Months after the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), many of us still have questions about the new health care reform law such as: What will the law do for me? Will it really help? How can we make it work?

Herb Schultz will provided an overview of the Obama Administration’s Implementation of the Affordable Care Act as it relates to the new role of the Regional Director (outreach and education, policy discussions, grant opportunities, initiatives and public affairs) as well as the 2010 consumer protections, the Pre-existing Condition Insurance plan, the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program, and the impacts on Medicare and the Medicare Trust Fund. Dr. Shaffer, a nationally recognized health care policy expert will provide details of the Affordable Care Act filled with insightful, reliable information and a progressive analysis of the impact of health care reform on the public, particularly women, children and young adults, and seniors.

Herb Schultz is the new Health and Human Services Director for Region IX, which includes Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada as well as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam , Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau. Mr. Schultz served as the Senior Advisor to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. As Senior Advisor to the Governor from 2008-2010, he represented the Governor on major domestic policy issues, which included serving as a principal advisor on health care reform. Mr. Schultz received his BA in Political Science and International Studies from The American University in Washington, D.C. and has a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University, also in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Shaffer served as the senior health policy advisor to U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone from 1992 to 1995, guiding staff work on national health reform and for managed care patients’ rights. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at UC, San Francisco, and a member of the executive Board of the American Public Health Association. She has a Masters in Public Health from UC, Berkeley, a PhD from the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, and is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist.