On November 4 at 2:00 p.m., the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA) College of Arts and Sciences and the UMA Senior College (UMASC) will present a Forum on the Future entitled Health Care for All: What Does It Mean to Us?, at Jewett Auditorium on UMA’s Augusta Campus. The program will feature a panel of three speakers followed by a refreshment break with a question and answer period to complete the program. All Forums are FREE and open to the public.
The program will cover three aspects of universal health care:
- A general description of our current health care system and what it means to people in their daily lives;
- Economic information on the related aspects of the adoption of a single-payer or universal health care system; and
- Information on the various avenues that could lead to adoption of a plan to provide health care for all.
The program speakers will include the following individuals:
Phil Caper, MD, a founding member of Maine All Care, an organization devoted to the establishment of publicly funded healthcare coverage for all Maine residents. Dr. Caper received his bachelors, masters and medical degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. He trained in Internal Medicine on the Harvard Medical Unit at Boston City Hospital, and taught at numerous universities. He was a charter member of the nation’s top health care advisory panel, the National Council on Health Planning and Development and founder and chairman of the Codman Group, a health care software and consulting company with an international reputation, among his many diverse healthcare experiences. He has written extensively for professional journals, and wrote a monthly health policy column for the Bangor Daily News for several years.
Jeff Dunn, MD also has extensive experiences in healthcare, graduating from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute and Albany Medical College and receiving an MBA from Temple University. He trained in General and Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Michigan. Dr. Dunn practiced Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Temple and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. However, his experiences at the Great Ormand Street Hospital for Sick Children and the Harley Street Clinic in London, England gave him a unique experience with England’s universal and single-payer health care system. He has researched and/or written about pediatric heart transplantation, mechanical cardiac assist, and fetal cardiac surgery.
Betsy Sweet earned her BA at Colgate University, and MA in Spiritual Psychology at the University of Santa Monica. She had a successful consulting business, Moose Ridge Associates, and now a thriving counseling/coaching business “Sweet Spirit”. She has long been involved in promoting many positive issues related to health care policy, women, victims of abuse, the disabled, the elderly and others. For example, Betsy helped found the Dirigo Alliance, the Maine Center for Economic Policy and she did the research that led to and then helped write Maine’s first Clean Election Law and the first Family Medical Leave act in the country. She was a pioneer in women’s advocacy in Maine as director of the Maine Women’s Lobby and the Maine Commission for Women under two governors. She recently was a candidate in the Democratic Primary for Governor.
UMASC is open to all persons 50 years of age or older, their spouses or partners. For more information, please call 621-3551, email umasc@maine.edu or check our web site at umasc.org.