The Changing World of Healthcare

This panel of healthcare experts explores the changing world of healthcare by examining issues of affordability, accessibility and new technology in medical education on the local and national levels.

Guests include:
Shereef Elnahal, MD, MBA, Former Commissioner, NJ Dept. of Health
Amy Perry, CEO, Hospital Division, Atlantic Health System
Stephen Crystal, Ph.D., Board of Governors Professor, Rutgers University

6/15/19 #106

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Welcome back to Think Tank. I'm Steve Adubato. We continue the conversation on the future of healthcare. We're pleased to be joined, once again, by Doctor Shereef Elnahal, who is the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health, Amy Perry joins us for the first time, is the CEO of the Hospital Division at Atlantic Health System, and finally, Doctor Stephen Crystal is the Board of Governors Professor at Rutgers University. He's been with us many times talking about healthcare. So here's the thing. Right now, is there more affordability and accessibility than there was five years ago in the healthcare system in New Jersey and in the nation, Doctor? Well there's no question about that Steve. And the biggest legacy we've seen is from the Affordable Care Act. That was implemented in earnest a few years ago... March of 2010? Yeah. Passed in 2010. Really took effect, especially with the Medicaid expansion, starting in 2014-2015. And we've seen over 800,000 people covered with insurance in New Jersey that were previously uninsured. The uninsurance rate dropped to an all-time low a couple of years ago. Unfortunately though, because of the continued attacks on the Affordable Care Act from Washington, we're starting to see the uninsured rate start to creep back up again. And that's concerning. Which is, again, why the Murphy Administration has doubled down on making those protections remain right here in New Jersey. Doctor Crystal, would it be a bad thing if the Affordable Care Act were abolished by the courts? Not bad. Disastrous. Because? Because it's embedded in so much of the system that we now have, and because it has provided access to such a large population of people who previously were not eligible, either for Medicaid or for private insurance. The Affordable Care Act made pre-existing conditions... they have access to insurance without pre-existing conditions a reality, and it's only the different parts of that that make that possible. Let me ask you Amy Perry. For those who argue, "Hey! Medicare for All!" It's gonna be an issue in the 2020 presidential race. You say? I say that there's probably other solutions that will achieve the same kinds of things, which is providing reimbursement access insurance to everyone that are probably not as controversial or difficult to get through. Let's do this. We talked earlier with Mike Maron about the whole question of technology and how the future of healthcare is being shaped by technology in so many ways. On the question of accessibility, I was just saying, "Okay. You take a picture. It's..."