Student Leaders Vow To Launch Grassroots College Movement To Reform Healthcare, USA

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 10 Oct 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Student government leaders from around the country this week pledged to start a grassroots healthcare reform movement at their colleges and universities. They made the pledge during a three-day conference in Nashville sponsored by SHOUTAmerica, a new non-partisan, non-profit group dedicated to engaging young people in the national dialogue on healthcare reform.

"As a political science major, I've seen issues in history where the public didn't know what was going on, but the situation was so dire that Congress had to act," said Kenneth Taylor, representing the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature. "The question is: Does it have to get that dire before something is done about healthcare?"

Expert speakers included Matt Canedy, Director of Healthcare Policy at the DC-based Bipartisan Policy Center, who told students, "If we don't do something, our healthcare system could be facing the same kind of crisis that Wall Street faces."

Other speakers included U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a co-sponsor of the Healthy Americans Act, currently the most popular piece of healthcare legislation on Capitol Hill. U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, also a supporter of the Healthy Americans Act, spoke about the grave realities of the healthcare crisis, alluding to its contribution in today's $54 trillion fiscal gap. Additionally, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Chair of the Department of Clinical Bioethics at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health, former member of President Clinton's Healthcare Task Force and author of "Healthcare, Guaranteed: A Simple, Secure Solution for America," outlined his own proposal for comprehensive reform called the, "Guaranteed Healthcare Access Plan."

At the end of the conference, students signed a "Declaration of Commitment" to healthcare reform. Landon Gibbs, Executive Director and co-founder of SHOUTAmerica, said the group has posted it at http://www.shoutamerica.com and hopes to get a million signatures.

SHOUTAmerica was co-founded by Clayton McWhorter, Chairman of Clayton Associates, former Chairman and CEO of HealthTrust, Inc., former COO of Hospital Corp. of America and a veteran healthcare executive.

SHOUTAmerica is a non-profit, non-partisan organization committed to engaging a new generation of Americans in the debate over the future of healthcare. For more information, please go to http://www.shoutamerica.com

SHOUTAmerica