DU co-hosted a debate at the Denver Post, over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which was moderated by former Colorado governor and current DU professor Richard Lamm and Denver Post reporter Michael Booth last Thursday.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” is the healthcare reform legislation passed by the Democrat-controlled Congress and signed by Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.
Approximately 100 people attended, with only two DU students in attendance. It was a passport event.
The debate focused on the effectiveness of the ACA and pitted Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a major author of ACA and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, against Linda Gorman, senior fellow on healthcare policy at the Independence Institute in Golden. Emanuel argued in favor of the Affordable Care Act while Gorman argued against it.

The debate focused around issues of freedom and personal choice regarding health care, as well as the efficiency of government and incentives.

“The Affordable Care Act is about you, it’s about giving you the choice to choose the health insurance that you want,” said Emanuel.

Along with extending the Medicaid program, the healthcare system for the poor and disadvantaged, ACA keeps students on their parents health insurance until they become 26 years old. To provide universal coverage, ACA provides states with the money to create state-run health insurance exchanges and mandates health insurance for every American.

Gorman cited concerns about the economic effects of ACA forcing businesses to obtain health insurance for all employees when more than 50 employees are hired, another provision of ACA.

“The provision that a business has to purchase health insurance at fifty employees, and not forty nine, that’s just going prevent that business from hiring the fiftieth, the fifty-first employee,” said Gorman.

“Maybe businesses should recognize that, at around fifty employees, they are no longer small businesses. It’s time for them to step up and start protecting their employees,” said Emmanuel.

Gorman also talked considerably about the preventative care quality of ACA. Citing statistics that 50 percent of the population uses almost no healthcare, he said we need to focus on preventing chronic disease, and it starts with college students taking responsibility for their health choices.

“[It’s] basically legislating what your mom taught us… Sleep, don’t smoke, eat a balanced diet and you’ll do fine…. We don’t even know what causes many of those chronic illnesses. Why make the government into our moms?” said Gorman.

Both debaters agreed that incentives matter. They also agreed that the debate isn’t over, and more discussions on healthcare reform are needed.