable Care Act, Marketplace, and Exchanges.” Students, faculty, and citizens were encouraged to either attend the event in person or watch live online. Since I was feeling under the weather, I choose to watch it online. This made it so much easier to enjoy the event in the comfort of my bed. This also benefited many elders or others who are not physically able to come out for the event, but are in need of information for the new healthcare policy.
The program began with an introduction from the director of the Center for Public Policy, Daniel Douglas, and The Richard Stockton President, Dr. Herman Saatkamp. Both explained their excitement for this program and thanked everyone for attending. Dr. Saatkamp explained the importance of learning about the Affordable Care Act. This act primarily takes affect in 2014, which is approaching very soon, and will change many the lives of many American citizens. He informed the audience how America may have the best doctors and treatment in the world, but it does not have the best healthcare system available. Millions of Americans are either bankrupt because of high healthcare costs or living without health insurance. After some background information, Dr. Saatkamp welcomed Dr. Jaime Torres to explain America’s healthcare problem and its solution more in depth.
Dr. Jaime Torres started by explaining the troubles of our current healthcare system including: the ability of insurance companies to take advantage of and discriminate against citizens, how premiums have doubled over the last decade, and that fifty million Americans are uninsured. Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in March 2010 in order to make healthcare more affordable and accessible to the American public. Many benefits of this Act include: protecting all Americans from insurance abuse and poor coverage, strengthening Medicare, and improving the quality of all care.
Dr. Jaime Torres proceeded to inform the audience of many other benefits the public may not be aware of. For example, previously insurance companies were mandated to spend at least sixty cents of every premium dollar on healthcare as apposed to marketing. Now insurance companies must spend at least eighty cents of every premium dollar on healthcare. Also, the Affordable Care Act is closing the “donut hole,” which is the gap of drug coverage for Medicare patients. This has saved patients about $299 million on prescription drugs since 2012. Finally, the act has expanded coverage for Medicaid patients. A family of four can now make about $30,600 a year instead of $23,500. This income eligibility is expected to increase over time.
As a public health major with a concentration in healthcare administration, I found this event to be extremely interesting. There are many rumors about the Affordable Care Act, and it is great that Stockton provided this event to give the public the truth. Dr. Jaime Torres was an excellent speaker and interacted frequently with the audience to make the presentation more personal and enjoyable. This event was very successful in aiding the public on need-to-know facts of the Affordable Care Act. Six-hundred people attended the forum, not including the online viewers. I encourage anyone who has yet to experience this event watch it online at http://new.livestream.com/StocktonCollege/AffordableCareActForum.