College Park, Md. - Financial and health IT experts in the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to analyze the U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether President Barack Obama‘s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is constitutional. These experts can discuss what's at stake related to patients, insurers, IT investment and health insurance exchanges, and the U.S. economy.
The Smith School has an in-house facility for live or taped interviews via fiber-optic line for television or multimedia content.
Ritu Agarwal: No Going Back to Previous System
The U.S. healthcare system is in dire need of a major transformation. We have to figure out how to improve quality and curb costs. We’re all waiting with baited breath -- will the justices vote along liberal/conservative lines with Justice Kennedy the swing vote? If the reform act is turned down the controversial individual insurance mandate will go away, but it is hard to imagine that we can return to the system of the past. Many things have already been set into motion that will be difficult to pull back on. Funds committed to various activities, are not going to go away. Multiple demonstration projects related to aspects of the act have been launched, including the patient-centered medical home and accountable care organizations. There will be pressure to reinstate popular provisions such as dependent children being permitted to stay on their parents' plan until age 26. At least 60 percent of the states are working to put in place the infrastructure necessary to enable health insurance exchanges. At least some form of private health insurance exchange will survive, even if it is not state funded.
Agarwal, the Robert H. Smith Dean's Chair of Information Systems and Director, Center for Health Information and Decision Systems, advises Smith's Health Insurance Exchange Leadership Program.
CONTACT: 301-405-3121 or ragarwal@rhsmith.umd.edu
Joseph Bailey: Health IT Revolution at Stake
A real opportunity for U.S. global leadership in health care IT is at stake here. While the U.S. private sector appears ready to help lead the way regardless of the decision, the government needs to walk the walk by supporting states' efforts to build health insurance exchanges and partnering with private industry. Just as this country has become global leader in developing digital platforms from Facebook and Pinterest to iTunes, a similar opportunity with health care IT lies in the balance.”
Bailey, research associate professor in Smith’s Decision, Operations and Information Technologies Department, conducts research on the operations of health exchanges and advises Smith's Health Insurance Exchange Leadership Program.
CONTACT: 301-405-2174 or jbailey@rhsmith.umd.edu
David Kass: The Individual Mandate Effect
Total health care expenditures in 2010 reached $2.6 trillion, or 18 percent of the GDP ($8400 per person), and have been growing rapidly. The Affordable Care Act is intended to address escalating costs, improve the quality of care, and provide access to the health insurance market for those currently uninsured. Intrade, the online futures market, with a very high degree of accuracy in predicting the outcome of statewide and national elections, is indicating a 72-percent probability the individual mandate will be found unconstitutional ... If the individual mandate is overturned, the Congressional Budget Office estimates 16 million fewer people would gain insurance under the ACA -- reducing by half the total of uninsured Americans who would otherwise gain coverage ... Assuming the remainder of the ACA is unaffected by the decision, anyone with pre-existing conditions -- beginning in 2014 -- would be guaranteed access to insurance. Insurers also would be unable to restrict coverage or add a surcharge to premiums. The ACA also would retain federal tax credits to make insurance more affordable for those who purchase it in the new health insurance exchanges.
Kass, Tyser Teaching Fellow in finance, was a health economist over several years for the Federal Trade Commission, General Accounting Office, Department of Defense and Bureau of Economic Analysis, and has published several health economics studies in academic journals.
CONTACT: 301-405-9683, 202-841-9324 (cell) or dkass@rhsmith.umd.edu
Kislaya Prasad: Verdict Aside, ‘Resolute Government Action’ Needed
The Supreme Court's decision on this legislation is Washington theater at its best. Regardless of how the justices decide, we will be left to deal with the question of costs. If all or important parts of the act are struck down, a return to the broken system of the past -- with exploding healthcare costs -- isn't really an option. Even if the act survives, it will require resolute action by our government to ensure that the cost-saving potential of the law is realized. A lot is made of the potential of preventive care and information technologies to save on costs, and they no doubt will. However, we will make genuine progress toward containing costs only if comparative effectiveness of procedures informs physician and patient choices.
Prasad, research professor and Center for International Business Education and Research director, has focused his research on computability and complexity of individual decisions and economic equilibrium, innovation and diffusion of technology, and social influences on economic behavior.
CONTACT: 301-405-6359, kprasad@rhsmith.umd.edu
Additional Experts:
Cliff Rossi, executive-in-residence and Tyser Teaching Fellow, has nearly 25 years of experience in banking and government, having held senior executive roles in risk management at several of the largest financial services companies.
CONTACT: 301-405-8717, 301-908-2536 (cell), crossi@rhsmith.umd.edu
Bill Longbrake, executive-in-residence and senior advisor to Smith’s Center for Financial Policy, has extensive experience in finance, macroeconomics and monetary policy, risk management, housing, public policy and government, serving in both the public and private sectors.
CONTACT: 301-405-9622, Wlongbrake@rhsmith.umd.edu
Media Contact
Greg Muraski
Media Relations Manager
301-405-5283
301-892-0973 Mobile
gmuraski@umd.edu
About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.