Moving Forward with

Health Reform – Where?

A debate between:

John McDonough, Harvard University &

Joseph Antos, American Enterprise Institute

Reception: 5:30 - 6 pm

Debate: 6 - 7:30 pm

Location: Simmons College, School of Management, 5th Floor

 

At the national level, the debate over health reform – “Obamacare” – has been contentious and partisan, in ways that have generally made it impossible to understand the real issues underlying what’s at stake.  

This symposium is an attempt to change that. The Simmons School of Management and its Center for Research in Health Policy and Management will present a debate between a notable architect and a distinguished critic of Obamacare. This debate will present sharply opposing views of what is at stake and why you should care. Is it essential to implement Obamacare? Or would Obamacare take the American health system in precisely the wrong direction? 

You can expect an animated, but civil conversation on where the current reform will take us. The issues and politics of the moment will influence what is said and what the audience asks, but this debate will not be a rehash of the headlines. These eminent policy researchers will provide something more enduring than the daily combat over reform:  a clarification of what has happened, some understanding of why, and an understanding of the conflicting beliefs that underlie both sides in the debate over the likely forward course of reform.

We have ideal representatives for both points of view:

• John McDonough, PhD, is a Professor of Public Health Practice at the Harvard School of Public Health. He was a key figure in Massachusetts Health Reform and a principal advisor to the Obama Administration and the Senate on the 2010 reform legislation. 
• Joseph Antos, PhD, is the Wilson Taylor Scholar and senior health economist at the American Enterprise Institute.  He is a leader in conservative health and retirement policy and a noted critic of Obamacare.