Healthcare and All Things Presidential
It was another busy week in Washington. As anyone knows who even catches a glimpse of the news, healthcare is THE topic right now in Washington. The Hudson Institute, a public policy think tank, hosted a discussion on health care reform Monday evening. Canadian author Brian Lee Crowley discussed his views on government controlled healthcare system from his experiences in Canada. Since I am Canadian (and American, too), I couldn’t wait to hear his thoughts! From what he had to say, government involvement in healthcare, like what has been proposed in the bill passed by the house, is not necessarily all good- definitely some food for thought.
The second event for the evening, hosted by the University of California, was a moderated discussion with Adam Nagourney, the chief national political correspondent for The New York Times. It was fascinating to hear the opinions of a relative insider on the Obama campaign, party strategy and how President Obama is doing so far. It was a good overview of Presidential policy for a newbie such as myself!
Tuesday, I attended the One Health Commission Summit at the National Academy of Sciences. If you haven’t heard, One Health is a strategic collaboration of health care professionals and scientists to improve human health, animal health and environmental health. As evidenced by the H1N1 influenza A pandemic, we need to see the bigger picture when deciding how best to prevent or control zoonotic diseases. Treating the human populations while ignoring an animal reservoir or vice versa is not an effective plan. The summit had speakers from multiple areas, including the CDC, USDA, and FDA. I met multiple DVMs working for government agencies and in academia. The dean of one of the vet schools even asked for my card. Hmm, new job, maybe?! We’ll see!
-Tara Marmulak