The State Of Heath Care Makes You Sick?

The Real News talks to Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard, and to Dr. Don McCanne, president of Physicians for a National Health Program, about both John McCain’s and Barack Obama’s campaign promises and rhetoric about health care and finds them both drastically wanting.

October 30, 2008 – 7 min 42 sec

Health care in the USA Pt.1

McCain proposals will make things worse; Obama’s won’t be enough

The health care system in the US is ranked 37th overall in the world even though it spends almost double per capita of what other industrialized countries spend. 47 million are not insured and almost 2 million filers and their dependents per year claim medical bankruptcy. The Real News Network spoke to Dr. Steffie Woolhandler of Harvard Medical School and Dr. Don McCanne of Physicians for a National Health Program who say John McCain’s health care proposals would make things worse than they are now and Barack Obama’s proposals won’t work and won’t be enough to fix the problems. The US government must do more on behalf of the American patient.

Dr. Steffie Woolhandler is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard and co-director of the Harvard Medical School General Internal Medicine Fellowship program. She worked in 1990-91 as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation health policy fellow at the Institute of Medicine and the U.S. Congress. She is a co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and a current Board member. PNHP is a non-profit research and education organization of 15,000 physicians, medical students and health professionals who advocate for single-payer national health insurance. She has published widely and is the co-author of: National Health Care Book: A Source Guide for Advocates and Bleeding the Patient Dry: The Consequences of Corporate Healthcare .

Dr. Don McCanne served as president of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) for two terms and is currently a Senior Health Policy Fellow. PNHP is a widely recognized non-profit research and education organization that represents over 15,000 doctors across the US who advocate for a single-payer national health insurance plan. Dr. McCanne also writes a daily health policy update online.