Public health school hosts event on the state of health care

As debate continues about the future of the country's health-care system, state Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene Joshua Sharfstein spoke at a lecture on the campus yesterday to share the direction he believes the system needs to take.

There are about 733,000 uninsured people in the state, all subject to a system with rising costs and no easy way to lower them, Sharfstein said to about 50 faculty and graduate students at "Controlling the Cost of Health Care: Opportunities for Public Health Innovation," a discussion held in the Eppley Recreation Center.

Hospitals currently operate under a business structure that demands they keep their beds full to make a profit, but more preventative care is needed to keep people out of the hospitals in the first place, he said.

"We have to think about the people in the community," Sharfstein said. "We must ask, ‘What is the health benefit of [health-care policies] and how can we maximize it?'"

Public health school Dean Robert Gold said the school sought to bring leaders in the field, such as Sharfstein, to the campus to help educate the university community on health-care issues.

"It is critical to know that in the presence of escalating cost we can't keep doing the same thing," Gold said. "Dr. Sharfstein is at the forefront of enormous innovation at a time of great challenge."

Public health graduate student Rebecca Rehr said she left the talk feeling confident.

"He made me feel optimistic about the system we have in place and where we're going with it," she said.

But other university students did not share Rehr's sentiments. Daniel Stewart, a freshman English majorsaid after his father lost his job, his family had trouble finding a new health-care provider.

Freshman biology major John Krstacic said health care was a major concern for his family, as his father suffers from multiple sclerosis.

"Even with health insurance, we still have to pay thousands of dollars per month for the medication that he needs," Krstacic said. "If there were some sort of medical system that could help aid us in paying for his medication, that would be great."

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