Advertisement
Ezekiel Emanuel On Reinventing American Health Care
Play
If you are one of the millions of Americans still without health insurance, then go ahead and add "sign up for coverage" to your weekend to-do list... because the enrollment deadline for the Affordable Care Act is Monday.
If you're not signed up by Monday, be prepared to face a tax penalty of up to one percent of your income.
The chaotic launch of healthcare.gov and the "if you like your health care plan, you can keep it," promise have confirmed the fears of many who doubted the success of the Affordable Care Act.
But the White House announced yesterday that it's hit its goal of getting more than six million people signed up for private plans.
Guest
Ezekiel Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives and chair of the department of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Served as a special adviser to the White House on health care reform from 2009 to 2011. Senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. Author of "Reinventing American Health Care."
Ezekiel Emanuel's Health Predictions
By 2020:
- Special care for the chronically and mentally ill
- The emergence of digital medicine and the closure of hospitals
- The end of health care inflation
By 2025:
- The end of insurance companies as we know them
- The end of employer-sponsored health insurance
- The transformation of medical education
- "With this year's deadline to register for individual health insurance just a weekend away, much attention is being lavished on two numbers — the 6 million Americans who have signed up so far, and the percentage of those folks who are (or aren't) young."
More
WBUR: Obamacare's National Enrollment Looks OK, But States Matter MoreThe Boston Globe: ‘Reinventing American Health Care’ By Ezekiel Emanuel
- "Like it or not, the Affordable Care Act is probably here to stay. But you really should like it, according to Ezekiel Emanuel, former senior health adviser to President Obama and one of the measure’s architects. He describes the program, often referred to as Obamacare, as 'a world historical achievement, even more important for the United States than Social Security and Medicare have been.'"
- "Americans hate health insurance companies. They are easy targets for everyone to beat up on. When premiums go up, we blame insurance companies; we do not blame the underlying hospitals or physicians who charge high prices that drive up insurance costs."
Excerpt
This segment aired on March 28, 2014.