It’s not every day that relatives of former presidents visit campus, so the Halloween lecture delivered by James Roosevelt Jr., the grandson of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s, was an end-of-the-month change of pace for students.
Roosevelt discussed the Affordable Care Act Thursday night in a lecture sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences. He drew on his significant healthcare expertise, describing his experiences as the CEO of Tufts Health Plan in Massachusetts and the Chair of the Rules and Bylaws Committee in the Democratic National Convention.
The statesman began his presentation by thanking the audience for attending his lecture rather than trick-or-treating and recognized Don Fowler, former director of the Democratic National Convention and a current professor at USC, for being a longtime mentor.
Roosevelt informed the audience of the many sides of the healthcare debate and expressed the significance of the act in the recent political landscape. The Affordable Care Act was a key issue in the 2012 election and gridlocked disagreement over the legislation caused the federal shutdown that spanned the first 16 days of October.
“The Affordable Care Act is controversial because it is a symbol of the role of government in the lives of the American people,” he said.
Roosevelt said he predicts healthcare will continue to be a central issue for years to come, and the law will alter American political culture due to the provocative nature of the issue.
He referenced the 1932 election of his grandfather; an election that realigned political parties and in which Social Security was a central issue.
Roosevelt shared his hope that the law would ultimately meet with similar political success.
“I think the Affordable Care Act will have a greater impact on more people than any piece of social legislation in our history,” he said.
Roosevelt also acknowledged the current technological difficulties with the insurance comparison website, HealthCare.gov, that has received a great deal of media attention in recent weeks due to glitches. Roosevelt said his hope for the website, and the legislation itself, would ultimately be a win for the Democratic party.
“The enrollment process is not the centerpiece of the program, it’s a stage that has to be gotten through,” he said, “Techies will tell you never to buy version 1.0 of anything. 2.0 is going to be a lot smoother.”