UC Berkeley experts in teleconference on national healthcare policy
Contact: Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations
(510) 643-5651
kmaclay@berkeley.edu
15 June 2009
ATTENTION: Teleconference tomorrow on national health care reform with UC Berkeley experts
DETAILS
Two leading health policy scholars from the University of California, Berkeley, will be available to talk with reporters about federal health care reform in a teleconference tomorrow (Tuesday, June 16) at 8:30 a.m. PST. The call-in number is 1-866-939-3921. To reserve space, contact Jennifer Ettinger at jettinger@ourfuture.org.
Jacob Hacker, a UC Berkeley professor of political science and co-director of the Center on Health, Economic & Family Security (Berkeley CHEFS, http://www.law.berkeley.edu/chefs.htm) at the UC Berkeley School of Law, will join in the conversation with Ken Jacobs, chair of UC Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education (http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/). Hacker and Jacobs have co-authored a new report (http://www.law.berkeley.edu/chefs.htm) that examines what federal lawmakers might learn from California's experience with "play-or-pay" proposals that require employers to provide health insurance or pay into a pool for it. They also present evidence that this employer requirement won't hurt business and argue that the rule is essential to any health reform plan. Some 45 million Americans are uninsured.
The teleconference is being hosted by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for America's Future and will feature the institute's new report analyzing the impact of "play-or-pay" on American jobs.