As the U.S. Congress debates health care reform, experts in public health, medicine, health policy, health law and insurance discussed what those proposals mean for patients and providers during a panel discussion on Oct. 5.

Sponsored by the Drexel University School of Public Health and the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University, the event offered an examination of core issues underlying health care reform including access for all citizens, how the burden of cost may be distributed and, ultimately, the delivery and quality of care.

For many Americans, “the ability to access our system is limited,” said Professor Robert Field, who holds a joint appointment at Drexel University’s School of Public Health and the Earle Mack School of Law.

As Congress weighs the benefits of varied approaches to health care, including a national single payer system and a private sector solution, Field said, one thing is constant – an individual mandate in all proposals.

“If you look at the major proposals, you will see in all three significant efforts to address racial disparities,” added Dennis P. Andrulis, director of the Center for Health Equality and associate dean of research at the Drexel University School of Public Health.

Speaking to the government’s ability to handle the complexity of comprehensive health care reform, Glenna Crooks offered, “It’s a noble effort, but, frankly, I don’t think it’s going to succeed.”

The founder and President of Strategic Health Policy International, Inc., Crooks continued, “You can have it good, you can have it cheap, you can have it fast. Pick two.”

Contending some of the policy debate has inappropriately focused on tort reform and consumer-directed health care, Barry Furrow, professor of law and director of the Health Law Program at the Earle Mack School of Law, said the system could control costs by efficiently managing new technologies and medical records and crafting a sustainable strategy for paying doctors.

Such aims are achievable, Furrow said, adding that "the government can be good at complex systems. It’s the insurance companies I’m worried about.”

Jonathan Moreno, the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor of Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics also discussed the complex nature of reform, stating “It’s very hard to make this case and put it on a bumper sticker.”

Moreno noted, however, “We’re going to take a big step in the next few years.”

According to David Barton Smith, professor of Health Management and Policy at the Drexel University School of Public Health, the proposed bill will offer greater transparency of costs associated with health care, greater standardization of fees and record keeping and a greater sense of social solidarity.

Despite the controversy over proposed reforms, Smith sounded a note of optimism, recounting vast improvements that quickly resulted from federal legislation authorizing Medicare.