News

#MiACA symposium moves beyond the numbers

April 6, 2015

Numbers have become a prominent part of the Affordable Care Act vocabulary and used often to explain how the law is changing the ways health care is purchased, accessed and delivered.

Just recently, media reported that more than 600,000 Michiganders had enrolled in the Healthy Michigan Plan, Michigan’s expanded Medicaid program, during the program’s first year of operation.

The number is the plan’s latest enrollment milestone achieved since launching April 1, 2014. Our own Center conducted a survey of Michigan adults in late 2014 that showed that among survey respondents, the rate of those who were uninsured was cut in half between 2012 and 2014.

But beyond the data, how are Michiganders experiencing the Affordable Care Act?

Our Center wanted to provide a more complete picture of how the implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance coverage provisions, reimbursement and quality changes have affected Michigan consumers, employers, health systems, and insurers since the launch of the ACA on March 23, 2010.

In partnership with the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI) and the School of Public Health, CHRT brought together state government officials, consumers, health plans, health care providers and businesses for Alpena to Zilwaukee: A Symposium on the Affordable Care Act’s Coverage Expansions in Michigan.

Our panelists provided on the ground perspectives about how access to care is changing in Michigan, how businesses and insurers are engaging in a changing marketplace, and the innovations occurring in the financial and delivery systems.

Each panelist shared his or her successes and challenges with the law. Scroll below to view a snapshot of the conversation and visit our website (chrt.test) to view the full event.