BPC's Matt Canedy Speaks to Student Leaders about Healthcare Reform
Published By: The Wall Street Journal
October 9, 2008
Student
Leaders Vow to Launch Grassroots College
Movement to Reform
Healthcare
October 9,
2008
NASHVILLE,
Tenn., Oct 09, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via
COMTEX/ -- 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 .
SOURCE
SHOUTAmerica
