Friends reforming health care

Apr 25, 2013

Just sat down with the May 2013 issue of The Atlantic and I admit I was lamenting the slimness of the issue, recalling the thick issues that used to come to me on Paama or in Lakewood or even when I first lived in Carrboro in 2001.

But then I turned to page 64 and the start of How Not to Die, a feature about Harvard physician Angelo Volandes. Hey, I know him, I thought. Back in April 2002, and then again seven years later, Angelo came to Durham with my college buddy, Elmer Abbo, to attend Double Take (now the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival). Both times, Angelo and Elmer and Erin and I sat and talked at length — blogs posts here and here) — with those two brilliant docs sharing their plans and dreams to reform health care.

Now Angelo is being profiled in the Atlantic for the film he’s making to show what unwanted care at the end of life s really like. And Elmer was a leader in a bid to create a health insurance co-op in Illinois; his group, SimpleHx, was unsuccessful, but I know he’ll be back.

Health care reform is a huge issue. I’m seeing it from the inside (I work in an academic medical center), and Erin’s got her perspective (as a health care attorney working within Medicare reguations). Recently, I finished the long and eye-opening article by Steven Brill, which offered a detailed look in the high price of health care in America. Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us is a must read. Seriously. Get to a library and find it.

But read about Angelo first.

Anton Zuiker ☄