Video: FHC and UDC Law’s national health care discussion “solved all the problems”

Brookings scholars Stuart Butler (left) and Alice Rivlin (right) spoke about the health care debate during the 4/27 discussion moderated by Julia Baller of Mathematica.

Last week, two neighbors got together for a chat. That’s not unusual, right? But how many of these discussions happen before a live audience? With a moderator?

On Thursday, April 27th, Forest Hills Connection had the pleasure of co-hosting, with the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law, a discussion on health care under the Affordable Care Act and what lies ahead for efforts to repeal and replace the law. This, quite frankly, was nothing like the events we’ve put on in the past – like the art walks, neighborhood yard sale and two book talks. But we know our neighborhood and our neighbors well, and this was a popular event.

The neighbors headlining this talk were Stuart Butler and Alice Rivlin, two Brookings Institution scholars who have written and worked extensively on health care issues in this country, separately and together. Here’s a report they published in December. 

Rivlin and Butler, guided skillfully by moderator Julia Baller of Mathematica Policy Research, cover a lot of ground in the video below. “We solved all the problems,” Butler quips at the end. Their discussion certainly gives us a lot to consider, and we hope policymakers at all levels of government are paying attention to what they have to say.

Our many, many thanks go out to Alice Rivlin, Stuart Butler, Julia Baller, UDC Law Dean Shelley Broderick and UDC Law Alumni Affairs Director Joe Libertelli.