It's unprecedented. I've never seen anything like it. But if you want a closing argument, the chancellor of a Southern private university has made it today:
Statement from Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Jeffrey R. Balser on health care reform legislation
Vanderbilt University supports the comprehensive health care reform legislation pending before Congress. As one of the largest private employers in Tennessee and the home of one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers, Vanderbilt cares deeply about the health and well being of its patients, employees, students and fellow citizens. The mission of our academic medical center is to advance health and wellness for all people through preeminent programs in patient care, education and research. We believe that health care reform is urgently needed and that this legislation will enhance health security, improve the public health care infrastructure, and reduce the impact of uncompensated care on healthcare providers such as Vanderbilt.
More below the jump...
Here is the full statement from the leaders one of the South's most prestigious medical research universities:
Vanderbilt University supports the comprehensive health care reform legislation pending before Congress. As one of the largest private employers in Tennessee and the home of one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers, Vanderbilt cares deeply about the health and well being of its patients, employees, students and fellow citizens. The mission of our academic medical center is to advance health and wellness for all people through preeminent programs in patient care, education and research. We believe that health care reform is urgently needed and that this legislation will enhance health security, improve the public health care infrastructure, and reduce the impact of uncompensated care on healthcare providers such as Vanderbilt.
Reducing the number of uninsured Americans is simply the right thing to do. Further, we believe the initiatives to encourage improvements in quality, patient safety, delivery system improvements and payment reforms should help moderate the rising cost of health care, thereby benefiting our economy and the nation’s financial health. Beyond these general benefits, we believe the demonstration projects and other initiatives to encourage improvements in quality, patient safety, delivery system reforms, and payment reforms will lead to valuable and cost-saving systemic reforms.
We know that leaving uninsured care to the nation’s emergency rooms and failing to address the rapidly increasing costs of health care is no longer economically sustainable or morally defensible. While this bill is not perfect, there will be ample opportunities to make adjustments as its provisions are implemented over the next few years. As a center of education for the next generation of health care providers, a major provider of health care regionally and nationally, and as the second largest Tennessee-based employer in the state, Vanderbilt believes the reforms embodied in the legislation will improve our health insurance and health care delivery systems and is pleased to offer its support for this effort.
The support from Zeppos, the new chancellor of Vanderbilt and an unabashed community leader, comes as the US Chamber of Commerce continues to unload advertising against the health reform effort. It's worth noting that Vanderbilt Medical Center includes two significant new facilities, the result of a billion dollar capital fundraing campaign and a decade of fundraising.
The Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center is a relatively new facility but a center of innovative research and treatment for many kinds of cancers. It was created with the leadership giving of Orrin Ingram, whose father Bronson died from cancer many years ago and left behind one of the largest privately owned companies in the world - Ingram Industries. As it turns out, Orrin Ingram is a board member of the US Chamber of Commerce (and, incidentally, a supporter of Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln in spite of his leanings toward Republicans in Tennessee and across the country).
The Monroe Carell Childrens Hospital is the result of a major fundraising effort by Monroe Carell, a lifelong Roman Catholic and founder/CEO of Central Parking System. Monroe Carell died a few years ago but his wife Ann and the rest of his family continue to support the operations of the children's hospital.
Both the Ingram Cancer Center and the Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital - as well as the entire Vanderbilt Medical School and Medical Center - are long-time recipients of federal research funding and grants. It's no secret that federal government funding is already saving lives and training medical professionals at Vanderbilt. But perhaps just as important, Vanderbilt is also a training hub for the healthcare business. Because of the presence of HCA - the largest hospital management company in the world - countless healthcare companies have located their headquarters in Nashville.
The fact that Vanderbilt's senior leadership - the chancellor and vice-chancellor for medical affairs - have come out in strong support of the healthcare legislation could really tip the balance in favor of healthcare reform in the 5th Congressional District, where Rep. Jim Cooper is still reading the bill and undecided. Cooper teaches healthcare economics at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management and is considered one of the leading experts on healthcare in the US Congress. Cooper, who famously opposed the Clinton's healthcare proposal in 1993, helped to break up the Democrats' health reform efforts and usher in the Contract with America swing in 1994. He was representing a different district at the time that did not include Nashville, and was voted out of office in the 1994 midterms before returning to represent Nashville in 2002.
What is perhaps most surprising about the statement from Zeppos and Balser is that it's not merely a personal endorsement. This is a statement of support from the official leadership of the university, saying: "Vanderbilt University supports the comprehensive health care reform legislation pending before Congress." It is an unprecedented entry into the political fray and represents a turning of the tide, especially since Vanderbilt is one of the largest employers in the state of Tennessee and is a private university, not a public school.
Vanderbilt has been at the forefront of social change before. But in the past, it was the students working against the administration, as Divinity School student James Lawson was expelled from the University in 1960 for his work helping to desegregate lunch counters in Nashville. Lawson later returned to campus and was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005.
In 2006, Lawson returned to teach and write in the Divinity School. "Permanently expelled from Vanderbilt University, James Lawson would have done fine and well," said James Hudnut-Beumler, dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, during the January dinner announcing his return. "But Vanderbilt could not be fine or well without confronting its troubled soul. ... James Lawson has progressively helped this university find its conscience – and dare I say – its soul."
Today is another positive demonstration of that fact.