189224 Health access and the election: What happened, what didn't, what next

Tuesday, October 28, 2008: 2:30 PM

Ellen R. Shaffer, PhD MPH , CPATH, San Francisco, CA
     
The Presidential candidates stimulated discussion of health care reform, but their initial proposals failed to achieve universal coverage, control costs, or improve quality. Conventional wisdom, based on history and extensive polling, prescribed incremental change as the most successful course. This presentation reviews local and national campaigns to assess whether public opinion has shifted substantially since 1994 in favor of comprehensive reform and is more critical of private insurance as a solution, and to mobilize both the insured and uninsured towards wider coverage throuh public sector plans. It also assesses how public health can move the debate forward in 2009.

Learning Objectives:
Participants will be able to identify: 1. Proposals for advancing towards universal access to affordable, quality health care. 2. How health care reform was addressed by candidates and advocates during the 2008 election. 3. What issues were not addressed. 4. Proposals for action in 2009.

Keywords: Access, Politics

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have written and presented on this issue many times
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Health Access & the Election: What Happened, What Didn't, What Next. P Ellen Parsons Memorial Session
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