Joyce Pulcini discusses Affordable Care Act

Matthew Guzzardi, Student Ambassador

On March 9, Dr. Joyce Pulcini joined the New Hampshire Institute of Politics and the Saint Anselm College community to discuss recent developments in the Affordable Care Act in an event titled The Affordable Care Act: Opportunities and Challenges.

Dr. Pulcini received her Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) at Saint Anselm, and was excited to return again and address the college community, and especially to see the new generation of Saint Anselm nursing students.

The Institute of Politics Auditorium was full of nursing students (including the entirety of the class of 2015 nursing class), other students, and local community members. was in attendance

After attending Saint Anselm, Dr. Joyce Pulcini went on to earn her MS in Nursing from Boston University and her Ph.D. in Social Policy from Brandeis University.

She also received the Saint Anselm College Alumni Association Health Services Award in 2007, and is now a professor at The George Washington University School of Nursing.

Dr. Pulcini began the event by addressing the history of medical care both in the U.S. and the world.

“We spend 17.4% of our GDP on health care, about the same as we spend on defense” Pulcini stated.

She also made clear that this spending is not making us the healthiest: the U.S. has sub-par health statistics including obesity, life expectancy, and birth survival rates.

With this huge amount of spending, the industry needs to be optimized and efficient.

This is where Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act came in. Joyce Pulcini explained the three streams of health care proposals in recent U.S. History; problems, proposals, and politics.

Problems with Medicare and Medicaid including the huge costs and inefficiencies has led to many health proposals, and politics can get in the way of what is right.

Dr. Pulcini then dove into the timeline and details of the ACA and its past and future effects on the United States population, she believes more than 38 million Americans will be covered by 2022.

If the implementation is correct and people take individual responsibility for their health and health care services, the PPACA could benefit the American people.

Dr. Joyce Pulcini ended her event by thanking everyone for joining her, and offering advice to the nursing students on their future endeavors of the industry in which she is so deeply involved.