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Orange County reaction to health ruling

June 28, 2012
Terry A. Belmont, CEO, UC Irvine Medical Center

IN THE NEWS: The Orange County Register‘s article about the Supreme Court healthcare ruling included thoughts from UC Irvine staff:

Terry Belmont, CEO of UC Irvine Medical Center, said he believes patients will ultimately benefit from greater access and focus on preventive care.

“I think this continues to move us forward in moving from a traditional system that emphasizes more tests and more procedures to a greater emphasis on patient outcomes and population health,” Belmont said. “I think that aspect is really good.”

Sharon Speck, a pediatric nurse at UC Irvine, said she’s glad the law wasn’t struck down, but doesn’t think it goes far enough to cover everyone in an affordable way. She participated in a town hall meeting last week in Santa Ana to push for expanding Medicare as a national health plan.

“I think one of the good things about it is it’s a recognition that there’s a severe problem with health care in this country,” Speck said. “It doesn’t end the crisis. There’s no cost containment. There’s still going to be a lot of out-of-pocket costs. The insurance companies are still going to deny care that’s recommended by physicians.”

O.C. reaction to health ruling ›