Can Alaska’s High Health Care Costs Be Cured? Facts, Consequences, Causes, and Solutions

This series hosted by Alaska Common Ground examined the facts, causes, consequences, and potential solutions regarding the difference between Alaska’s health care costs and the U.S.’s health care costs. We started with a discussion about why Alaska’s health care costs are so high, followed up with personal stories; exploring the causes and finishing with potential solutions. Scroll down for information and video from each event in this series.

Facts and Trends Regarding Alaska’s High Health Care Costs
Nov 15th, 2017
49th State Brewing Company

This first event in the series featured original findings from financial analyst Mark Foster on the primary drivers of the high cost of health insurance and medical care in Alaska.

Special tips on how you can hold down your doctor bills and hospital bills.

Listen to the podcast from Alaska Public Media here.

Alaska Health Care Markets 15 Nov 2017 – Mark Foster’s presentation

Storytelling – Personal, Economic, and Fiscal Consequences
Nov 29th, 2017
49th State Brewing Company

An evening of personal stories detailing how high Alaskan health care costs have affected lives, business, and government.

You can listen to the podcast on Alaska Public Media here.

Watch the video here.

Storytellers include:

• Erin Freel’s family has health care coverage due to her husband’s military service, and her son has a disease that leads to substantial expenditures for treatment.
• Moira Gallagher is the Live.Work.Play. Director for the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation (AEDC).
• Dr. Alan Gross grew up in Juneau and returned to his hometown after he became an orthopedic surgeon. He now lives in Anchorage and is active in efforts to change the health care system. He also fishes commercially and practices medicine part-time in Petersburg, and he volunteers at a pediatric orthopedic hospital in Cambodia.
• Mike Jens sought estimates for radiation treatment to address his wife’s breast cancer. He is a 72-year-old, mostly retired, engineering/construction consultant. He has been married to the same woman for 48 years and lived and worked in Alaska since 1974. He claims birth in Anchorage in the mid forties when my dad was here working for the CAA. He still remembers them landing airplanes on the Park Strip.
• Eric McCallum is President of Arctic Wire Rope & Supply and has been an early-stage (angel) investor and mentor for Alaska entrepreneurs.
• Emily Ricci is Health Care Policy Administrator for the Alaska Department of Administration and has worked on health care policy for the State of Alaska for more than five years. She previously served in the Peace Corps working to improve community health in a remote West African village, and she also volunteered in relief efforts in Sri Lanka following the 2004 Christmas Day tsunami.
• Reed Smith is General Director of Anchorage Opera. He used to perform that job while living full time in Anchorage and now handles those duties from inside and outside of Alaska.

Causes of Alaska’s High Healthcare Costs
Dec 13th, 2017

Panelists included:

• Dr. Alan Gross, orthopedic surgeon
• Dr. Robert (R.J.) Hall, orthopedic surgeon
• Bruce Lamoureux, Senior VP/CEO, Providence Alaska Region
• Jennifer Meyhoff, Legislative Co-Chair, Alaska Association of Health Underwriters
• Dr. Stanley Watkins (or Dr. Steven Compton), cardiologist
• Lori Wing-Heier, Director of the Alaska Division of Insurance
• Charles Wohlforth, author/columnist/broadcaster
• Moderated by Cliff Groh and Mark Foster

You can listen to the podcast on Alaska Public Media here.

Watch the first part of the panel here
Watch the second part of the panel here

Solutions: Improvements
Jan 10th, 2018
49th State Brewing Company

What can we do about Alaska’s high health care costs? Solutions were divided into two sessions. The first session explored possible fixes including transparency in pricing, medical travel, and task-shifting.

Panelists:

• Sen. Cathy Giessel, R.- Anchorage, and Advanced Nurse Practitioner
• Dr. Jeremy Gitomer, nephrologist and co-founder of Alaska Innovative Medicine
• Dr. Graham (Alec) Glass, neurologist and former President of Alaska State Medical Association
• Sandra Heffern, CEO of Effective Health Design, organizer of AK Comprehensive Healthcare Blueprint, and lobbyist who has worked for the health care industry
• Dr. Melissa Shein, primary care physician at Alaska Native Medical Center
• Dr. Anne Zink, Medical Director, Mat-Su Emergency Physicians, and former President of the Alaska Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians

Moderated by Dr. Thad Woodard, pediatrician and host of “Line One—Your Health Connection”

You can listen to the podcast on Alaska Public Media here.

Watch the event video here.

Solutions: Overhauls
Jan 24th, 2018
49th State Brewing Company

We continued to discuss solutions to Alaska’s high health care costs. This session
explored systemic changes, such as the establishment of a single-payer system, addressing the 80th percentile rule, and establishment of an Alaska Health Care Authority.

Panelists:

• Thea Agnew Bemben, Anchorage small business owner
• Albert Fogle, former employee benefits consultant/health insurance broker and former President of Alaska Association of Health Underwriters
• Dr. Jennifer Perkins, family practitioner at Alaska Native Medical Center and organizer of Alaska Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program
• Julie Taylor, CEO of Alaska Regional Hospital
• Prof. Ralph Townsend, Director of the University of Alaska’s Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER)
• Dr. Anne Zink, Medical Director, Mat-Su Emergency Physicians, and former President of the Alaska Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians

Moderated by Dr. Thad Woodard, pediatrician and host of the public radio program “Line One—Your Health Connection.”

You can listen to the podcast on Alaska Public Media here.

Watch the discussion of a single-payer system here.
Watch the first part of the 80th percentile rule here.
Watch the second part of the 80th percentile rule here.
Watch the discussion of an Alaska Health Care Authority here.

This series is possible thanks to support from the Alaska Humanities Forum and Agnew::Beck. Thank you!

This project is supported in part by the Alaska Humanities Forum and the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these events, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.