Local health experts: Obamacare may not be perfect, but it works

April 11--GREENSBORO -- Just weeks after Congress decided not to repeal the Affordable Care Act, health insurance experts told the audience at a public forum that the measure is by no means perfect, but it provides a connection to care that would be lost under the recent Republican proposal.

Sponsored by Indivisible (Rapid Response) Greensboro and Indivisible Piedmont -- two large citizens' groups that hold events to resist many of President Donald Trump's policies -- the forum at Congregational United Church of Christ focused on health care from legal, business and medical perspectives.

Rising insurance costs and legislative proposals to restrict Medicare spending are but a few of the threats to individuals who buy insurance or get it from the government, the group of four said.

Mark Hall, director of the Health Law & Policy Program at Wake Forest University School of Law, told audience members that the Affordable Care Act doesn't meddle with the types of health care available but only affects insurance and an individual's right to obtain it.

But any Republican proposal to remove the requirement that insurance companies accept people with pre-existing conditions and offer subsidies for lower-income consumers threatens fundamental rights, Hall said.

We're likely to have the current system through 2018, he added, but the future of insurance remains an open question.

Then there is the issue of how children may be affected.

According to Shruti Simha, a physician with the Cone Health Center for Children, proposed restrictions on funding for Medicare through one-time annual block grants to states rather than open-ended federal funding could hurt thousands of children in North Carolina.

She said 18 percent of people in North Carolina get insurance through Medicaid and almost 70 percent of those are children.

"Any repeal that is made, any changes that are made ... is going to affect children," Simha explained.

Dental benefits, preventive care and other services are now a part of Medicaid. If Congress mandates a block grant system, flexibility -- and services -- may be lost if costs rise, she added.

The forum's organizers said they invited U.S. Reps. Mark Walker (R-Greensboro) and Ted Budd (R-Advance) as well as U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, but they declined.

Instead, the group displayed jackets on mannequins with photos of each man's head attached.

Contact Richard M. Barron at (336) 373-7371 and follow @BarronBizNR on Twitter.

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