With health care on the minds of all Americans these days, Bradley students got to hear from a professional about healthcare industry.
Various members of the Bradley community gathered early Tuesday morning to attend the 38th annual McCord Lecture, which featured Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center administrator James Weinstein as the speaker.
After opening remarks from university officials, including University President Joanne Glasser, who ensured the audience that they were in for a “fabulous, fabulous treat,” Weinstein took the stage and wasted no time in sharing his expertise and views on a controversial topic.
Weinstein’s lecture, entitled “Health Care: A Model T in a Tesla World”, focused on the growing amount of inequality and inefficiency within the health care industry today, and what actions need to be taken to improve its current state.
“There aren’t many things that affect every person on the planet,” Weinstein said. “Health care is one of them.”
According to Weinstein, America is ranked 27th in the world for quality health care and first for cost.
In determining who is to blame for allowing the national health care system to reach such startling highs and lows, Weinstein said we are all at fault for not taking action when necessary.
“We never take on social issues because we are afraid to do anything about it,” he said.
Weinstein spent the rest of his time sharing different methods and actions that he said he believes the country should adopt to improve the health industry for later generations.
He stressed that technology for patients to communicate with their doctors from home is the future, as opposed to building more hospitals and other facilities.
He also mentioned that lowering the cost of coverage, improving its quality and “realizing that we’re not the best at everything” is imperative to brightening the outlook of health care.
Most importantly, Weinstein called for not only the government, but the American people to work together and change the system forever.
“It’s not about their race, their color or their gender,” Weinstein said, referencing the cohesion seen within an orchestra. “It’s about reading the music, coming together and playing a great piece. And we all enjoy that. The same thing is possible with health care. We just need to get on the same sheet of music.”
