Hoodin discusses Affordable Care Act with Millikin audience

April 08--DECATUR -- The first slide in Dan Hoodin's speech during Millikin's Institute for Science Entrepreneurship Speaker Series on Thursday asked the question, "Is the ACA a success?"

Hoodin, vice president of managed care with Hospital Sisters Health System, the medical group that owns St. Mary's Hospital, spoke for more than an hour about the impact of the Affordable Care Act in Illinois but said he had no plans to answer the question he asked.

"I have a law degree, and like any good attorney, I don't answer any questions directly," Hoodin told the crowd gathered in Millikin's Lower Richards Treat University Center. "But I'll give you the information and ask if you think it's working so far."

The information Hoodin presented showed a system that has decreased the rate of uninsured from 17.8 percent to 10.6 percent but raised the amount the government is spending on health care and caused insurance rates to skyrocket.

"It really has decreased the number of uninsured, but it's made life for insurance companies much more difficult," Hoodin said.

Hoodin said insurance companies are used to following the method that's been traditional since post-World War II: treat acute patients, fix them and get them home.

"We have a very good health care system," Hoodin said. "For acute care, which is what it's designed for, it's the best in the world.

"But much of the rest of the world focuses more on preventing you from getting sick: population care. That's where things are going, but it's taking the insurance companies time to catch up."

Hoodin said a big need is primary care physicians, who are the key to population care. Specialists are commonly higher-paid, which is why most doctors gravitate toward those fields.

"For years, we've been trying to teach people to go to their primary care physicians instead of the emergency room, but then there aren't enough primary care physicians," Hoodin said. "That needs to change."

Hoodin said no matter what happens in the 2016 election, he doesn't see the ACA, also known as Obamacare, going away.

"I get asked a lot of it will be overturned after the next election, and my answer is, I sincerely doubt it," Hoodin said. "Will it get tweaked? Oh yeah, it will, every year. But it's not going anywhere."

Jo Carter is a nursing teacher at Millikin specializing in public and community health who came to hear Hoodin speak. She raised her hand and asked Hoodin questions about the insurance companies' finances and the possibility of a single-payer system in the future.

"I have an interest in health systems and the transformation that's happening because of the Affordable Care Act," Carter said. "Much of the conversation revolves around the insurance industry and how they're influencing care and decisions about care and costs, so I appreciated hearing his thoughts."

Hoodin said while the insurance companies are losing money on ACA-compliant plans, they're raking in money on state and federal government customers and have been given moratoriums from the government on paying in to the ACA. He said while he likes the idea of the single-payer system, which would eliminate the influence of insurance companies but wasn't sure the effect it would have on the economy.

"That's eliminating a huge segment of the economy; can our economy take a hit like that?" Hoodin said.

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