PNHP

Sanjeev K. Sriram, MD, MPH

Sanjeev K. Sriram, MD, MPH

Pediatric Medicine

Dr. Sanjeev Sriram practices general pediatrics in Maryland at a federally qualified health center. He is a nationally known advocate for health care justice and racial equity, serving on the board of Physicians for National Health Program, as a Senior Advisor for Social Security Works, and as the leader of the “All Means All” campaign to make racial equity a cornerstone of a future national health program. Dr. Sriram has been a contributor to The Huffington Post, The Hill, Common Dreams, Rewire, We Act Radio, and ACT-TV. 

Dr. Sriram completed his medical degree and residency at UCLA, where he served as chief resident at the Department of Pediatrics. He earned his masters in public health after completing the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Eve Shapiro, MD, MPH

Pediatric Medicine

Dr. Eve Shapiro is a pediatrician in Tucson, AZ, where she ran a private practice specializing in adolescent medicine for over 30 years. She also served as clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Since selling her practice, Dr. Shapiro has been practicing part time and serving in leadership positions with Physicians for a National Health Program and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Dr. Shapiro earned her medical degree at SUNY Upstate Medical University; she completed her residency in pediatrics at the University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital and at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, NY, followed by a fellowship in adolescent medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and an MPH at the University of Arizona College of Public Health.

Liz McCord, MD

Addiction Psychiatry

Dr. Liz McCord is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University in Atlanta. She also serves as an adjunct faculty member for the University of California-Irvine Train New Trainers Fellowship, helping health care professionals improve the delivery of addiction care in their practices. Dr. McCord’s primary clinical and scholarly focus is the treatment of addiction through an integrative approach, developed from her background in both internal medicine and psychiatry. Her articles have been published in a number of leading journals, including the Journal of ECT, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, and Journal of Surgery.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Dr. McCord earned her medical degree at LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans, then moved to Emory University in Atlanta where she completed her residency in internal medicine and psychiatry, served as the ambulatory chief resident for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, and completed a fellowship in addiction psychiatry.

She is a proud advocate for Medicare for All and human rights.

Monica Maalouf, MD

Internal Medicine

Dr. Monica Maalouf is a physician and associate professor of medicine at the Stritch School of Medicine and associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency at Loyola University Chicago. She practices primary care with a specific focus on marginalized communities and women’s health. Dr. Maalouf teaches medical students and residents about health inequities, social determinants of health, and health advocacy. She has spoken at multiple conferences and published essays regionally and nationally about health care policy.

Dr. Maalouf earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago; she completed medical school at the University of Minnesota and her residency training in internal medicine at New York University (NYU) and Bellevue Hospital. She is fluent in English, Spanish, and Arabic.

Karen Hochman, MD, MPH

Psychiatry

Dr. Karen Hochman serves as medical director of the Substance Abuse Evaluation, Stabilization and Placement Program at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Atlanta. She also serves as assistant professor in the Emory University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. 

Dr. Hochman earned her medical degree at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, and completed her residency in psychiatry at the University of Manitoba Hospitals and the University of Toronto, followed by a clinical fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and a master of public health from Emory University in Atlanta. Having practiced medicine in both the U.S. and Canada, Dr. Hochman is a strong supporter of a single-payer national health program and serves as co-chair of PNHP’s Georgia chapter.

Mindy Guo, MD, MPH

Internal Medicine

Dr. Mindy Guo is an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Her previous experience includes providing primary care for several FQHCs serving underserved and uninsured patients, including immigrant and refugee populations. Dr. Guo earned her medical and MPH degrees at Washington University in St. Louis, followed by a family medicine residency at St. Louis University. Dr. Guo is a strong advocate for universal health care, and has served on the board of Missouri Physicians for a National Health Program and the St. Louis Academy of Family Physicians.

Scott Goldberg, MD

Internal Medicine

Dr. Scott Goldberg is a Rheumatology fellow at NYU Langone Medical Center. He previously served as an attending physician and assistant professor of General Internal Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, and was core faculty in the Primary Care/Social Internal Medicine Residency program. Dr. Goldberg earned his medical degree at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and completed residency in internal medicine-primary care at UC-San Francisco. 

Dr. Goldberg is a longtime advocate for Medicare for All: As a medical student, he co-founded a chapter of Students for a National Health Program, and as a working physician he serves on the national board of Physicians for a National Health Program.

Missing Teeth – The Odd Isolation of Dental Insurance

Summary: Our favorite absurdity-revealing ophthalmologist comedian again sinks his teeth into our health insurance morass.

Glaucomflecken Explains: What’s So Special About Teeth?, video, 2 minutes, by Dr. Glaucomflecken

The American Dental Association (ADA) successfully resisted participating in Medicare in the 1960s. Today, medical insurance has an out-of-pocket maximum for policyholders, whereas with dental insurance the maximum is for the insurer. Also, eye care insurance is separated from vision care. It doesn’t make any sense. That’s US healthcare in a nutshell. We make things way more complicated than they need to be.

Comment:

By Jim Kahn, M.D., M.P.H.

I adore Dr. Glaucomflecken … always brief, funny, and laser-like to the essence of an issue.

My experience as a patient, and discussions with my dentist, suggest that one major dental insurer (Delta) is steadily ratcheting down coverage. Fewer procedures covered, with higher copays, and annual benefit limits reached more quickly. Lower payments for providers, I’m told. It would be far cheaper to travel to another country and pay full out of pocket. I’m beginning to wonder about the value proposition of having dental insurance.

Guess what? Dental (and vision) care would be entirely covered under single payer. Full payment just like for medical care. That’s a version of “one size fits all” that everyone can endorse!

http://healthjusticemonitor.org…

Stay informed! Subscribe to the McCanne Health Justice Monitor to receive regular policy updates via email, and be sure to follow them on Twitter @HealthJustMon.

Older Adults Struggle with Medical Costs … while Private Insurers Profit

Summary: Reports from two leading foundations find that older adults – those insured privately and those in Medicare – face huge financial challenges to getting health care. Our system built on private insurance has failed. It’s time for public insurance administration: single payer.

Can Older Adults with Employer Coverage Afford Their Health Care?, The Commonwealth Fund, August 10, 2023, by Lauren A. Haynes & Sara R. Collins

Among older adults with employer coverage:

  • Nearly half of lower-income older adults, and more than one-third of those with moderate income, said it was very or somewhat difficult to afford their premiums.
  • Fifty-four percent of those with low income and nearly one-third with moderate income were underinsured, meaning that they had high out-of-pocket costs and/or deductibles relative to their income.
  • Nearly half of those with low income reported skipping or delaying needed care because of cost.
  • Difficulties paying medical bills and paying off medical debt loads affected 44 percent of older adults with low income and two of five of those with moderate income.
  • Sixty-three percent of those who struggled with medical bills and debt were not confident they have enough money to retire – more than double the rate for older adults without problems paying their medical bills.

The survey data in this brief indicate employer health insurance is failing many older adults, especially those with low and moderate incomes.

Medicare Households Spend More on Health Care Than Other Households, KFF, July 19, 2023, by Nancy Ochieng, Juliette Cubanski, & Anthony Damico

The health care spending burden was twice as large for Medicare households than for non-Medicare households in 2021, measured by average health care spending as a share of total household spending, and one in three Medicare households spend at least 20% of their household budgets on health care.

With health care use increasing with age and income falling as people retire, it’s not unexpected that health care is a bigger cost burden for Medicare households.

Comment:

By Don McCanne, M.D.

It is hardly a wonder why we have problems with health care financing in the United States when these studies show that two of our best programs – employer-sponsored health plans for employees and their families, and Medicare for the retired and long-term disabled – fail to provide adequate financial protection for the medical needs of older Americans. Since these are amongst our best insurance, how can we possibly expect the rest of the system to work well for us?

We are already spending enough money to provide all reasonable, beneficial health care for everyone without inducing financial hardship on anyone. Obviously we are doing something very wrong. Economists Liran Einav and Amy Finkelstein recently pointed us in the right direction by proposing that we cover everyone automatically with care that is free – no premiums, no deductibles, no copays. Instead, the system should be financing equitably by progressive taxation. That way it is affordable for everyone. The universal “basic” insurance needs to cover all reasonable, beneficial health care, though defining “basic” is fraught.

This situation reflects a serious conundrum with health care financing in the US. Even though two-thirds of health care dollars come from the government, we rely mainly on private health insurance administrators. This includes Medicare Advantage, Medicaid managed care, and private insurance including for government workers. The insurers’ mission is to move a large slice of our health care dollars to CEO salaries and shareholders. This aligns with the American ideology of wealth building, creating more billionaires than our international competitors.

Come now. Should that be the primary mission of our health care administrators? Of course not! Their primary mission should be to move health care to the people, the patients, all of the patients, and they need to use our health care dollars to do that. Our current system has demonstrated beyond any doubt whatsoever that private administrators have been and always will be on the wrong mission, and we need to replace them with public administrators who will always pursue a mission for the public good.

It will be our public administrators who will have the mission to cover care that is reasonable, beneficial, and at the right prices. Single payer!

It’s the public administrators that I want running the program that will take care of financing the health of me and my family, thank you!

http://healthjusticemonitor.org…

Stay informed! Subscribe to the McCanne Health Justice Monitor to receive regular policy updates via email, and be sure to follow them on Twitter @HealthJustMon.

Samuel Dickman, MD

Internal Medicine

Dr. Samuel Dickman is a practicing internist, abortion provider, and health policy researcher. He currently serves as the chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of Montana and a research scientist for the City University of New York Research Foundation. Dr. Dickman previously worked as medical director for Primary Care at Planned Parenthood South Texas. 

Dr. Dickman conducts research on inequality in the health care system, reproductive health, and substance use, and has published findings in JAMA, the New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, and The Lancet. Since 2017, he has served as a commissioner on the Lancet Commission on U.S. Public Policy and Health. Dr. Dickman has also served as an expert witness and consultant in legal cases involving immigration, asylum, and reproductive care. His opinion pieces have been published in major news outlets such as The New York Times and The Guardian.

Dr. Dickman earned his medical degree from Harvard, and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (SF General Hospital).

Richard Bruno, MD, MPH, FAAFP, FACPM, AAHIVS

Family and Preventive Medicine

Dr. Richard Bruno is a double-boarded family and preventive medicine physician, serving as the senior medical director for primary care at Central City Concern, a federally-qualified health center that focuses on health care for the homeless in Portland, Oregon. His main clinical focuses are on HIV, gender affirming care, obesity, and opioid use disorder, with involvement in community public health interventions and policies, including cooking classes for kids and legislation expanding access to medication for opioid use disorder. 

Dr. Bruno is a longtime advocate for health care access, and has served on the board of the American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Preventive Medicine, Physicians for a National Health Program, Doctors for America, Committee to Protect Medicare, American Association of Public Health Physicians, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sugar Free Kids Maryland, Maryland Academy of Family Physicians, and the Oregon Prescription Drug Affordability Board. 

Dr. Bruno earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, medical degree from Oregon Health and Science University, and MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He completed his residency in family and preventive medicine MedStar Franklin Square and Johns Hopkins.

George Bohmfalk, MD

Neurosurgery

Dr. George Bohmfalk is a retired neurosurgeon and health care advocate. He previously worked as a neurosurgeon in Texarkana, Texas and served as a clinical professor in neurosurgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr. Bohmfalk’s research has been published in journals such as JAMA, Cancer, and the Journal of Neurosurgery. Dr. Bohmfalk attended medical school and completed his neurosurgery residency at the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio. He serves as chair of Health Care Justice – NC, the Charlotte, North Carolina chapter of PNHP.

Dr. Bohmfalk has spoken to many groups around the country including the Texas Association of Neurological Surgeons.