272469 States explore single-payer options

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM

Oliver Fein, MD , Clinical Medicine and Public Health, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY
Several states have decided to explore single payer options in health care reform. These approaches vary from authoring single payer bills (New York State) to gubernatorial and legislative endorsement of a pathway to state single payer (Vermont). This panel will present updates from four states: California, Hawaii, New York and Vermont. Aspects of each approach will be presented, including nuances in legislative language and concepts, uses of the Health Insurance Exchanges as a step toward state single payer, the creation of state Health Care Boards as instruments to develop policies leading to single payer, the establishment of workarounds for both ERISA and Medicare that permit moving toward single payer before the Affordable Care Act's 2017 prohibition. The panel will also discuss the responses to these efforts, such as the rise of super-PACs, in order to challenge state single payer.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related public policy
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
1. Compare different approaches to state single-payer health care reform as illustrated by efforts in California, Hawaii, New York and Vermont. 2. Explain why competition among financing entities such as insurance plans or competing “Accountable Care Organizations” is counter-productive in health care. 3. Assess the comprehensiveness of benefit packages offered through proposed legislation in California, Hawaii, New York and Vermont. 4. Describe the potential attributes of a Health Insurance Exchanges as a step towards a state single program.

Keywords: Access to Health Care, Health Insurance

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Professor of Clinical Medicine and Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College and immediate past President of Physicians for a National Health Program. My work has focused on health system delivery reform on both the national and local levels; including involvement with developing policy on healthcare benefits, graduate medical education, healthcare quality, public health, medical malpractice, antitrust and remedies and enforcements.
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.

Back to: 3355.0: Invited Session: States Explore Single-Payer Options