"Can the United States Survive Health Care Reform?"

The recent health care bill represents what is likely to turn out to be the most comprehensive health care reform ever, Medicare included. Yet many of its provisions were included in the last minute without serious discussion or debate. And those provisions that have been in all versions of the bill since the outset are likely to have profound, if unintended consequences. In this talk, Professor Epstein will explain why he thinks that the combined weight of these many programs is likely to produce a major implosion in health care services in both the short and the long run. He will also discuss the opportunities lost on health care reform, all of which involved some program of market liberalization with respect to such key matters as interstate competition for insurance, government mandates, and medical licensing and malpractice.

Presented by Richard A. Epstein, James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law

Richard Epstein: No, You Won't Be Able to Keep Your Current Healthcare

Richard Epstein, professor of law at The University of Chicago, discusses the current proposal for healthcare reform.

He points out inconsistencies in what is been promised and what is in the bill, and makes suggestions for a more efficient health care system. - Columbia Law School

Richard A. Epstein, the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, is the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Epstein is also, as of 2007, a visiting professor of law at NYU Law School.

Law professor Richard Epstein criticizes healthcare reform proponents' claims that Americans who are already insured will be able to keep their current plans. This promise, he fears, is a "giant sham."