Ira Magaziner to speak at RIC as part of public policy forum series

PROVIDENCE – Ira C. Magaziner will serve as keynote speaker for “Putting Health Care Reform in Context: A Civil Discussion” at Rhode Island College on Nov. 19.

Magaziner, vice chairman and CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, will speak from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Alger Hall 110, 600 Mount Pleasant Ave.

Magaziner will offer an historical overview of the politics of health care reform dating back to the Clinton Administration.

A Rhode Island native, Magaziner served as a senior policy adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1993 through 1998.

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“The American system of financing health care has been disastrous for the American people for decades,” Magaziner said in a statement. “Costs are too high. Bureaucracy stifles patients and health professionals alike and leads to poor health outcomes. Americans pay far more for health care than people in other developed countries and yet we have poorer health outcomes. The Affordable Care Act is far from perfect and it has had a problematic launch, but it will ultimately be improved and it is an important first step towards fixing the American Health Care system.”

Co-sponsored by the American Democracy Project at Rhode Island College and the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, the forum will also include a panel discussion moderated by Boston Globe health care reporter Felice Freyer.

The panel will include Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, Commonwealth Medicine’s Center for Health Law and Economics Director Jean Sullivan, Arrowhead Health Analytics President Anya Rader Wallack and R.I. Department of Health Director Michael Fine.

The forum, which is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis, is the first of several forums in a new ADP public policy series. The initiative is designed to bring nationally recognized academic, nonprofit, media, business and government policy practitioners together on the RIC campus to engage in a dialogue about topics relevant to Rhode Islanders.

For information, contact RIC Associate Professor Communication and ADP at RIC Director Valerie Endress at 401-456-4781 or vendress@ric.edu.

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