Doctors' Association for Social Equality

Archive Modern archive back to Oct. 2001 2008 Editions March 29, 2008
Author: James Thompson
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 03/27/08 15:27

PWW photo

HOUSTON — About 1,000 medical students and their supporters rallied
here at city hall March 14 to demand healthcare for all. The event was
organized by the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) as part
of its annual convention and supported by the local SEIU and Justice
for Janitors movement.

The crowd was made up of medical students from around the country and
labor union members. Participants were diverse and included men and
women of all ethnic and cultural groups. One speaker called for a
"revolution in health care." Many speakers and attendees asserted that
"we should be able to treat patients without bias as regards to their
ability to pay."

Participants at the opening of the rally chanted, "Hey, Bush, don't
you know, single payer is the way to go…Whose nation? Our nation."

Houston City Council Member Peter Brown (D) called for people to
register to vote and change the political landscape in the upcoming
elections. He noted that Houston has the most advanced medical
technology in the country and the "lousiest health care in the
country" due to poor access to health care. He called for a movement
to "fix the broken system."

Speakers extolled the solidarity of workers and students participating
in the rally.

Two fourth-year medical students from the Baylor College of Medicine
in Houston, Jessica Dalby and Stephanie Wuest, expressed strong
support for the goals of the rally.

Dalby stated, "I think it's inspiring. I support a single payer health
insurance system. I think single payer is the only way to go because
we have to cut out the health insurance companies. They provide no
benefit. They only add to the cost. Thirty-one cents of every dollar
goes to overhead for the health insurance companies."

Dalby and Wuest agreed that the increasing profits demanded by health
insurance companies and their stockholders also add to the burden of
health care costs.

"I have the Baylor insurance and I've been refused health care in
doctor's offices because Aetna never pays," Wuest said. "I find it
extremely frustrating to be in health care and I am not able to access
health care myself."

One medical student from Puerto Rico who was attending the conference
told the World, "I think health care is for everybody. We should help
everybody."

Leah Bennett, who is the Health Disparities Task Force coordinator for
AMSA and a medical student at the University of Arizona at Tucson,
told the World, "We're an association of 70,000 medical students from
across the country. We have a 40 year history of fighting for our
patients."

She called for "quality affordable health care," and said, "We believe
health care is a human right. In this country we have so much. We
believe no one should be sick when they don't need to be."

Bennett added, "We believe our current health care system is broken.
There are over 40 million people uninsured. They have to make a
decision over whether they spend their money on food, rent or seeing a
doctor. We think that's wrong.

"Our association is in favor of a single payer system. That would
cover everyone within our border regardless of income, race,
citizenship or economic status," she concluded. "We believe you should
be able to see a doctor if you're sick."

Medical student Flavio Casoy, an organizer of the event who works with
AMSA, described some of AMSA's history. "AMSA used to be a part of AMA
(American Medical Association) until 1968," he said.

He noted, "Because of the AMA opposition to Medicare and silence on
civil rights and silence on Vietnam, we split. We are completely
independent.

"AMSA is a student-run organization that fights for a health care
system that reflects the true needs of our patients and the values of
our members," Casoy added. "We represent about two-thirds of the
nation's medical students. We want to let the world know that this
nation's future doctors are pissed off and we will fight like hell to
change the health care system. AMSA is all about bringing the future
health care providers together around our passions to provide health
care for all our patients."

James Thompson is a psychologist and social justice activist in Houston.