Pittsburgh Litigation Attorney Katie Goldman Participates in Panel on Health Care Reform on PCNC's NightTalk

Kathleen Jones Goldman, an associate in the Litigation Section of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney's Pittsburgh office, was a guest on the August 14, 2009, edition of PCNC's (Pittsburgh Cable News Channel) NightTalk: Get to the Point segment — a weekly program that features a panel providing information on many facets of news of the week issues. The August 14 edition focused on health care reform and what it should look like.

The program began with panelists being asked, "Do we have a problem? Does the country need health care reform? And, if so, what should it look like?"

Katie weighed in saying, "Yes, we have a problem. There's no question about that, and we need reform. My primary concern about the dialogue I hear coming out of Washington is that government is the solution. … I have more faith in people, and I would like to see people have more choice in their own personal health care decisions. My fear is that when we go to a government model — whatever manifestation that takes — we lose individual choice."

She went on to suggest measures such as a health savings account that would allow people to make preventative health care decisions for themselves.

The discussion then moved on to the subject of Medicare, which Katie described as "fiscally unsustainable." "There have been reports coming out since 2006 that have said that, and we're getting an increasing demographic of people who are now going to be Medicare recipients and the costs are going up, but Medicare is paying out the same rate," she explained.

Finally, when asked her opinion on President Obama's health care proposal, Katie said, "Why do we have to keep these at the state borders? … [I] would like to be able to buy private insurance. If there is a state (like Connecticut, for example) that has regulations that are more in line with my feelings, I would like to be able to buy my insurance from a Connecticut insurance provider."