Penn D.C. Forum Explores GOP’s Obamacare Replacement Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, the morning after the GOP House membership issued its draft bill for the replacement of Obamacare, the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (Penn LDI) convened the “Health Reform and the Future of the Individual Insurance Market” forum in Washington, D.C. It was the first policy event to open the 2017 50th Anniversary of LDI, one of the country’s oldest health services research organizations. Co-sponsored by the Penn Wharton Public Policy Initiative, the event drew a crowd (above) of 200 health services researchers, Congressional staffers, consultants and professionals from across federal government health-related agencies

The gathering was buzzed by the release of the controversial GOP health care plan and highly interested in discussing the specifics of how that proposed legislation would change health care as well as a better understanding of what was not known about the plan which has yet to be evaluated by the Congressional Budget Office. To the right, view brief video excerpts of the panelists’ remarks.

Members of both panels emphasized that the proposal left many questions unanswered. Keynote speaker Stephen Parente, PhD, MPH, pointed out that the bill is actually a budget reconciliation maneuver rather than “true” repeal and replace legislation. It can only affect elements of Obamacare that are germane to the budget. Below are brief video excerpts from panel members’ remarks.