Health care reform just took a dramatic and unexpected turn.
Only a few weeks ago it seemed that the Congress was about to complete action on a fundamental overhaul of health care financing and delivery in America, and send this legislation to President Obama, so that he could sign and complete his top domestic policy priority [...]

There are two weeks left in 2009, and there will be lots of holiday interruptions – so the huge efforts to get agreement on a formula for national health reform, and push it through the Congress will surely go over into the New Year.
Each day seems to bring additional twists and turns to the tale [...]

Today the news is filled with stories about the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts from an incurable brain tumor.
During his almost fifty years in the Congress, Senator Kennedy has been a dominant leader in so many areas of our national life – health and health care, education, civil rights, and on and [...]

Several people have asked me in the past few days for my perspective on what’s happening to health reform in Washington.

For what it’s worth, here goes –

I had an engaging conversation about health reform yesterday with Frank Stasio, host of the program “The State of Things” on our local NPR station WUNC. You can hear the interview, “Prescription for Health Care,” on the Web.
Mr. Stasio was well informed, and asked important questions ranging from how the wheels of reform [...]

View my interview with News14 from the White House Health Forum on March 31 here. In the interview, I discuss challenges facing our health care system today – uninsured patients, limited access, high costs and improving quality of care – and how we can address them moving forward.

I have just returned from a large town hall meeting today in Greensboro, on the campus of NC A&T State University.

It was hosted by Governor Bev Perdue and my friend, Nancy-Ann DeParle, the head of the White House Office for Health Reform, and counselor to President Barak Obama. This regional health reform forum was attended by several hundred people, and was well covered by the news media.

I think it served a very useful purpose – to tell in compelling fashion what the problems are with our too flawed health care system in America.

I have applauded President Obama’s actions in making health care reform a prominent issue, and I was very glad to see that he mentioned health care, and science, repeatedly during his press conference Tuesday night.
The purpose for the press conference was to address the economy, and I think this is the context in which health [...]

It is clear that the new Obama Administration and the Congress are going to have a serious go at health reform this year.

As someone who has been trying to help accomplish a substantial overhaul of our flawed health care financing and delivery system for decades, this is a really interesting and even exciting time. A lot is at stake, but we have a major opportunity to make major improvements in health and health care in America.

Yesterday I spoke with Sarah Avery from the Raleigh News & Observer in regard to the White House health summit. I advised that we should implement a health care system that covers everyone, avoids duplications and inefficiencies that run rampant in our health system today and supports development and implementation of electronic health records. I also shared some of the challenges the UNC Health Care System is facing right now, such as the growing number of uninsured and the increase in the amount of uncompensated care we provide. Read the full article here.