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CaHPSA E-Newsletter
Volume 1, Issue 4
The Need for National Healthcare Reform
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Why Do We Need Universal Healthcare?
Making a Case for National Healthcare Reform
Millions of Americans lack access to adequate, equitable, and affordable healthcare. Unlike other wealthy, developed nations the United States does not guarantee healthcare for its citizens. Even after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, nearly 30 million Americans are still without coverage. CaHPSA’s mission is to impart leadership and advocacy skills to medical, graduate, public health, pre-medical, and pre-health students in college campuses across California. Through empowerment, CaHPSA aims to make students agents of change in their communities and beyond to advocate for a better healthcare system by engaging in the national healthcare debate. Students are encouraged to explore how to improve our current system and consider aspects such as those presented in this newsletter to inspire them to participate in this debate.
 Matthew Musselman, a fourth-year medical student at Touro University California and a CaHPSA Advisor, believes that healthcare reform has been a top concern in America for decades because past reforms did not transform our healthcare system into a truly universal, just, and compassionate system. He reflects on the lack of universal healthcare in America:
"Lack of universal healthcare is an egregious scourge on our society, a form of structural violence and racism that cannot be allowed to continue. Protecting healthcare as a human right is a bare minimum to fundamentally transforming our healthcare system away from corporate greed and inequity toward a system rooted in compassion that promotes health justice. National healthcare reform is nothing new on the national political stage over the past several decades. The reason 'healthcare reform' persists as top headlines as we enter 2020 is because those with power have not acknowledged, let alone addressed, the deep problems in American healthcare. Thus, our 'healthcare reform' woes have continued to fester like an open wound. The ACA was like a topical antibiotic ointment, it didn't really touch the infection. Now, with the slow dismantling of the ACA, the ointment has dried up. This metaphor is to say that people are in pain, the violence perpetuated by unequal treatment of our healthcare systems is not benign, and structural change (IV antibiotics) is the only way out." |
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National Healthcare Reform Proposals
With healthcare consistently emerging as a top issue for voters, there is a real sense of urgency among Americans for healthcare reform. Faced with medical debts, rising costs, inequities, and lack of coverage, people are demanding change. As a response, elected officials at the federal level and presidential hopefuls are addressing healthcare as a priority.
 Zachary Nicholas, a fourth-year medical student at California Northstate University and a CaHPSA Advisor, reflects on the importance of reform that will lead to a universal healthcare system:
"The current status of healthcare in the United States is a Kafkaesque creation that is sustained on the backs of those who suffer most and a nightmare for patients and providers alike. A universalized system which guarantees a standard of care to every individual is the cornerstone of a compassionate and thriving society. Such a future is possible and necessary, opposed only by those who will forfeit their political and financial exploitation of patients. Popular opinion indicates that people have become increasingly aware of our labyrinthine and financially unsustainable healthcare system. It is vital that candidates who purport healthcare values demonstrate alternatives as viable options for a improved society in an open forum. Bankruptcy, co-pays and premiums, in-network and out-of-network, people are fed up and their calls for change will no longer be ignored. The general populace recognize the inherent conflict of interest of market-based healthcare coverage and the inevitable monopolization of providers. With improved international communication and free exchange of information, people are questioning the values and outcomes of our system and witnessing the improved care at lower cost provided to citizens throughout the world. We can and must do better.”
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Stay tuned for our next issue of the CaHPSA E-Newsletter!
Issue 1 available here
Issue 2 available here
Issue 3 available here
Questions? Contact us
CaHPSA is the student section of California Physicians Alliance (CaPA).
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