OSI-Baltimore Hosts Forum on Implementation of Health Insurance Exchanges in Maryland

WHAT: “Keeping Up with Changes in Health Reform: Health Insurance Exchanges in Maryland,” a forum to discuss the implementation of healthcare exchanges in Maryland and its impact on residents, featuring Katie Horton and Karen Davenport from the Department of Health Policy at George Washington University.

WHEN: Thursday, July 21, 2011, 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.

WHERE: Open Society Institute-Baltimore
201 North Charles Street, Suite 1300
 
BALTIMORE—A major aspect of federal healthcare reform is the creation of health insurance exchanges. The exchanges, which have sparked much debate and discussion, will offer Marylanders a marketplace where small businesses and individuals can compare and purchase health insurance. Understanding how the exchanges work is key for consumers to be able to benefit from the choice and flexibility they offer.

Healthcare reform—and exchanges in particular—will drastically change the landscape of health insurance in the state. The implication of these changes, as well as their benefits, will be discussed at a forum hosted by the Open Society Institute-Baltimore—in an effort to prepare advocates to help shape the way exchanges are implemented in 2014.

“This is a huge step towards making sure that Americans of all stripes have access to the kinds of treatment services they need when they need them,” says Karen Davenport, research project director at the Department of Health Policy at George Washington University, who will speak at the forum. “And it’s so important that this be rolled out right. It would be a shame to not seize the potential we have now to make a difference.”

One important consideration is how insurance plans offered in the new exchanges will cover services for drug and alcohol addiction. Although the healthcare reform legislation establishes the need for these services, federal agencies have not created rules and regulations.

Speakers at the forum will discuss recent activity related to insurance exchanges and highlight the potential benefits. The forum’s goal is to prepare participants to effectively advocate for and take actions around exchange implementation.

“As states are establishing the exchanges,” Davenport says, “I think there can be advocacy around what a robust set of services for substance abuse disorders looks like, as well as other health concerns.”

Joining Davenport will be Katie Horton, a research professor from the Department of Health Policy at George Washington University.

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The Open Society Institute-Baltimore was started in 1998 by philanthropist George Soros as a laboratory to better understand and solve the most intractable problems facing urban America. OSI-Baltimore is a private operating foundation that focuses its work exclusively on the root causes of three intertwined problems—drug addiction, an over-reliance on incarceration and the obstacles that keep youth from succeeding inside and outside of the classroom. OSI-Baltimore also sponsors the Baltimore Community Fellows, now more than 100 members strong, who work to create opportunity and bring justice to people in the city’s most underserved neighborhoods. The office is part of the Open Society Foundations, which aims to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. Working with local communities in more than 70 countries, the Open Society Foundations support justice and human rights, freedom of expression, and access to public health and education.