Health Care Reform 2010: A Landmark Achievement for the Future

Abstract

Health Care Reform 2010:A Landmark Achievement for the Future Rahn K. Bailey, MD Introduction Good morning, President Robert M. Franklin of Morehouse College, Board of Trustees, Administrators, faculty, staff, alumni, students, and very importantly to the Class of 1986. As a 1986 alumnus, it brings me great honor and humility to present the 2012 Crown Forum Lecture at Morehouse College, the college known for producing physician leaders, such as former United States Surgeon-General Dr. David Satcher, and Dr. B.K. Edmond, our first MD/JD. I acknowledge your efforts in making Morehouse College what it is, and will continue to be. I pay tribute to you all for what you have done and continue to do, for molding and shaping so many lives, for continuing to inspire and motivate so many young people, for establishing a legacy that will forever endure. I remember Dr. Tom Blocker. I remember Dr. Frederick Map who pulled me aside and talked earnestly to me during our graduating banquet, assuring me that my future was bright, giving me reason to believe in myself. I thank you all very, very much. Let's talk about Health Care Reform It was the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who in a 1966 speech to the Medical Committee for Human Rights said, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." Among the issues that I will address during my presidency of the National Medical Association (NMA), I have identified three key areas that will receive the highest priority. They are Health Care Reform, Disparities, and Stigma. Today I will focus primarily on Health Care Reform. What it is, what it means to YOU, African Americans, why the NMA supports it, and why all African Americans should support it. I speak about Health Care Reform in the context of my abiding principle in life, which is, "Where there are problems, let's solve them." The mission of the NMA is to advance the art and science of medicine for people of African descent through education, advocacy, and health policy. Further, its mission is to promote health and wellness, eliminate health disparities, and sustain physician viability. Although the NMA has focused primarily on health issues related to African Americans and medically underserved populations, its principles, goals, initiatives, and philosophy encompass all ethnic groups. As a result, the NMA promotes health care for all Americans. Personally, as a physician who has cared for the poor and underserved for over 22 years, I believe that health care should be a right for every American irrespective of race, ethnicity, gender, age, or socioeconomic status. [End Page 1] On November 4, 2008 we elected Barack Obama President of the United States. President Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009 and on March 23, 2010 he signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is the landmark health care reform legislation of our generation. As an association, the NMA emphatically supports the Affordable Care Act. It was imperative that the government carry out this reform because the system we had in place was not efficient, not effective, and not equitable. As an example, I started my private practice in 1997. Prior to the ACA, as soon as a patient, for instance, an African American woman with her son, walked into my office, I knew that there was a 1-in-5 chance that they did not have health insurance. As I looked at her, I knew that there was a strong possibility that she worked but was indigent and lived below the poverty line. I would invite her in, knowing that if she had a major form of cancer, there was no guarantee I could promise her a better outcome than 10 years before, even though the cost of that care had grown to over twice what it was then. If she had cancer, I hoped she would be going against the trend, and have come in early, instead of delaying her visit because she could not afford to pay for a health screening visit. I would hope that the child...