by Jess Colon-Polk on August 26, 2009
Last night, 77-year-old Senator Ted Kennedy succumbed to brain cancer, just as his dream of expanding health care to serve ALL Americans is drawing near.
Kennedy spent much of his life fighting for equality in health care, calling it “the cause of [his] life,” and understood how the wealthy benefit fromthe best care that money and good insurance could provide after his son fought bone cancer as a preteen and his daughter was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Then, of course, there was his own battle with cancer.
Although he was ill, Kennedy vehemently campaigned for Obama - and his plan for reforming the nation’s health care system.
Kennedy leaves behind many accomplishments in American health. He played a vital part in the expansion of Medicare to cover prescription medicines, the addition of millions of children to state health insurance and ensuring equality for mental health care with other coverage.
I pay honor to Senator Kennedy today, and thank him for fighting toward a country full of healthy people and healthy places.
Tagged as:
Health care,
health care reform,
healthy people,
Healthy Places,
Medicare,
Ted Kennedy
by Mark Marosits on May 14, 2009
Most of who are advocates for healthier people and healthier places are proponents of health reform as well. Access for all to the right care at the right time is an important building block of healthy communities. Many current health reform proposals will go a long way toward improving economic access to health care by improving coverage. However, the health status of many Americans will not change solely with access to health insurance, although expansion of coverage is important. This is especially true for the health status of those in our communities who are most vulnerable, at high risk and already suffering from chronic disease.
Improving health status also requires a health delivery system that, at its core is socially just, disparity-free and seeks to maximize health, not income, as its principle measure of success. Safety net hospitals, like Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in California, can serve as the literal, and virtual heart of health reform. As safety net hospitals, these organizations do more than provide “exceptional care without exception”. They work tirelessly to promote and protect the health of the whole community, they help our most vulnerable neighbors to get the care they need when they need, they meet diverse cultural and linguistic needs and they ensure that each and everyone of us will have the care we need when we need it. Any health reform proposal that seeks to ensure that Americans and our communities grow healthier must strengthen and support our our safety net institutions.
Together with their community health center partners, they are doing more to protect and promote health and heal the sick and injured than any other component of our health system. Look closely, and you will see that they have pioneered models of care that improve quality, lower cost and expand access, lessons that can be built upon as we create a more effective, just and affordable health system.
I invite everyone who cares about healthy people and healthy places to advocate for the safety net and its leadership role in health reform. To learn more, visit www.naph.org/naph/policyitems/reformgraphic.html and support your local safety net hospital, including our clients and friends at Boston Medical Center and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
Tagged as:
Boston Medical Center,
health care reform,
healthy people,
Healthy Places,
hospital,
local hospital,
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
