Take a Tour of Dr. Oliver Fein's June 2010 Visit to New Hampshire !!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE       
June 08, 2010             

Contacts: 
Oliver Fein, M.D.
Tom Clairmont, M.D., Portsmouth
Rob Keifner, M.D., Concord
Ken Dolkart, M.D., Grantham
Barbara Power, R.N., Deering
Ali Thebert, PNHP

Leading advocate of Medicare for All to speak in New Hampshire this week

Administration’s new health bill entrenches private industry, won’t solve health care crisis, says Dr. Oliver Fein

One of the nation’s leading advocates of Medicare for All, Dr. Oliver Fein of New York, will be in New Hampshire beginning Thursday, June 10, for an ambitious schedule of meetings and public forums with physicians, medical students and the public regarding the recent federal health bill and the continued need for a single-payer Medicare-for-All system. See below for public schedule. Fein is being hosted by the Granite State chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.

Fein is available for interview before and during his visit to comment on the implications of the new health legislation and single-payer national health insurance.

Fein is critical of the new health bill. “The legislation is a handout to a the private health insurance industry which makes billions in profits by denying claims, cancelling coverage and raising premiums,” states Fein. “The only way to end health insurance industry abuse is through the creation of a national health insurance system, an expanded and improved Medicare for All.” 

Dr. Tom Clairmont, a Portsmouth physician and local chapter leader, says, “Harvard researchers have found that over 75 percent of those bankrupted for medical reasons had health insurance when they became sick. The best and most cost-effective way to provide universal health care coverage to everyone is through a single-payer system, or as some like to call it, “Medicare for All.”

Barbara Power, a nurse in Deering, says, "We have not achieved health care reform in the United States, nor are we even heading down a path to reach that goal.  Unfortunately we have enacted a law which will allow a massive transfer of public wealth to private corporations at the expense of all citizens, businesses, and our economic stability."   

Dr. Ken Dolkart of Grantham, says, “There is a moral imperative to provide tested and quality systems of health care for all of our fellow citizens. Against the backdrop of falling middle-class income, unbridled health insurer CEO salaries and a Washington awash in health industry money, it’s time to expand Medicare to everyone without exception.”

Single-payer national health insurance would save $400 billion annually currently squandered on excessive insurance paperwork — enough to cover all the nation’s 46 million uninsured.

Fein is the president of Physicians for a National Health Program, a nonprofit organization of over 17,000 physicians who support single-payer national health insurance. He is a general internist and a professor of clinical medicine and clinical public health at Weill Medical College at Cornell University in New York. Last year he was invited to attend President Obama’s White House Summit on health care reform as a health policy expert. Fein was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow during 1993-1994, when he worked in the office of Senate Democratic Majority Leader George Mitchell. He is the immediate past vice president of the American Public Health Association.

For an interview with Dr. Oliver Fein, contact Ali Thebert, communications assistant, (312) 782-6006.

Dr. Fein’s speaking events include:

The Business Community’s Need for Medicare for All
Thursday, June 10, Noon-1:00 p.m.
Portsmouth Rotary Club
Redhook Ale Brewery
35 Corporate Drive
Portsmouth, NH 03801

What’s in the new health bill? Where does health reform go from here?
Thursday, June 10, 3:00- 4:30 p.m.
Frank Jones Center
400 Route 1 Bypass
Portsmouth, NH 03801

Dinner reception for Granite State PNHP, Keynote by Dr. Fein
Thursday, June 10, 6:30- 8:30 p.m.
Evergreen Center
Centerra Park
Lebanon, NH 03766
Single-payer activists welcome. RSVP by email to ali@pnhp.org or call (312) 782-6006.

Dr. Fein on The Rationale for Single-Payer Health Care
Friday, June 11, 8:00 a.m.
Grand Rounds at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

What’s in the new health bill? Where does health reform go from here?
Friday, June 11, 11 a.m.
Lunch medical student presentation
Dartmouth Medical School
Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755

Implications of Health Bill for Physicians and Patients
Friday, June 11, 5:30 p.m.
Conference room A of the Payson Center at Concord Hospital, Concord
Concord, NH 03301

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Thank you from Granite State PNHP

The Granite State Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) would like to thank the groups and organizations who sponsored and supported the June 10-11 Visit from Dr. Oliver Fein – President PNHP.

We are enormously grateful for support from the following centers who hosted our exciting events during Dr. Fein’s NH June 2010 tour:

• The Portsmouth Rotary Club – Portsmouth, NH
• The Frank Jones Conference Center,  Portsmouth, NH
• The Dartmouth Hitchcock Aging Resource Center
• Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center – Department of Internal Medicine
• Dartmouth Medical School and its students
• Dartmouth College
• Concord Hospital – Payson Center,  Concord, NH

Sincerely,

Thomas Clairmont, MD,  Co-Chair Granite State Chapter PNHP

Barbara J. Power RN, MBA, CNRN,  Co-Chair Granite State Chapter PNHP

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Biography of Dr. Oliver Fein

Dr. Oliver Fein is a general internist with interest and experience in health policy. He holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College and earned his medical degree from Western Reserve University. Dr. Fein completed his internship at Metro General, in Cleveland, OH, and his residency at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. He is a Professor of Clinical Public Health in the Department of Public Health at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Dr. Fein's work has focused on health system delivery reform on both the national and local levels. On the national level, he was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow from 1993 to 1994, when he worked as a legislative assistant in the office of Senate Democratic Majority Leader, George Mitchell. In this capacity, he was involved with developing policy on healthcare benefits, graduate medical education, healthcare quality, public health, medical malpractice, antitrust and remedies and enforcements. On the local level, Dr. Fein has been concerned with access to healthcare for vulnerable populations and the role of the Academic Health Center. In this regard, he spent 17 years at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center developing ambulatory care practices at the Medical Center and in community.

As Associate Dean for Affiliations at Weill Medical College, he is involved with diversifying the clinical educational experience for medical students through affiliations with hospitals and physicians who deliver healthcare services to vulnerable populations. He also participates in building an academic integrated delivery system through the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System. In addition, he is chair of Physicians for a National Health Program Metro New York chapter and was recently elected to the Board of the American Public Health Association.

Dr. Fein's health services research interests include health system reform and national health insurance. He has done work in ambulatory case-mix measurement, risk adjustment, different methods of measuring social class and health inequalities, and comparing the role of primary care in health system reform in the United States and the United Kingdom.

He is currently responsible for the David Rogers Health Policy Colloquium at the NewYork-Weill Cornell Medical Center of the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

This weekly seminar brings outstanding "visitors" in health policy to the Medical Center for presentation and discussion. Over the course of the year, Colloquium participants receive a rich menu of topics in contemporary health policy and politics. The Colloquium serves as an exciting introductory health policy course for fellows enrolled in the Health Services Research fellowship program.

Education

• B.A., Swarthmore College, 1962
• M.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, 1967

Appointments

• Attending Physician
  New York - Presbyterian Hospital
• Professor of Clinical Medicine
  Weill Cornell Medical College

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Granite State PNHP Chaper Biographies

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Press Coverage of Dr. Fein's Visit

Prominent physician tells Portsmouth Rotary Club single-payer system would extend care to all
By Jason Claffey | Foster's Daily Democrat | Friday, June 11, 2010
The health care reform bill passed earlier this year — the largest expansion of coverage since Medicare was enacted in 1965 — did not go far enough, a prominent physician told the Portsmouth Rotary Club Thursday.

Doctor makes case for single-payer care
By Jennifer Feals | Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald | June 11, 2010
More than 100 business owners, health care professionals, patients and elected officials gathered Thursday to learn about a single-payer health care system, many stating their support.

Single-payer health care forum on Thursday
Portsmouth Herald | June 09, 2010
The forum features Dr. Oliver Fein, president of the Physicians for a National Health Program and a professor of medicine and public health at Cornell University. Physicians for a National Health Program claim the new federal health care law entrenches private industry and won't solve the national health care crisis. It instead continues to call for a single-payer national system it says would save $400 billion annually — enough to cover the nation's 46 million uninsured.

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Additional Materials

NH COMMENTARY: It’s Not About Patients. It’s Not About Protection. It’s Not About Affordability (pdf)