Beth Kuszler
from Orcas Crossroads
Orcas Crossroads Lecture Series will host University of Washington Law Professor, Patricia C. Kuszler, M.D., J.D., who will present – Obamacare: Fact, Fiction, Fury? – Sunday, November 17, 2013, 4 p.m. at the Orcas Center.
The Affordable Care Act also known as “Obamacare” has generated debate since its passage in 2010. Kuszler’s presentation reviews the provisions of Obamacare, discusses what it changes and what it does not change, debunks popular fictions, and delves into the fury surrounding the act as it is being implemented.
“Often the fury over health care is not really grounded in health care, all the sound and fury is grounded in bigger issues of social justice … the battle of the classes,” said Kuszler.
She said it’s important for people to know the truth about Obamacare for two big reasons. For those who don’t have insurance they can learn what opportunities they may have. If you do have insurance the lecture could open your eyes to what Obamacare will not provide.
“There has been so much press on the issue and most of it is bad and not well reported,” she said. “In most cases they are largely untrue, but there is always a grain of truth… usually only a grain.”
Kuszler has observed health issues from a diverse set of experiences – as an emergency physician, as a practicing lawyer, and now as a professor teaching health law at the University of Washington. She is also director of the Center for Law, Science and Global Health.
“I think health care has always been a hot button issue. Anytime you make any changes you are going to have human outcry,” she said.
Come with your questions for the Q & A session after the lecture, and join us for a reception following the presentation.
Tickets are $10 and available at Darvill’s Bookstore, online at www.orcascrossroads.org or at the door. Some complimentary tickets are available in advance at the Senior Center.
Orcas Crossroads Lecture Series is supported by the Crossroads Associates Circle, the Daniel and Margaret Carper Foundation, and Individual Contributors. Find more information at the Orcas Crossroads website: wwww.orcascrossroads.org
perhaps this lecture could be audio and/or video taped and posted online. A comprehensive overview of this would be very valuable for people to know. In researching other issues about nursing homes, I found that some of the improvements in policy include more insistence on Person Centered Care, “medical homes,” and pressure on hospitals to reduce readmittance rates. It also rewards facilities with high patient satisfaction survey results…and penalizes those with lower ratings…the Medicare reimbursement funds being withheld and then reallocated to the more successful hospitals and health care facilities. See Bethyl Institute for one of the leaders in this quality patient experience movement. It is a REAL thing…
Those sorts of measures can improve health care overall…and these have nothing to do with insurance coverage.