We're excited to share the Public Health Care on Trial video series, with experts David U. Himmelstein M.D., Steffie Woolhandler, M.D and Andrew Longhurst, MA explaining the potential implications of the Cambie Surgical Trial, the most serious threat that our Public Health Care system has ever faced.
The video series consists of four talks:
- Ayendri Riddell, Campaigner at the BC Health Coalition introduces the context for the Cambie Case.
- Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., MPH explains how private insurance companies impact access to health care.
- David U. Himmelstein M.D. explains the costs of a two-tier system and who will pay for them.
- Andrew Longhurst, MA explains the potential impact of the Cambie Case on wait-times and resources.
You can watch the videos below. Click here to download the slides.
About the Speakers
Ayendri Riddell is the Campaigner for the BC Health Coalition.
Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., MPH is a Distinguished Professor at The City University of New York's Hunter College, a primary-care doctor in the South Bronx, and a Lecturer in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where she was formerly Professor of Medicine. She has published more than 150 journal articles, reviews, chapters and books on health policy and is a leading advocate of non-profit national health insurance for the United States She, along with Dr. David Himmelstein co-founded Physicians for a National Health Program. Among her influential scholarly articles are studies on patient dumping (which led to a federal ban on that practice, medical bankruptcy (co-authored with Elizabeth Warren), waste in hospitals and in medicine more generally , the lethality of being uninsured and proposals for single payer health reform.
David U. Himmelstein M.D. is a Distinguished Professor of Public Health at CUNY's Hunter College and a Lecturer in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he was previously a Professor of Medicine. He has authored or co-authored three books and more than 150 journal articles, including widely-cited proposals for single payer health care reform, and studies of patient dumping (which led to the enactment of EMTALA law that banned that practice), the high administrative costs of the U.S. health care system, medical bankruptcy (co-authored with Elizabeth Warren), and the mortal consequences of uninsurance. He co-founded, with Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, Physicians for a National Health Program, whose 22,000 members advocate for non-profit, single payer national health insurance.
Andrew Longhurst, MA is a research associate with the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA–BC), a researcher and policy analyst with the Health Sciences Association of BC and served as senior advisor to the BC Ministry of Health’s Primary and Community Care Research Initiative. He is also a PhD student in the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University, researching health care reform in Canada and internationally. In 2016, he co-authored Reducing Surgical Wait Times: The Case for Public Innovation and Provincial Leadership, a research report published by the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in 2016.