Community

Health care and health insurance the subject of next Times Review Talks

As our local hospitals settle into new relationships with larger health care systems, North Fork residents have begun to see more medical services available to them closer to home.

But this positive news comes as the public has grown increasingly concerned over the high costs of health care and the insurance options available to them. Many workers find the health insurance provided by their employers to be unaffordable and issues like the Affordable Care Act — and proposals such as a single-payer health system — have become politically charged. 

The result is a North Fork health care system with improving infrastructure at a time when it has become more challenging to best utilize and afford the available options.

At the next Times Review Talks panel discussion, health care and health insurance officials will be on hand to answer questions from the public. The event is scheduled for noon to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at The Vineyards at Aquebogue.

Invited panelists for “The State of Health Care & Health Insurance on the East End” include Peconic Bay Medical Center president and CEO Andrew Mitchell; Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital chief administrative officer Paul J. Connor III; Anthony Cardona, president of Cardona & Company;  Dr. Jarid Pachter, vice chair of ELI Leadership Coordinating Council and SBUH Medical Board & MEC member at large, who is also the director of Quannacut Outpatient;  Davin Laurina, associate vice president of commercial sales and broker service for Healthfirst; Erica Gerrity, director of management services for Peconic Bay Medical Center; and Martha Livingston, professor and chair of public health at SUNY Old Westbury and vice chair of the New York Metro Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.

The discussion will be moderated by Times Review Media Group content director Grant Parpan and will include mostly questions from the audience.

Times Review Talks are panel discussions mostly on issues our communities are facing with the people who best understand the concerns and, in some cases, are in a position to make a difference.

The two-hour events are held monthly. The $30 ticket price ($20 for Times Review subscribers) includes lunch. Space is limited, so we recommend purchasing your tickets in advance at bit.ly/TRTalks_October.

This month’s lead sponsors are Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, Peconic Bay Medical Center and Senior Helpers. Additional sponsors are East End Insurance Agency, Healthfirst, Cardona & Company, Comfort Keepers, Riverhead Ford Lincoln, Riverhead Buick GMC, Suffolk Security Systems and the North Fork Chamber of Commerce.