Oregon’s employers face the dilemma. How can they keep employees healthy in a healthcare system that is hostile to both business and families? U.S. healthcare costs are the highest in the world. No state has solved this challenge
Yet other First World nations pay less for healthcare and enjoy better public health. How do they do it? What is unique to the United States that prevents us from finding solutions? What can successful healthcare policies in other countries teach Oregon about providing better care for less money? And what role do employers play in other nations in paying for healthcare?
Join us May 23 for a deep look into how Oregon can learn from international health policy experts. Husband-and-wife experts Theodore Marmor and Kieke Okma will talk with moderator Greg Van Pelt of the Oregon Health Leadership Council about how Oregon’s businesses can apply lessons from other countries to improve Oregon’s healthcare system.
This interactive forum gets underway with a breakfast buffet at 7 a.m., followed by a panel discussion from 7:25- 9 a.m. at the Multnomah Athletic Club, located at 1849 SW Salmon St. in Portland. Free parking is available in the lot across the street. The Oregon Health Forum is a public affairs and education program of The Lund Report. Contact Diane Lund-Muzikant at [email protected] to learn about sponsorship opportunities.
The expert panelists:
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Theodore R. Marmor, PhD, is emeritus professor of public policy and management at Yale University School of Management. Marmor has written and presented extensively on social security, healthcare policy, and healthcare reform since his work during the early days of Medicare as aide to Wilbur Cohen, Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. He is the author of “Politics, Health, and Health Care,” a 2014 collection of essays with Rudolf Klein, along with many other books. Marmor has published over 200 articles in a wide range of scholarly journals, as well as being a frequent op-ed contributor to U.S. and Canadian newspapers. He is currently on the editorial boards of the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis and the Journal of Health, Politics, Policy and Law.
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Kieke Okma, PhD, is a visiting professor at Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium, and has spoken around the world on international healthcare policy. She has been senior policy advisor to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport in the Netherlands, advisor to the World Bank on Health Policy, and a participant in other international health policy agencies. Her work on healthcare policy and economics has been published in multiple languages. Her 2011 article, “A Dutch Model for Medicare? Sobering Lessons from the Netherlands’ Experience with Competition,” co-authored with Marmor, appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. Her latest publication is “Health Care Reforms across the World,” published with six co-authors in the latest issue of American Affairs.
Moderating the discussion:
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Greg Van Pelt is president of the Oregon Healthcare Leadership Council and former CEO of Providence Health and Services Oregon. He served Providence in multiple roles for 38 years, including chief executive of Providence Health Plan and chief executive of Providence-St. Vincent Medical Center. He is currently a director of St. Charles Health System, the largest healthcare provider in Central Oregon. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
