Indiana State University Newsroom

A prominent health care analyst and scholar will discuss insurance reform during an October 20 presentation at Indiana State University.

Scott Harrington, a health care systems and insurance and risk management professor in the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, will speak about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. His presentation is scheduled from 5 to 6 p.m. in the University Hall Theater, with a reception at 4:30 p.m.

Harrington will discuss the main issues affecting health care delivery and health insurance plans in the U.S., how the recently passed law will influence those issues and possible implications of the law's constitutionality. His presentation, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by Networks Financial Institute (NFI) in the Scott College of Business at ISU.

"Because he comes out of an insurance and risk management background, he understands the financial implications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," said Terrie Troxel, executive director for NFI. "It is one of the biggest pieces of legislation affecting the economy."

The law is currently being implemented in phases. Several elements, such as young adults' ability to stay on their parents' insurance until they're 26 and a prohibition against insurance companies rejecting people with preexisting conditions, are already enacted; yet other parts of the law, including the costs incurred for the law's benefits, go into effect over the next several years, Troxel said.

Shortly after health care reform was signed into law in early 2010, more than a dozen attorneys general of states across the country, including Indiana's Greg Zoeller, filed lawsuits challenging the reform's constitutionality. Yet despite the ongoing legal challenges, health insurance plans are making the necessary changes that the law requires, Troxel said.

"It is a change, and it is the law of the land until, and if, the Supreme Court decides otherwise, so employers and health insurance plans certainly are changing to comply with the law," he added. "Public policy defines the environment in which they work, and they have to comply with it."

Harrington is a leading scholar on health care economics, and he followed the health care debate closely, said Troxel, who added that the scholar will be able to speak on various elements of the reform.

"His visit is a way that NFI brings the scholarly network that it has developed to our students here at Indiana State and the Terre Haute community, which is what Networks Financial Institute is all about," Troxel said. "It enriches students' college experiences to have a thought leader like Scott Harrington on campus to share his views and knowledge."

Photo: http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/photos/i-K3HvZhT/0/D/i-K3HvZhT-D.jpg - Scott Harrington

Photo: http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/photos/131404255_ceiUw-L.jpg - Terrie Troxel

Contact: Terrie Troxel, executive director, Networks Financial Institute, Indiana State University, 812-237-2028 or ttroxel@indstate.edu.

Writer: Austin Arceo, assistant director of media relations, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3790 or austin.arceo-negrich@indstate.edu.