A panel on the future of healthcare reform in the United States was held in 250 Dockser Hall on June 21, 2017, featuring many panelists, including D'Amore-McKim School of Business professor Timothy Hoff.
Sponsored in part by Northeastern School of Law's Center for Health Policy and Law, the town hall meeting covered topics ranging from healthcare costs to the political implications of the recently released Republican bill.
The bill, released yesterday, is 142 pages long and was created by 13 Republican senators hailing from 10 states. It is similar to the health bill passed by the House last month, according to Gary Young, director of the Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research.
“This is not a huge surprise. It's what people expected based on the news coverage we've seen over the past few weeks,” said Young in a recent News@Northeastern article.
Other panelists included Michael Dukakis, distinguished professor of political science at Northeastern, Meredith Munn Wheeler, of Community Catalyst, a Boston-based healthcare advocacy group, and Jean McGuire, professor of the practice in health sciences.
Hoff cited several healthcare trends during the panel including rising healthcare costs, increases in drug overdoses and longer wait times for patients seeking medical treatment.
“No matter what happens next,” he added, “something is very wrong with our healthcare system. If nothing gets passed,” he said, referring to the GOP healthcare bill, “I'm not sure what capacity Congress will have to fix what's wrong with it.”