DATE: 4 p.m. today, March 22, 2010.

EVENT: Panelists will offer their perspectives on states’ challenges and opportunities in the face of worsening health care dilemmas. Topics include: the persistent problems of rising health care costs, uninsurance and underinsurance; the rapid expansion of these expenditures and how that affects other public programs; and health care challenges with particularly innovative, creative, and exceedingly difficult management decisions. Because of the balanced state budget imperative, officials must address health care challenges immediately.

Panelists are Thomas Buchmueller, professor of business economics and public policy, U-M Stephen M. Ross School of Business; John J. H. (Joe) Schwarz, former U.S. representative and visiting lecturer, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; and Marianne Udow-Phillips, director, Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation (CHRT).

The moderator is Matt Davis, associate professor, U-M Medical School and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Free and open to the public.

PLACE: Annenberg Auditorium, 1120 Weill Hall, 735 South State Street. Central Campus map: http://www.umich.edu/~info/mapsAndDirections.html#anchor_centralCampus

SPONSORS: Center for Local, State and Urban Policy, Ford School of Public Policy. It is also funded in part by the Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling Health Policy Fund.