The Boston Medical Library is proud to announce the 44th Annual Garland Lecture, with a lecture presented by Benjamin Sommers, M.D., Ph.D.
Medicare-for-All? Universal Coverage? Options, Evidence, and What Comes Next
The 2017 debate over repealing the Affordable Care Act and the upcoming Presidential election have reignited debate over the future of coverage expansion efforts in the U.S. “Medicare-for-All” has emerged as a key talking point in this discussion. This lecture will examine the potential implications of Medicare-for-All — for patients, for providers, and for the economy — and discuss possible alternative approaches to universal coverage. Drawing on the current policy context and recent evidence from research in this area, we will discuss what major changes might be next for the U.S. health insurance system.
Benjamin Sommers, M.D., Ph.D. is a professor of health policy and economics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is a health economist and primary care physician whose main research interests are health policy for vulnerable populations and the health care safety net. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the Health Services Research Impact Award for his work on the Affordable Care Act and the Article-of-the-Year Award both from AcademyHealth, and the Outstanding Junior Investigator Award from the Society of General Internal Medicine. In 2011-2012, he served as a senior adviser in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. His research has been published in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Health Economics, and Health Affairs, and covered by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and National Public Radio. His current research focuses on Medicaid policy, health care disparities among low-income adults, and national health reform.