An Open Letter to Congress on the Budget for Healthcare Reform We
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In partnership with: An Open Letter to Congress on the Budget for Healthcare Reform We, the undersigned physicians, strongly urge you to support President Obama’s proposed budget for a healthcare reform reserve fund. President Obama has presented a bold blueprint for health reform. It focuses on our most critical priorities: increased access to care that preserves patient choice reduced healthcare costs that would protect Americans from catastrophic medical bills improved quality care through better healthcare systems, information technology, and research. President Obama’s vision combines the best features of our current system with the reforms we need. These proposals and the values they represent are shared by millions of Americans. They are not Democratic or Republican values – they are American values. As physicians, we are at the frontlines of an increasingly fragmented and dysfunctional health care system. We need the tools and freedom to practice medicine as we were trained to do. Our patients need meaningful reform. So do we. The President has proposed an ambitious budget that makes a crucial down payment for health reform. We strongly urge Congress to keep the health reform reserve fund as proposed in the President’s budget. After many decades of false starts, we must make health reform a reality in 2009. About Doctors for America: We are a grassroots physician organization that works to convey the ideas and experiences of physicians to achieve healthcare reform based on four key pillars – affordable coverage, expanded access to care, high quality care, and practice environments that allow physicians to focus on patient care. For more information: Visit our website (http://www.drsforamerica.org) or email us ([email protected]). This campaign was run in partnership with the National Physicians Alliance (NPA, http://npalliance.org) and the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR) / SEIU (http://www.cirseiu.org). Selected Prominent Signatories affiliations are for identification only Eli Adashi, MD, MS Director Professor of Medical Science and Former Dean Center for a Livable Future The Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University John C. Lewin, MD Whitney Addington, MD Chief Executive Officer President Emeritus American College of Cardiology The American College of Physicians Joseph Martin, MD, PhD Bernard S. Arons, MD Dean Emeritus Former Director Harvard Medical School Federal Director of the Center for Mental Health Services, DHHS Dan Morhaim, MD Deputy Majority Leader Jay Berkelhamer, MD Maryland House of Delegates Past President (2006-2007) Faculty American Academy of Pediatrics John Hopkins School of Public Health Andy Calman, MD, PhD Philip Pizzo, MD Founder and National Chair Professor and Dean Physicians for a Democratic Majority Stanford University of Medicine John Clarkson, MD Irwin Redlener, MD Dean Emeritus Professor of Population and Family Health University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health Director Gregory Curfman, MD National Center for Disaster Preparedness Executive Editor President New England Journal of Medicine Children's Health Fund Victor Dzau, MD Steven P. Shelov, MD, MS Chancellor of Health Affairs Chair and Vice President Duke University Maimonides Infats and Children's Hospital of Brooklyn President and CEO Lutheran Medical Center Duke University Health System Walter Tsou, MD, MPH Marla Gold, MD Past President Dean American Public Health Association School of Public Health, Drexel University Barry Zuckerman, MD Robert S. Lawrence, MD Joel and Barbara Alpert Professor Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Health Boston University School of Medicine Policy, and International Health Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Boston Medical Center Doctors for America Open Letter Signatories Page 2 Eva Aagaard, MD Patrick Acuna, MD Elsa Aguilera, MD Internal Medicine Emergency Medicine PM&R, SCI, CWS Associate Professor of Medicine Children's Hospital of Boston Educational Consultant University of Colorado Denver School Brookline, MA VA Boston Healthcare System of Medicine Hingham, MA Aurora, CO Brandy Adams, BA Howard University College of Shahram Ahari Shameem Abbasy, MD Medicine El Cerrito, CA UroGynecology fellow Arlington, VA Loyola University Medical Center Ryan Ahern, MD Candidate Chicago, IL Veronica Ades, MD University of Washington School of Ob/Gyn Medicine Jean Abbott, MD Attending Physician Seattle, WA Professor, Emergency Medicine Boston Medical Center University of Colorado School of Cambridge, MA Tanveer Ahmed, BD, MD Medicine Psychiatrist Boulder, CO John Adesioye, MBChB MSc Simsbury, CT Anesthesiology/Pain Management Matt Abell, BS Medical Director - Anesthesia Nafis Ahmed, MD Southern Illinois University School of Services Hospital of the University of Medicine Holzer Medical Center - Jackson Pennsylvania Carbondale, IL Jackson, OH Springfield, VA Benjamin Abella, MD Yalda Afshar Aneela Ahmed, MD Emergency Med University of Illinois at Chicago Psychiatry Assistant Professor College of Medicine Lafayette, CA University of Pennsylvania Chicago, IL Ardmore, PA Nida Ahmed Saba Aftab, BS, MD Chicago, IL Jennifer Abrams, BS Otolaryngology University of Rochester School of Resident Physician Simon Ahtaridis, MD, MPH Medicine & Dentistry University Hospitals of Cleveland Internal Medicine Rochester, NY Beachwood, OH Hospitalist Jamaica Plain, MA Muhammed Absar, MD Prakhar Agarwal, MD Neuro-Psychiatry Tufts University School of Medicine Behrooz Akbarnia, MD Tufts Medical School Medford, MA Orthopaedic Surgeon Boston, MA Medical Director Oji Agbai Ii SDCSD Krishika Acharya, MD Candidate Morehouse School of Medicine La Jolla, CA University of Virginia Mableton, GA Charlottesville, VA Matthew Akiyama, MD Anna Aggarwal, MD St-George's University Kathryn Ackerman, MD, MPH Nephrologist Brooklyn, NY Endocrinology and Sports Medicine Danville, CA Instructor Jeffrey Akman, MD Harvard Medical School Modupe Agueh Psychiatry Cambridge, MA Decatur, GA Leon M Yochelson Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry & About Doctors for America: We are a grassroots physician organization that works to convey the ideas and experiences of physicians to achieve healthcare reform based on four key pillars – affordable coverage, expanded access to care, high quality care, and practice environments that allow physicians to focus on patient care. For more information: Visit our website (http://www.drsforamerica.org) or email us ([email protected]). This campaign was run in partnership with the National Physicians Alliance (NPA, http://npalliance.org) and the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR) / SEIU (http://www.cirseiu.org). Behavioral Sciences Associaters Panagiota Andreopoulou, MD George Washington University Arlington, MA Endocrinology Washington, DC Fellow Carole Allen, MD NIH Khaldoon Alaswad, MD Director of Pediatrics Chevy Chase, MD Cardiovascular Harvard Vanguard Medical Appleton Cardiology Associates Associaters Valerie Andrews, MD Appleton, WI Arlington, MA Surgical Oncology Assistant Professor of Surgery Hannah Albert, ND Bashar Almadani, MD, MPH UTSW Naturopathic Physician Internal Medicine Dallas, TX Fertile Ground Holistic Health Resident Seattle, WA OSU Trisha Anest, BA, MPH Dublin, OH San Antonio, TX Matt Alexander Columbia University Mously Almoza, MD Linda Ann, ND New York, NY Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Prevention Resident Lompoc, CA Leah Alexander, MD Columbia University Pediatrician Norristown, PA Dr. David Annan Fairview, NJ Bronx, NY Saadah Alrajab, MD, MPH Dr. Nicole Alexander Medicine, Geriatrics Renaisa Anthony, MD, MPH Providence, RI Private Practice and Hospitalist Faculty Hanford Community Medical Center, George Washington University Gregory Alfred, MD and Fresno Community Medical Rockville, MD Attending Canter Visalia, CA Miami Beach, FL Pierre Aoukar, MD Cardiology Fellow Kingsley Aliu, BS, MD Justin Altschuler University of Washington Nuclear Medicine/ Internal Medicine UCSF Seattle, WA Resident Physician San Francisco, CA Loyola University Health System/JFK Mark Apfel, MD Medical Ctr., Atlantis, FL Dr. Alai Alvarez Family Practice Chicago, IL New York, NY Medical Director Anderson Valley Health Center Gary Allegretta, MD Prashant Amin Philo, CA Palliative Care Smyrna, GA Maine Medical Center Kelli Applegate, MD Portland, ME Asha Anandaiah, MD Jeffersonville, IN Cambridge, MA Martha Allen, MD Shirelle Applin, MD American Medical Student Gowri Anandarajah, MD Family Medicine Association Family Medicine Private Practice / Group Kansas City, KS Residency Program Director Kettering Medical Center Warren Alpert Medical School of Dayton, OH Michelle Allen Brown University UC Irvine Barrington, RI Jonathan Arend, MD Irvine, CA Assistant Professor of Internal Brett Anderson, MD/MBA Medicine Caitlin Allen, BS Pediatric Resident St Vincents Catholic Medical Center University of Washington Children's Hospital of Philadelphia New York, NY Seattle, WA Philadelphia, PA Jonathan Arend, MD Carole Allen, MD Justin Anderson, MD Internal Medicine Director of Pediatrics Emergency Medicine Assistant Professor Harvard Vanguard Medical Harbor-UCLA Medical Center St Vincents Catholic Medical Center Redondo Beach, CA New York, NY Doctors for America Open Letter Signatories Page 4 Que Areste, ND IMMC Sarah Baker, DO Family Physician Des Moines, IA Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Que Areste N.D. Medicine Seattle, WA Louis Auguste, MD Philadelphia, PA Surgical Oncology