Ep #156: Making Sense of Health Care and Washington - with Jessica Waltman - Part I

On this episode of ShiftShapers, Jessica Waltman joins us for her quarterly visit. She’s an expert on all things legislative and a Principal at Forward Health Consulting. If the twists and turns on Capitol Hill have you scratching your head, Jessica will help you make sense of recent events.The Republican led Congress and President Trump decided to pull legislation designed to reform the Affordable Care Act. Contrary to common media messages, this bill would not have repealed the ACA. As a reconciliation bill, it was inherently limited. No one really liked the bill and attempts at compromise continued to anger opposing factions in the House. Ultimately the bill was pulled. Elected leaders on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue are now making efforts to revisit health care reform. The American public will have to stay tuned.In this first of a two-part series, Jessica explains just why the reform attempt failed. She’ll shed light on what we can expect as lawmakers return to the drawing board. Should President Trump proceed as cautioned and just let the ACA implode? Jessica walks us through that approach and explains the regulatory steps that can be implemented now to make the ACA more responsive to market realities. What You’ll Learn From this Episode:What exactly happened with the Republican’s health care bill.Whether or not the effort was doomed to fail from the beginning.Regulatory reforms that can be made without legislative involvement.Whether the PPACA is actually imploding.