by Laura Turner
SDN Staff Writer

U.S. health care reform is shaping up to be a key activity for lawmakers in 2009. The Obama administration is mobilizing its volunteer base from the campaign to lobby Congress for change. Politicians on both sides of the spectrum are putting forth their vision for the future of medicine.

In order to provide our membership of future health care providers with the latest reform ideas, the Student Doctor Network will be publishing a series of articles on health care policy. These articles will include interviews from policy makers and details on technical and structural innovations aimed at reducing costs and improving outcomes.

Previously, SDN interviewed Dr. John Geyman, author of Do Not Resuscitate, who espoused a need for a single payer nationalized health care system.

Additional articles in the series, to be published in the coming months, will include the following:

• Interview with Dr. David Sundwall, who served as President Reagan’s Director of the Health Resources and Services Administration at the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services
• The role of health information exchanges in improving health care delivery

We invite our membership to submit ideas for other articles in this area. Please provide your comments below.

by Alison Hayward, MD
SDN Staff Writer

In this election season, healthcare has been an increasingly pressing issue for American voters.

In an August 2008 TNS Healthcare survey, nearly 60% of voters age 18-29, and 75% of voters over the age of 65 agreed that healthcare issues would play a major role in their presidential election choice.

The feeling that our current system is a “failure” predominates, and thus healthcare reform is seen by many as a mandate for the new president.

Healthcare professionals must understand the issues involved in the politics of health in order to move towards reform – and that brings us to one of the most contentious issues, that of single payer healthcare. Read the full story

A review and interview with the author of Do Not Resuscitate, the controversial book about the current status of America’s health insurance system.

by Lee Burnett

A recognized pioneer and leader in family medicine, John Geyman, MD has written a number of articles and books on American healthcare. He has just released his latest book on the health insurance system, Do Not Resuscitate.

Dr. Geyman’s books are known for detailed research and facts. Do Not Resuscitate is a natural follow-up to his earlier texts, deftly tackling the latest and most complex data and concepts and distilling them into a captivating and quick read.

This book could be compared to the writings of Noam Chomsky with Dr. Geyman delivering a searing indictment of today’s health insurance companies and the US Government. This book has a single point: the insurance industry has failed America and it should be replaced with a single-payer nonprofit fund.

Read the full story

One of the biggest challenges facing the 110th Congress is finding the cure for one of the country’s peskiest chronic ailments – the lack of health coverage for all its citizens.

With a staggering 45 million Americans uninsured, the controversial topic of universal health care will shape Capitol Hill’s political agenda for months to come. And, with the 2008 presidential race on the near horizon, this hot-button issue will likely spark and fuel heated debates on the campaign trails as well.

“Medical costs are hitting every part of this nation like a wrecking ball,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-OR, a member of the Senate Finance Committee. “Getting this on the presidential agenda so that candidates of both political parties have got to get beyond position papers, is an especially important point.” Read the full story