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.

Yesterday President Obama announced his nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and his appointment of Nancy-Ann DeParle as Counselor to the President and Director of the White House Office for Health Reform.