Interview Protocol

I would like to interview John Holahan and Gerald F. Kominski, Ph.D. I would like to ask two different people the same questions, because some of the questions are more opinion based and I would like more than one view point. John Holahan is the Director of the Health Policy Research Center at The Urban Institute. Much of his research has focused on state health policy, including Medicaid and issues of federalism and health. These include analyses of the recent growth in Medicaid expenditures and the implications of block grants and changes in matching formulas on states. He has also published on strategies for Medicaid reform. He has developed proposals for health system reform, most recently in Massachusetts. He has also published research on the reasons for the growth in the uninsured over the past decade and on the effects of proposals to expand health insurance coverage on the number of uninsured and the cost to federal and state governments. Gerald F. Kominski, Ph.D. is a Professor of Health Services in the UCLA School of Public Health. He also serves as Director of Health Economics and Evaluation Research (HEER) Program at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Dr. Kominski teaches classes in research methods, health economics, cost-effectiveness analysis, and health policy. His research focuses on evaluating the costs and cost-effectiveness of health care programs and technologies; improving access and health outcomes among ethnic and vulnerable populations; and developing models for forecasting population health. Dr. Kominski received his Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School in 1985. Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA in 1989, he served as a staff member of the agency now known as the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). He is co-editor of the widely used textbook, Changing the U.S. Health Care System: Key Issues in Health Services Policy and Management, which was published in its 3rd edition in 2007. 

This interview is needed, because of a school research project and I would like to gain better knowledge on question that did not have an obvious answer. I would like the view point of a professional personally, instead of just through articles. I will conduct the interview through e-mail contacts or a phone call. So the interview will not be in-person. I hope to learn more in depth complexities about the Affordable Care Act affects the population on a more infrastructural level. The following questions are what I will ask Holahan and Kominski in the interviews. What will happen to young adults whose parents do not have insurance  but are also full-time students? Since so many people will become covered by insurance, how will the health system compensate? Would it be better to go to Urgent Care/Emergency Room or to a family doctor? On the topic of Medicaid expansion, how will the states compensate for the 7% they will have to cover, if they approve the expansion? Is the Affordable Care Act likely to be a long-term revision of the health care system, or is it just a building block to something else? If it is long term, what is the projection for 10 to 30 years from now?