Health care discussion geared toward students

By Anna Hawthorne

Members of the UK community gathered to hear three distinguished panelists discuss the national health care reform.

The economics department presented the discussion, and the panelists included Mark Birdwhistell, UK HealthCare chief external affairs officer, Aaron Yelowitz, professor of economics in the Gatton College of Business and Economics and Linda Kuder, member of the executive board of the AARP.

Gayle Hoyt, UK economics professor and faculty adviser for the event, said they were happy to present the panel at such a dire time.

“These are very important issues,” Hoyt said. “It’s extremely timely. This is what they are discussing in Washington at the White House right now.”

Birdwhistell began the discussion by giving a brief overview of the main issues related to health care such as universal coverage, Improved Health Information Technology and increased focus on wellness and prevention.

Birdwhistell also said there have already been major improvements toward the health care plan people do not realize. He said if someone has a job that provides insurance and they lose that job, they are now able keep the insurance through a program called Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

“For the first time, Congress authorized using Medicaid dollars to pay private health insurance premiums through COBRA,” Birdwhistell said. “They’ve already done it. They’ve already made a significant step, but nobody’s talking about it.”

Another considerable advancement to improve health care is transferring paper medical files to electronic records.

“There were $20 billion to enhance electronic medical records.  That’s huge,” Birdwhistell said.

Yelowitz said an important concern is what the health care plan will mean for students.

“One main issue is, how does health care reform affect young adults?” Yelowitz said, as he supplied the audience with a chart comparing how similar insurance prices were for healthy 25-year-olds compared to less-healthy 55-year-olds.

Officials from the economics department were pleased with the number of people that attended.

“We were really excited to present the panel to everyone,” said Chelsea Darnell, a senior economics official who helped host the event. “We had a great turn out of about 100 people.”

The panelists said they were also surprised with the number of students that showed up to listen to the discussion, and impressed with how well the students understood these issues.

“I’m blown away with the level of sophistication of the student body here,” Birdwhistell said. “You’re to be commended because you have a grasp. I wish everyone in the U.S. had this level of understanding.”