I attended Families USA's annual Health Action conference last week and found it deeply moving. My overview is up on healthinsurance.org. Here's an upshot of sorts:
The conference, to my mind, fulfilled the deepest purpose of such events. It was not so much a matter of convincing the troops that the goal of preventing the repeal of the ACA and further evisceration of Medicaid through block-granting is attainable. Some marquee speakers argued forcefully that those goals are achievable, others implied that the odds are long.Then, zooming out to the plenaries, a highlight was outgoing (outgone?) acting CMS head Andy Slavitt's call to the assembled healthcareniks to respond to
Strength lay more in the collective demonstration of expertise and commitment, evident as much in breakout workshops as in plenary sessions...
