(510) 643-5651
kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Susan Gluss
(510) 642-6936
sgluss@law.berkeley.edu
Two leading health 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, https://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 (https://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 national pool. 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.