Hawaii did it in the 1970s. Illinois started a few months ago. Massachusetts will do it starting next year. And Michigan is on track to do it too.
All of these states, and others, have launched or are about to launch programs to greatly increase the percentage of their populations that have health insurance. Some have mandated coverage, others have embarked on new insurance plans open to those who don't qualify for any other insurance.
On Friday, Oct. 6, representatives from Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts and Michigan will gather at the University of Michigan Health System for a free public forum on the issue. The event will also feature a researcher who has studied state-drive insurance plans for a private research organization.
Beginning at noon in the Ford Auditorium at University Hospital, 1500 E. Medical Center Dr., the panel will address the specifics of different state plans, the track record of the Hawaii experience, and the prospects for success. Titled "Innovations in Health Care Access: What some states are doing - what Michigan can learn" the event is sponsored by the U-M FORUM on Health Policy.
The two-hour event will feature speakers from: Massachusetts, where a new plan that requires all residents to obtain health coverage by July 1, 2007 was enacted earlier this year; Illinois, where a program to greatly increase insurance coverage among children took effect this summer; and Hawaii, which since 1974 has offered programs designed to reach near-universal coverage.
Janet Olszewski, MSW, the director of the Michigan Department of Community Health, will act as a discussant after the panelists speak. Currently, the state government is working to establish a MI First Health Care Plan to establish universal access to affordable health care coverage in the state through a combination of incentives for employers, subsidies for individuals, and private-market plans. Michigan has an estimated 1.1 million uninsured residents.
Also appearing will be Lincoln Smith of the Altarum Institute. Earlier this year, Altarum convened a nonpartisan roundtable to examine the Massachusetts plan and its implications for Michigan. A report is available at www.altarum.org/publications.
FORUM director Marilynn Rosenthal, Ph.D., will open the event, which will be moderated by U-M School of Public Health professor Richard Lichtenstein, Ph.D.
For more information on the event, e-mail [email protected].
Written by Kara Gavin