Alternatives to the Affordable Care Act

Description

Associated Program:
John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum
Speakers:
Katherine Baicker
Jonathan Gruber
Avik Roy
Gail R. Wilensky
Co-Sponsors:
T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy

A Conversation with
Katherine Baicker
C. Boyden Gray Professor of Health Economics, Department of Health Policy and Management,
T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University
President’s Council of Economic Advisers (2005-2007)
Jonathan Gruber
Ford Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Technical Consultant, Obama Administration on Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2009-2010)
Avik Roy
Co-Founder and President, Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity
Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute (2011-2016)
Gail R. Wilensky
Senior Fellow, Project HOPE
Director, Medicare and Medicaid (1990-1992)
Amitabh Chandra (moderator)
Malcolm Wiener Professor of Public Policy and Director of Health Policy Research, Harvard Kennedy School

Moderator Amitabh Chandra, Malcolm Wiener Professor of Public Policy and Director of Health Policy Research at the Kennedy School, was joined by Professor Katherine Baicker, former member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, Jonathan Gruber, Ford Professor of Economics at M.I.T., Dr. Avik Roy, Co-Founder and President on the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, and Gail R. Wilensky, Senior Fellow at Project HOPE and former Director of Medicare and Medicaid, to discuss possible alternatives to the Affordable Care Act. The panelists discussed an array of issues relating to the nuances of the Affordable Care Act, including the inevitable trade-off between coverage and cost, adverse selection, and the structuring of premium support. The panelists also took questions from the audience on alternatives to the individual mandate as well as how payment reform will affect “high-cost” groups like the disabled.