Today's health-care system is complex. So, it stands to reason that the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is equally perplexing, said Pam Aaltonen, a former public-health nurse.
However, the complexity of health-reform legislation, which President Barack Obama signed into law in March 2010, is no excuse for ignorance, she said.
Public health workers have a duty and obligation to help educate the public, said Aaltonen, who was in Billings on Tuesday to address about 160 attendees of the Montana Public Health Association meeting. She said public health workers have not done a very good job of selling the components of the federal Affordable Care Act.
Aaltonen is the assistant head of faculty at the Purdue University School of Nursing in West Lafayette, Ind. She also sits on the executive board of the American Public Health Association.
She ticked off a list of some of the provisions of the federal legislation, as some attendees hurriedly scribbled notes.
The legislation calls for individual mandates, employer requirements, expansion of public programs, premium subsidies to employers, health insurance exchanges, changes to private insurance, and much more.
"We all need to become much more familiar with the document," Aaltonen said during the 75-minute talk.
In addition to calling on the group to make Affordable Care Act a priority, she also implored it to equally prioritize Protecting the Clean Air Act, a longstanding cause of the American Public Health Association.
The association believes climate change and rising temperatures expose more Americans to conditions that result in illness and death due to respiratory illness, heat-related stress and insect-borne diseases. These maladies fall most heavily on our most vulnerable communities, including children, older adults, those with serious health conditions and poor people, according to the organization's leadership.
The organization's executive director, Dr. Georges C. Benjamin has called on the public to stop any attempts to remove protections already in place.
Founded in 1872, the American Public Health Association is the oldest, largest and most diverse organization of public health professionals in the world. Montana was one of the first four states in the nation to become affiliated with the association, which aims to protect all Americans and their communities from preventable, serious health threats.