Professor Samuel Flint, associate director of Indiana University Northwest's School of Public and Environmental Affairs, spoke to the Northwest Indiana Health Care Council in Merrillville about how health care reform will affect Indiana. The council was developed as a result of The Times' One Region: One Vision initiative.
Flint said the legislation was major progress and not the sweeping "government takeover" critics have described it as.
Months after President Barack Obama signed health care reform into law, many state governments, physicians, academics and others are trying to figure out just how it will affect the country.
"It's a moving target," Flint said. "You read information from some of the best sources, and they are conflicting."
And for the state of Indiana, the estimated cost evolved again Friday with the release of an updated report. The projected cost decreased from $3.6 billion to between $2.9 billion and $3.6 billion, after taking into consideration there may not be full participation.
National health care reform is estimated to cost $940 billion during the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. In comparison, Flint said the government passed legislation that cost $631 billion to bolster Medicare prescription drug benefits.
"When you talk about health care with billions and trillions (of dollars), you have to keep it in proportion," Flint said.
Estimates for state Medicaid enrollment also decreased. The report took into account the insured and uninsured, and estimates for full participation decreased by more than 100,000.
"We're data-driven in terms of laws and rule-making, so I'd hope we'd get some better data and statistics with health reform to work with," said state Sen. Earline Rogers, a democrat who represents Gary, Merrillville, Hobart and Lake Station.
Flint said health care reform currently ensures insurance coverage for children with pre-existing conditions and soon will allow parents to keep children up to age 26 on their insurance plans.
He compared insurance companies under the changed system to a public utility because "they have to see all customers, their rates are regulated, (and) their banks are open to the public."
Indiana would benefit from transitioning Hoosiers from the Healthy Indiana Plan to the reform's Medicaid sooner, rather than later, he said.
"The state will put in one dollar and bring in 24 (federal) dollars for each added patient in their health care system," he said of federal funding the first 10 years of reform. "That's a good deal."
But some changes have to come from patients, not just health care providers in the industry, said Dr. Alex Stemer, president and CEO of Medical Specialists Centers of Indiana. He said the best doctors in the world could be surrounded by a poor population and wealthy population, and get different results.
"Some of the responsibility has to be shifted out of the doctor's office, out of the hospital emergency room," Stemer said.
Lake County was listed as the worst county in Indiana for health factors in a study by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. About 30 percent of Lake County residents are obese and smoke, according to the report.
"These kinds of things are going to drive up health costs, and they're not amenable without a social shift in our community," Stemer said.
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Health Care Reform is Progress, Expert SaysOriginally from: http://www.nursinglink.monster.com/news/articles/12894-health-care-reform-is-progress-expert-says
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