Some other DKos community folks have made arrangements to have Dr. Quentin Young discuss Single Payer and health care activism on DKos this afternoon, around 2PM CDT.
For those who may not know who Quentin is, I am republishing my diary on him from last April.
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Putting aside issues of activism and politics, the highest praise a physician can receive is that they are a doctor that other doctors would send their family and friends to. I'd like to dedicate this edition of health care thursday to a true American hero and activist, who is also a fine fine physician.
For those who have not heard of him, Dr. Quentin Young is a true American hero, a great clinician... and a major health care and political activist, with an incredible record of making Change.
As a well known lefty-progressive leader in the Hyde Park area of Chicago, Quentin was an early political supporter of Obama. Born in 1923, he and his professional partner have had the following folks among their patients: Martin Luther King Jr., Mike Royko, Studs Terkel, Jesse Jackson Sr, members of the Chicago 7 conspiracy trial, Rep. Jan Shakowski, and yes, the Obamas.
But that is the least of his work...
Since 1952, Dr. Young has practiced internal medicine in Hyde Park. He is a Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the University of Illinois Medical Center. From 1972-1981, he served as Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Cook County, and founded its department of occupational medicine. During WW II, from 1943-45, he served in the U.S. Army and later in the U.S. Public Health Service.
In addition to his long career as a practicing physician, Dr. Young has been a leader in public health policy and medical and social justice issues for more than fifty years.
In 1951 he was a founder of the Committee to End Discrimination, that eventually resulted in the desegregation of Chicago hospitals.
He was a founder and served as National Chairman of The Medical Committee for Human Rights, which was formed in June of 1964 to provide medical care for civil rights workers, community activists, and summer volunteers working in Mississippi during Freedom Summer. More than 100 northern doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, — Black and white — came to Mississippi. Working without pay, they gave emergency first-aid to the wounded, cared for the ill, visited jailed demonstrators, provided a medical presence in Black communities that had never seen a doctor, and waged political struggles to open up Mississippi's health care system to all. After Freedom Summer, MCHR continued working in Mississippi and expanded its operations into Alabama and Louisiana. Like battlefield medics, with their canvas medicine-bags marked with a red cross and slung over their shoulder, they were easy to spot in Selma, on the March to Montgomery, and in the hellish violence of Bogalusa. They marched side by side with the protesters, set up their emergency clinics in Black churches, taught community health and pre-natal classes, and fought the white health system to end its segregationist policies.
In 1980, Dr. Young founded the Chicago-based Health & Medicine Policy Research Group, a group that addresses the health needs in Illinois; he is currently Chairman.
In 1983, Mayor Harold Washington appointed Dr. Young President of the Chicago Board of Health.
Dr. Young was a co-founder in 1987, and continues to serve as the National Coordinator, of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), a national research and education organization advocating single payer universal health care coverage.
In 1998, he served as President of the American Public Health Association. The American Public Health Association is the oldest, largest and most diverse organization of public health professionals in the world and has been working to improve public health since 1872. The Association aims to protect all Americans and their communities from preventable, serious health threats and strives to assure community-based health promotion and disease prevention activities and preventive health services are universally accessible in the United States. APHA represents a broad array of health professionals and others who care about their own health and the health of their communities. APHA builds a collective voice for public health, working to ensure access to health care, protect funding for core public health services and eliminate health disparities, among a myriad of other issues. Through its two flagship publications, the peer-reviewed American Journal of Public Health and the award-winning newspaper The Nation’s Health, the Association communicates the latest public health science and practice to members, opinion leaders and the public.
Quentin has also been featured for years as a regular medical commentator on "Eight Forty-Eight" and other programs, and every other Tuesday morning as host of "Public Affairs", on WBEZ Chicago Public Radio. You can hear him on a recent retrospective interview.
In May 2006, Dr. Young signed on as a plaintiff in the NSA Domestic Surveillance lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against AT&T, alleging that the telecommunications company provided its customers' phone records to the United States government without a court-issued warrant. Young joined historian and author Studs Terkel who was also a plantiff in the case. This suit was part of the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, during which it was reported that the National Security Agency was maintaining a database of phone calls placed domestically in the United States.
On the Obama health plan, Quentin says:
An admirer and early supporter of fellow Hyde Parker Obama, Young says the presidential candidate's "miserable program" is "painful to me - not because I want him to be bolder and go down in flames, but because I want him to win, and this is a popular issue, and he could provide leadership on it."
At the age of 84, after 61 years in clinical practice, he hung up up his stethoscope last Spring. Fortunately for us, he will continue to devote devote his energy to reforming health care, including as a national spokesperson with PNHP.
For example, on the survey report (pdf) that just came out showing that a majority of U.S. physicians (59%) support national health insurance (32% oppose it & 9% are neutral; see also my diary on the study) -- Dr. Young believes the results signify an important shift in the public debate:
"People trust their doctors," Young said. "If their doctor tells them that national health insurance is not a good thing, they tend to believe that's probably true. If their doctor now starts saying it is something that would be good for the country, then average people will be more likely to support it."
An estimated 47 million Americans have no health insurance, and another 50 million are believed to be underinsured.
At the same time, health insurance costs are rising at a rate of about 7 percent a year, twice the rate of inflation.
Employers are struggling to pay health insurance premiums for their employees, often reducing coverage or asking workers to pick up more of the cost.
Dr. Young contends that while other industrialized countries control medical costs through single-payer universal health care plans, the profiteers here (primarily health insurance companies) continue to drive up costs.
Because their primary motive is to make money, not to provide the best health care for patients, insurers' decisions often are detrimental to policyholders.
Yet many Americans still believe health care here is better than anyplace else in the world. But they seem to be living in denial, ignoring the fact that health care here is not going to remain as it is.
Costs will continue to rise. Employers, facing a potential recession, are going to have to cut their costs.
Health insurance companies will continue to make a profit through higher premiums and by taking control of patient treatment out of the hands of family doctors.
So, thanks for the staying in the fight Dr. Quentin Young.
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So please do come by around 2PM CDT today, and join in the convesation with Dr. Quentin Young - American Hero.
Here is link to the discussion diary:
http://www.dailykos.com/...