Links
Key Resources
The Kaiser Family Foundation
The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the U.S., as well as the U.S. role in global health policy. It is a non-partisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public.
Rand COMPARE initiative on health policy
The Rand Corporation's COMPARE initiative provides information and tools to help policymakers, the media, and other interested parties understand, design, and evaluate health policies.
Los Angeles County Medical Association
The Los Angeles County Medical Association is a professional association representing physicians from every medical specialty and practice setting as well as medical students, interns and residents. Involved in legislation at the federal, state and local levels, the association also works with the California Medical Association to create awareness of physician concerns at the state capital level.
The California Medical Association
The California Medical Association has more than 35,000 members in all modes of practice and specialties representing the patients of California. The CMA advocates for patients on a broad range of health care issues, including broader immunization against disease and universal health care coverage by insurance and other means.
The Association of American Medical Colleges government affairs
http://www.aamc.org/advocacy/start.htm
Updates on the AAMC's government affairs and advocacy efforts.
The Obama administration’s plan
The official government website with details on the Obama administration’s effort to effect comprehensive health care reform.
The American Medical Association’s plan
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/advocacy/current-topics-advocacy/health-system-reform.shtml
The AMA outlines its support for meaningful health system reform.
Obama’s speech to the AMA
President Obama spoke to the AMA on June 15, 2009, about the need for comprehensive health care reform.
2008 Republican Party Platform
http://www.gop.com/2008Platform/HealthCare.htm
The 2008 Republican Party Platform included a section on health care, emphasizing support for the private practice of medicine and opposition to a government-run universal health care system.
House of Representatives Health Reform Bill
The Chairmen of the three Committees with jurisdiction over health policy in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced comprehensive health care reform legislation on July 14.
Senate Health Reform Bill
The Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed The Affordable Health Choices Act on July 15.
Health care in Canada
http://www.medhunters.com/articles/healthcareInCanada.html
Canada has had a government-funded, national healthcare system since 1962, based on five principles: universally available to permanent residents; comprehensive in the services it covers; accessible without income barriers; portable within and outside the country; and publicly administered.
The Association of American Medical Colleges
http://www.aamc.org/advocacy/start.htm
Link to recent Government Affairs and Advocacy news from the Association of American Medical Colleges.
California Medical Association Student Leadership
http://www.cmanet.org/studentleadership/
The CMA Medical Student Leadership Conference is the only political education and leadership program for medical students in California. The conference is designed to transform students into effective leaders of change in the field of medicine and have a voice on important issues such as health care reform at both the state and national levels.
California Student Physicians for Healthcare Reform
http://www.csphr.org-a.googlepages.com/lobbyday
The California Student Physicians for Healthcare Reform was founded by a group of medical students at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Their goal is to engage all medical students in the state of California and beyond.
Physicians for a single-payer plan
Physicians for a National Health Program is a non-profit research and education organization of 16,000 physicians, medical students and health professionals who support single-payer national health insurance.
The American Academy of Ophthalmology
http://www.aao.org/advocacy/health_reform.cfm
Acknowledging that the status quo in health care is unsustainable and that issues of access to coverage, quality of care and cost control must be addressed, and given legislative momentum in Congress, the Academy is advancing components for bills that protect patients and physicians.
Obama’s speech to the Joint Session of Congress
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/09/obama-speech-text-to-congress.html
President Obama spoke to a joint session of Congress on September 9, 2009 urging lawmakers to set aside their differences.
Keck Students Promote Healthcare Reform on YouTube
Two second year students from the Keck School of Medicine of USC have published videos to YouTube promoting health care reform featuring students from and locales around the Keck campus. One of the videos is being submitted to a Health Reform Video Challenge.
Short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvcEhOP3Ck8
Long video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jxkFd8x6UY
Articles of Interest
The New England Journal of Medicine
http://content.nejm.org/content/vol361/issue6/index.dtl
A series of perspectives on health care reform.
"Why some communities spend more than others on health care delivery" - New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?yrail
Dr. Atul Gawande investigates why the town of McAllen, Texas, located in a county with the lowest household income in the country, is the most expensive town in the most expensive country for health care in the world.
WSJ.com - Opinion: The GOP Should Fight Health-Care Rationing
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB123128781030459191-lMyQjAxMDI5MzIxMDIyODA3Wj.html
Dr. Tom Price, a Republican member of Congress from Georgia, is the chairman of the Republican Study Committee.
"Senate Finance Committee Faces Difficult Choices In Lowering Cost of Health Bill" - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=2854
Judith Solomon, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, explores the fiscal impact of proposed health care reforms.
The Case of Massachusetts
Access to health care is a basic human need. Massachusetts became the first state in the country to apply this ideal to the complex problem and put in place a practical plan to expand affordable health care when it passed comprehensive health reform in 2006.
Massachusetts Commission Proposes Sweeping Payment Changes
http://www.ropesgray.com/masscommissionproposespaymentchanges/
The state whose 2006 adoption of comprehensive health reform legislation helped set the stage for the current national debate is again exploring a major overhaul, this time of the provider payment system.
The Health Connector
http://www.mahealthconnector.org/portal/site/connector/
The Health Connector is an independent state agency that helps Massachusetts residents find health care coverage. The Health Connector operates two new coverage programs, makes policy and regulatory decisions, and orchestrates public outreach and education efforts.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts official Web site
All Massachusetts residents are required to maintain health insurance. Health care reform works to improve the cost and quality of health care.
Massachusetts Health Care Reform Coalition
http://www.masshealthreform.org/
The Massachusetts Health Care Reform Coalition is a broad partnership of business, labor, providers, insurers, advocates and consumers have come together to promote the successful implementation of Massachusetts Health Care Reform.
Massachusetts’ Experience with Health Care Reform Coverage Initiatives in the Context of National Reform
http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_04_28_b/kingsdale.pdf
Jon Kingsdale, Ph.D., executive director of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, spoke before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions about the lessons Massachusetts has learned in the three years since implementing its health care reform program.
Success to date in Massachusetts
The Health Connector shows that 97.4 percent of Massachusetts residents are now Insured. This is the highest rate of insured residents in the entire nation.
Massachusetts Panel Proposes Global Payments to Replace Fee-for-Service System
http://www.ropesgray.com/massachusettsglobalpayments/
In 2008, the Massachusetts legislature created a Special Commission on the Health Care Payment System (the “Commission”) as part of the Commonwealth’s commitment to implement health care reform. Last week the panel, led by Governor Deval Patrick’s chief finance and health policy advisers, recommended that payers in Massachusetts radically change how they pay for health care services.
Report by the Massachusetts Special Commission on the Health Care Payment System
View the Commission's report here
The Commission, led by Governor Deval Patrick’s chief finance and health policy advisers, released their report on July 16.