One rocky month into the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, a health care forum in McKinnon Hall found the issue far from settled on Monday.

Three invited professionals joined nine lay panelists from campus and the local community to expose the people behind the largely political debate. The panel was sponsored by a partnership between Elon University and the Burlington Times-News.

Each person left uninsured by the Affordable Care Act is an avoidable tragedy, according to Ginette Archinal, medical director of student health at Elon.

My personal point of view about health care is that we have a moral responsibility to provide affordable, basic health care to everybody in society, she said. I find it morally reprehensible that so much of our society does not have access to basic health care.

And now more than ever, these health care needs are increasing thanks in no small part to preventable lifestyle choices such as smoking, poor nutrition and lack of exercise, said Miles Grunvald, a first-year medical student at the University of Vermont and Class of 2013 alumnus.

Kenn Gaither, associate dean of the School of Communications, moderated Mondays Community Connections forum on health care. Photo by Michael Bodley, assistant news editor.

There will always be chronic diseases that will be costly to our country, but by encouraging preventative measures we can work to eliminate them, he said.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 65 percent of North Carolina adults are overweight and 28 percent are obese. Higher obesity rates are tied to greater need for health care, Grunvald said.

The less health care the average person requires, the reduced the strain is on a universal health care system, said Preston Hammock, president and COO of Alamance Regional Medical Center.

The most expensive place to get care is the hospital. To fix this, weve got to keep people out of the hospital, he said. It is absolutely the right thing to do to have that patient live at home and contribute that much more to society.

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National health care overhaul hits home in Alamance County through community forum