Obamacare: A Questionable Step?

Not since the mid-1960s had the United States taken a significant step toward national health insurance; meanwhile the corporatization of American medicine has propelled a $2.5 trillion dollar enterprise full of vested financial interests and health inequities. This year the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which promises to reform private insurance company practices and extend coverage to about half of the 50 million uninsured Americans. Yet, Obama has faced bitter politics from the Republican Right, the Tea Party social movement, and even the Blue Dogs of his own Party. Now the implementation phase of health care reform must proceed. This presentation will examine the dynamics surrounding health care reform, and what likely lies ahead for improving the American health care delivery system.

Jack W. Salmon is Professor of Health Policy and Administration at the School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Moderated by Rolf Rosenbrock, Head of the WZB Research Group Public Health.