Medicare’s Future Is Topic of Nov. 8 Law Symposium, Annual Mark A. Nordenberg Lecture

One in seven Americans relies on Medicare as a valuable source for health insurance. Although it plays a key role in the U.S. health care system, Medicare faces a number of challenges, including meeting recipients’ needs in the face of escalating health care costs and the rapid aging of the U.S. population.

Those challenges, among others, will be discussed during the University of Pittsburgh School of Law’s free half-day symposium, “The Future of Medicare,” which will take place from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 8 in the Teplitz Memorial Courtroom of the Barco Law Building.

The symposium’s featured presenters will be Edward F. Lawlor, the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor and dean in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis and founding director of that university’s Institute for Public Health, and Pitt alumnus William McKendree (A&S ’76), supervisor of APPRISE—Pennsylvania’s State Health Insurance Assistance Program—in Allegheny County. McKendree also lectures on Medicare and oversees students from Pitt’s Schools of Pharmacy and Law who participate in APPRISE internship programs.

From 2 to 3 p.m., Lawlor will deliver the annual Mark A. Nordenberg Lecture in Law, Medicine, and Psychiatry—named for Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg, former dean of Pitt’s law school. Lawlor’s lecture is titled “What Is the Future of Medicare?” Before Lawlor’s lecture, McKendree will discuss the fundamentals of Medicare law, beginning at 12:45 p.m. 

Following Lawlor’s lecture, there will be a panel discussion featuring the following Pitt alumni: Jason Manne (LAW ’79, GSPH ’03, BUS ’03, A&S ’07G), senior assistant counsel, Office of General Counsel, Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare; Judith Black (MED ’74, GSPH ’87), medical director for senior markets, Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield; and John G. Lovelace (SIS ’83G), president, UPMC for You, and vice president for Medicaid Services, UPMC Insurance Services Division.

A complete schedule of the symposium is available at www.law.pitt.edu/events/2012/11/the-future-of-medicare-a-symposium. To register, visit www.law.pitt.edu/events/2012/11/the-future-of-medicare/registration. 

The Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board has approved the symposium for 3 hours of substantive credits, for which there is a $30 fee. Checks may be made payable to the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.