Healthcare Reform Education Day informs students

Know anything about health insurance or problems in healthcare access? Healthcare Reform Education Day, held March 27, sought to educate students about these and other pressing healthcare issues.

A number of expert speakers came to campus to offer diverse views on what's wrong with healthcare in the country and how to go about fixing it.

Nikhil Patil, one of the organizers of the event and a leader in the campus chapter of the American Medical Students Association (AMSA) which organized the event, said that while the main focus of the day was on pressing political issues in healthcare, simpler themes that were relevant to students were also woven in.

"We organized [the event] not just to talk about national issues, but also to educate students on how best to go about getting [healthcare]," Patil said.

"We're interested in promoting health issues. Last semester, we were looking at global health issues in Global Health Week," Patil said. "This semester, we wanted to look at issues more directly affecting students. The point of this was to specifically engage students."

"I definitely think students are very vulnerable to [not having] health insurance," Patil said.

He added that many students fall through the cracks during college and overlook the benefits of health insurance.

"Most of us are covered under [our] parents' plans until college, but ignore it after enrolling in college and starting working. A lot of students don't know about it," Patil said.

The day's events focused on topics related to government funding for healthcare and access for all.

Over the morning, Rebecca Kellenberg, the director of eligibility for PeachCare, the state's official medical funding program for children, discussed how budget cuts for PeachCare will ripple off and affect local health insurance for children.

One of the four other speakers, Danny Vincent, the administrator of HealthSTAT, a lobbying firm that works toward state and federal health reform, spoke about the state's efforts to cut funding for healthcare and the consequences for all residents.

Next, Philip Thompson, a professor at the School of Public Policy, discussed the ethics of healthcare, covering controversial topics such as organ donation, reproductive tech, genetic screening, death and dying in terms of life support-all prominent topics which have gained significant news coverage in recent years.

"[Thompson] was very interesting. I'm taking a class in ethics and healthcare, so that was the most personally [relevant] to me," Patil said when asked about the personal relevance of the speakers' topics.

During the evening, Henry Kahn, a medical doctor and CDC (Centers for Disease Control) official, sparred with Rob Bachman, an official from the Center for Health Transformation, over ideas on providing universal healthcare coverage.

Universal healthcare coverage involves making access to treatment available to all citizens at a reasonable price.

Some on one end of the political spectrum, like Kahn, believe that the best way to achieve this goal is to nationalize healthcare services so the government can regulate healthcare prices and make it affordable to all.

Known as a single-payer healthcare plan, the idea stands in stark opposition to its counterpart, consumer-centric healthcare, which advocates using a strictly market-regulated method to provide universal insurance access. The Center for Health Transformation, started by conservative politician Newt Gingrich, has similar objectives.

"[The lectures] were innovative and thought provoking. The speakers were interesting in that their diverse backgrounds allowed us to hear a little about many different issues in healthcare," said Sarah Knish, a third-year Biology major who attended the event.