While the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it many lessons, some of the most striking revealed inherent flaws in the health care system. On March 23, Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics professor Jonathan Gruber will discuss reforming health care in America during Wayne State University’s 2021 Waino Pihl Lecture in Applied Economics.

This virtual event takes place on the 11th anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Shooshan Danagoulian, an assistant economics professor at WSU, said the pandemic highlighted health care issues and Gruber’s lecture will center around what’s next for America’s health care system during the Biden administration.

“As families struggle through job loss and the associated loss of health insurance, we realize that having health insurance is not enough for access to health care,” Danagoulian said.

Gruber, an architect of the 2006 health care reform in Massachusetts, also worked with the Obama administration to create the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act enacted in 2010.

“Dr. Gruber has critical insight into the ACA and can answer a question which many health care patients and providers have right now: How is the Biden administration going to reform the health care system to meet the changing needs of communities?” Danagoulian said.

Danagoulian said the Biden administration faces the enormous task of overhauling the law to rebuild and improve the health care system’s foundation.

“Health disparities have been increasing for decades, but the pandemic has made it painfully obvious that the chronic underinvestment in the health of racial and ethnic minorities has led to staggering disparities in infections and death,” Danagoulian added.

Register here for this free virtual event.

The Waino Pihl Lecture in Applied Economics is given annually by a distinguished scholar on a topic in applied economics. It was established through the generous support of Waino Pihl, who received his doctoral degree in Economics from WSU in 1977.