I have known very few people as passionate about healthcare as my college professor, Don Taylor, currently an associate professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. Professor Taylor taught the introduction to American healthcare course, and he wanted us to take three things away from the class
1) Morbidity and mortality are not the same thing
2) If you’re going to smoke despite all of the good reasons that you shouldn’t, stop by the time you’re 35.
3) Medicare and Medicaid combined are, by far, America’s largest federal expenditure, except for defense, and barring a concerted and successful effort at health reform, both programs were guaranteed to collapse.
In recent months Professor Taylor has enjoyed success as a health reform expert, both as a New York Times contributor, and a regular columnist for NC’s News and Observer. He has also frequently updated his excellent blog, Freeforall – a health policy discussion, which reads like a very entertaining lecture that students always hope for, but rarely get. I have quoted from it frequently. At the start of his health reform coverage, Professor Taylor was hopeful, even excited about the potential for a comprehensive health reform bill. Even when it became clear that the bill would be far from a perfect document, Professor Taylor continued to stay excited because, in his view, any bill was better than no bill. I followed him, article by article, hoping along with him that the bill would come through.
Now, of course, the bill seems doomed. Excitement has given way to resignation and Professor Taylor is no exception. Indeed, those of us that have studied the failings of America’s healthcare system are at a loss for words, and we keep looking for someone to sum up what we’re feeling. Therefore, I suppose it is appropriate that by borrowing the words of someone else, Professor Taylor wrote an article which summarizes his feelings about healthcare bill’s downfall, and that I now, cite Professor Taylor’s article as a good summary of my feelings.
His article’s main point is that the past year has shown that we cannot depend on the current generation of baby boomer leaders to solve our healthcare problems since their brand of politics seems unable to separate the need for policy solutions from the illusory political need to beat the other side of the aisle, no matter the costs. Instead, he says, healthcare’s hope, like the environment’s, now lies with the baby boomers’ children.
He cites the fact that students in his classes seem fed up with political wars precluding good policy making. This, he says, is where the hope for the future lies, that students like this can grow up and change the political landscape.
I would like to share his optimism. Perhaps user created media formats will topple the media entertainment machine? Maybe a large number of Americans, even those not educated at competitive colleges, will become better informed about policy and politics? Maybe Senators will no longer have to run primaries, and House terms will be extended to four years, so that our federal policy makers can actually worry about policy and not always be thinking about the next election?
But, right now, it is much easier for me to believe that our healthcare system will collapse and that the standard of living in America is never going to be as high as it was at the start of the 2000s.
Whatever you may think, I urge you to think deeply about what the latest collapse of health reform in America means, and to read Professor Taylor’s post.
China Healthcare Blog
2 Comments
"Maybe a large number of Americans, even those not educated at competitive colleges, will become better informed about policy and politics?"
What an arrogant prick you are! I have a Ph.D. from a "competitive college" and am a professor at a University teaching healthcare classes- but I would never be so self-absorbed to believe that I have all the answers just because of the academic institution I went to or my SAT/GRE scores. Get some perspective, humility, and ultimately try to realize that the smartest people in the world are not 'mouthy' blowhards who spew their opinions everywhere so they can appear to be smarter than the general populace- but wise people who speak with conviction (based on knowledge) and are constantly learning (not assuming that they know everything because they earned a degree). A smart person knows what they don't know, a fool only thinks they know what they know. That makes you a fool.
You’ve taken the statement out of context. The Professor is listening to a classroom of high achieving young people, who are studying policy and thinking about these issues at a policy level more complex than your average American listening to talking heads on television. Yes, many of them are elite students, who have earned a place at one of America’s small percentage of competitive colleges through hard work and talent.
By wrestling with the details of health policy formulation on a day to day basis these students absolutely gain a much better understanding of health policy than the majority of people who do not get this training. Do I think this means that they are more likely to have a better understanding of health policy than the average person, even the older ones who have had time to find wisdom? Yes, absolutely. The wisdom of time can only get you so far in understanding complex issues. Sixty year olds cannot magically become great surgeons by skipping medical school and then watching E.R. the next forty years.
Do I think that an education at a competitive college automatically means that someone is better informed about the topic? Certainly not. Does the reverse hold true, that someone who went to, lets say, a community college is automatically not well informed about the topic? Certainly not, again. Bottom line, the main point to take out of this is that within the college environment students, no matter their major, have the advantage of thinking about health policy formulation, without having to listen to the screaming of political hacks.
Am I an arrogant, elitist prick? It depends on how you define it. I do not think that everybody’s opinion holds the same weight on certain issues, and health reform is certainly one of them. But, yes, I do think that everyone having a vote in the matter is a good thing for the sake of consistency. I guess its a matter of opinion/perception.
Finally, as a side note, think about how people’s willingness to immediately, without so much as an introduction, resort to name calling on television, the internet, and other public forums is impeding any real chances we have at progress on many important issues of governance, not just health policy.