Healthcare Reform

At UCSF, I heard a completely packed lecture on health care reform by Mark McClellan, MD, PhD (economics). He is really quite an accomplished person who has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, senior policy director for the White House, Commissioner of the FDA, and administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services. The room was overflowing; we had rows of attendings standing on the stairs and in the back; not a seat was empty. He discussed the motivations for, legislation of, and challenges to effective health care reform. This was really educational for me; although I've read the lay press on the new legislation, he elucidated why things were the way they were and why there are so many concerns about the financial viability of this recent bill. However, I realized the health care reform bill is only the first step in regaining control of this exponentially worsening mess. It won't staunch the financial hemorrhage as health care slowly overtakes the GDP, but it is a start. Indeed, it reminds me of the crisis with global warming; we are all trying to change our deeply ingrained habits, taking more public transportation, eating less meat, recycling, but when you look at the numbers, it's so discouraging. Nevertheless, we must try to change these things now to protect the future. Dr. McClellan talked about many things, and it was so interesting to hear a real expert on this issue.