Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

American health care has seen dramatic changes over the past decade. Obamacare reduced the number of uninsured citizens, but rising prices and deductibles have made care unaffordable for many. Medicaid has become the nation’s largest payer and now pays for half of all long-term care. Now the coronavirus pandemic is challenging the health care system in unprecedented ways. All this is happening within the context of a presidential election within a highly polarized country. How will the health care system—and American voters—respond? Kaiser Family Foundation Senior Vice President Dr. Jennifer Kates will be joined by Dr. Josh Michaud, KFF’s associate director of global health policy. A former infectious disease epidemiologist with both the U.S. Department of Defense and the Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Michaud is an expert on the types of models being used to forecast the arc of COVID-19 cases.They will discuss the current and probable future states of the pandemic and the responses by the government, health-c