Jun 20, 2014 Upcoming Events 0 comment

Former Obama adviser says Affordable Care Act is misunderstood

Via: The Houston Business Journal

Anton Gunn

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Gunn said the big reason Texas has a high number of uninsured citizens is because of the state’s refusal to expand Medicaid.

Reporter- Houston Business Journal
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Former adviser to President Barack Obama says the U.S. health care system is inefficient, and that most Americans do not understand health care.

Anton Gunn, former director of external affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who will speak June 20 at an event for the Greater Houston Black Chamber of Commerce, said Texas is at a particular disadvantage because of the ramifications of not expanding the federally funded Medicaid. Texas ranks among the top in the United States for the most uninsured Americans, largely because of the lack of aid for low-income families in the Lone Star state, said Gunn.

“The high rate of uninsured is because the state’s leadership refusal to expand Medicaid in the state,” Gunn told the Houston Business Journal.

Gunn added that cities like Houston with major health care hubs like the Texas Medical Center, demonstrate the quality of health care the United States has to offer, but represents a paradigm between the quality and the affordability for most Americans.

In April, a Rice University study showed that the number of uninsured Texas decreased slightly following the roll out of the Affordable Care Act.

The conversation surrounding the Affordable Care Act – also informally known as Obamacare – is misconstrued based on opinion, and not the facts of the legislation. Gunn, attributed one of the biggest problems in the U.S. health care system today is the disconnect between the services provided and their costs.

“The vast majority of people in America are completely ignorant to understanding health care and health insurance,” he told HBJ.

“I think the Affordable Care Act is the most misunderstood and mislabeled pieces of public policy the country has ever enacted,” he added.