Panel Discussion to Focus on Health Care Reform

The Usdan Common Connections Committee will host “Critical Condition,” a panel discussion focusing on the current efforts to reform the health care system in the United States, at 7 p.m. March 24 in the Daniel Family Commons, Usdan University Center.

Much of President Obama’s first year in office and the first year of the Democrat-controlled Congress has been focused on changes to the health care system aimed at expanding care to the uninsured and lowering costs. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed their own bills and on Sunday, March 21, the House of Representatives approved the Senate bill. A reconciliation of the Senate bill has also been approved by the House and sent to the Senate.

The state of Connecticut is also on the forefront of reform efforts at the state level and the panel will include policy experts and frontline personnel working to make Connecticut a model for the rest of the country to follow.

The panel will comprised Damien Sheehan-Connor, assistant professor in economics; Jill Zorn, program officer at Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut; Dr. Michael Grey, chief of medicine at the Hospital of Central Connecticut; and Elizabeth Wiley, National Secretary, American Medical Student Association and Physicians for a National Health Program member and George Washington University School of Medicine student.

The panel will cover a broad range of topics and will debate approaches and outcomes in the development of the legislation currently being considered. The panel will also take questions and will engage the audience throughout the evening.

There will be a complimentary pizza dinner at the start of the program.