Future health care reform in the United States will emphasize cost-effective treatment, upping health insurance requirements and healthy habits for citizens, according to Kristine Blackwood.
Blackwood, chief counsel for the U.S. Senate special committee on aging, spoke to an audience of about 100 in the Pugh Hall Ocora Monday night about proposed health care reform initiatives being discussed in Congress.
"These reforms are going to touch your life, even if you're a student," Blackwood said, citing initiatives such as wellness programs and pushing generic drugs over brand-name counterparts.
According to Blackwood, Congress has created broad concepts for health care reform, such as requiring all Americans to have health insurance and requiring nearly all business owners to provide some sort of coverage, based on the size of their work force.
Congress, along with the Obama administration, is determined to succeed where the Clinton administration failed, she said. Unlike 1992, Blackwood said, today's health care reform process will be more transparent and already has private insurance companies in on the discussion.
"There's a sense of guarded optimism in Washington right now," she said, adding the legislation will likely be created this summer and fall.
In a 20-minute question-and-answer session following the 40-minute speech, one student pointed to the national debt and asked whether the administration was worried about rising inflation, and if citizens would have to bring "wheel-barrows of money" to see their doctor in the coming years.
In response, Blackwood said members of Congress have to invest money in the health care reforms in order to create a healthy economy in the future.
"We'll keep paying more if we don't fix it now," she said, "We have to take control of the cost monster."
UF sophomore Matthew Newman, who attended the event, said the talk was a little redundant given his personal political aptitude. "The stuff I didn't know was insightful and did give a unique perspective," he added.
Blackwood's speech was sponsored by the Bob Graham Center for Public Service and paid for by the U.S. Senate.
