The NEOMED student organization, Students for a National Health Program, will host a debate on Medicare for All, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 5, in Watakunakorn Auditorium.
The debate features three panelists who represent different perspectives on what is ailing the U.S. health care system, and how to fix it. The panelists are from the Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA), Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and the Benjamin Rush Institute (BRI).
The program is free and open to the entire NEOMED community.
PANELISTS
Representing PNHP
Jonathan Ross, M.D., M.P.H., associate clinical professor of internal medicine at the University of Toledo, currently practices and teaches general internal medicine at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, a teaching hospital in Toledo, Ohio. He has served as chairman of the department of Internal Medicine at St. Vincent. Dr. Ross is a past president of Physicians for a National Health Program, a national health reform group with over 17,000 members. His experience inside the health insurance industry convinced him of the logic and need for a national health insurance program. Through his involvement with PNHP, Dr. Ross has participated in numerous debates on health care policy and is aptly identified among his peers as an authority on the topic of single payer health care. Dr. Ross graduated from Cornell University and received his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio at Toledo. He also has a master’s degree in health policy and administration from the School of Public Health of the University of Michigan. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Medical College of Ohio at Toledo.
Representing OSMA
Todd Baker currently serves as the CEO of the Ohio State Medical Association, a professional organization that lobbies for Ohio physicians. Previously, he served as the organization's senior director of professional relations, and later co-CEO. Through his involvement with the OSMA, Baker has led physician education on health care policy, with the expansion of roles for physicians as well as the expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. The OSMA is opposed to single-payer reform but supports expanded patient coverage through the ACA with increased government subsidies. Baker graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in economics and then went on to study at the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, where he got a master’s degree in public affairs.
Representing BRI
William Reynolds (Reyn) Archer III, M.D., policy consultant, former Texas Health Commissioner, and former Congressional Chief of Staff, is a seasoned physician with experience in health finance, delivery and outcomes at the state, federal and international levels. During his time as the Texas Health Commissioner, a Congressional Chief of Staff, and policy consultant, Dr. Archer has worked to refine federal and state regulations, advocating for legislation and appropriations that expand access to improved medical treatment. Among his many achievements, Dr. Archer helped: develop the Neighborhood Health Initiative in North Omaha with African American community leadership and CyncHealth based on HR 660: Community Health Improvement and Leadership Act; wrote and led passage of the ACT for ALS of 2021; catalyzed creation of health savings accounts, which was part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2003; and led state implementation of S-CHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) in Texas.
MODERATORS
Representing SNAHP
Second-year medicine student Mohammad Fahad Butt graduated from The Ohio State University majoring in neuroscience and minoring in bioethics. He has a passion for economics, ethics and sociology as it relates to health care.
First-year medicine student Rayhan Asif graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in biomedical science.