The Health Care Council’s Academic Partner, UCI College of Medicine, is featuring a topic of prime importance to all Council members and friends.  Health Care Council member, Don McCanne, M.D., is one of the featured speakers.   Come to the 8^th Annual Tamkin Symposium on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 from 8:30am to 4:30pm.  For further information, contact the UCI Office of Continuing Education at 949-824-8909 or on the web at www.cme.uci.edu

View the 8^th Annual Tamkin Symposium Flyer [PDF]

Health Care for All: Is the Dream Possible?

    This year marks the 8th Annual Tamkin Symposium. The Tamkin gift was bestowed by Dr. S. Jerome and Judith D. Tamkin to support the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine educational programs on topics which focus on current events in health care. Thanks to this gen­erous gift, we are able to offer this symposium. The sym­posium this year entitled, “Health Care for All: Is the Dream Possible?” features many distinguished speakers who will discuss and debate universal health care and issues surrounding health care access for all. We are honored to have as our keynote speaker Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., Chair of the Sullivan Commission and former U.S. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

    Today’s cost of health care is extremely high (unaf­fordable for many) and most Americans believe the United States is experiencing a health care crisis. Managed competition has not worked as expected and the price of health care continues to soar. Additionally, the number of employers providing health care coverage continues to decrease with the resultant social and labor related con­sequences. More than 50 million people nationwide— over 6 million in

California—have no health insurance. This lack of adequate coverage has led to inappropriate, expensive and very episodic medical care. The increasing price of pharmaceuticals has made them unaffordable for many. Approximately one half of the personal bankruptcies in the U.S. are attributable to costs associated with medical illness and insufficient or non-existent health insurance. Many traditional U.S. industries are no longer able to compete in international markets due to the rising cost of health insurance.

    These are just some of the issues related to our present health care crisis. There is a need for dramatic change in health care funding and administration. This year, the Tamkin Symposium will examine universal health care in the U.S. Participants will have an opportunity to interact with our distinguished guest speakers and discuss the controversial issues surrounding universal health care.

    The conference will be of special interest to public policy makers, hospital administrators, insurance com­pany executives, physicians, nurses and other health care professionals, community industry and other employers. 

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