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About the Presentation:
In reforming how we pay for our health care, politics and how we understand ourselves are tightly interwoven. Our current approach is deeply rooted in an individualistic view of how we see and care for ourselves. We likely will face an individual mandate to purchase health insurance, to avoid “some government bureaucrat between you and your doctor”. This is driven by the belief that I should be taking care of myself and take the consequences if I don’t.
We pay dearly for this belief, as we spend almost twice the average of other industrialized countries for our health care, leave ourselves financially vulnerable through uninsurance and underinsurance, and have lousy health outcomes to boot. Many share the principles of health care reform of President Obama; access to quality, affordable health care for all; ensuring that Americans have choices; and lower costs. Which changes will accomplish these goals and which will leave us falling short are hotly debated. The interaction of what is moral and what is pragmatically effective must engage our awareness.
Irene Aguilar, MD, a primary care physician and President of Health Care for all Colorado and Rev. Jim Ryan, Council Executive of the Colorado Council of Churches will speak to their visions and involvements in pursuing a communitarian view of reforming how we finance our health care. The devil and the angels are in the details.
About the Presenter:
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Irene Aguilar, M.D., is president for Health Care for All Colorado. Dr. has worked as a Primary Care Provider for Denver Health and Hospitals at the Westside Family Health Center since 1989. In 1993, Dr. Aguilar was appointed to the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners (CBME), on which she served for 8 years. Dr. Aguilar and her husband, Dr. Thomas Bost are parents of 3 children, including a daughter with special health care needs served under the Medicaid Waiver program for children. In 2006, Governor Owens appointed Dr. Aguilar to the Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council, an organization that advocates for the establishment and implementation of public policy which will further the independence, productivity and integration of people with developmental disabilities. She works on the Public Policy Committee for the Council, and serves on Medicaid's Long Term Care Advisory Committee. In this capacity, she was chosen for Colorado's Blue Ribbon Commission’s Vulnerable Populations Task Force, which she co-chaired. Learning about health insurance and its impact on health care for Vulnerable Populations led Dr. Aguilar to become an advocate for health care reform. |
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Rev. Dr. Jim Ryan was born and raised in Akron, Ohio. Before deciding to enter the ministry, he was a systems analyst for an international corporation. Ordained into the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1974, Jim has served as Senior Minister of First Christian Church in Des Moines, Iowa, Executive Director of Ecumenical Ministries of Iowa and on staff of Central Christian Church in Denver. He is presently the Executive Director of the Colorado Council of Churches.
He received his Master of Divinity degree from Lexington Theological Seminary and Doctor of Ministry from Saint Paul School of Theology. He has authored three books, the most recent Doing Justice in a Purple Congregation.
Jim is married to Kristin Ryan MSW an elementary school principal with adult children and grandchildren in Iowa and Colorado. His interest is in golf and travel.
(Ryan's complete Resume pdf)
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Additional Resources:
Irene Aguilar, M.D.
President, Health Care for All Colorado
www.HealthCareForAllColorado.org
(303) 601-0955
[email protected]
Download Irene's Powerpoint Presentation HERE!
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