"The Medical Industrial Complex": A Conversation with Rosemary Gibson (June 24th)

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With the health care industry now accounting for 18.5 percent of the nation's GDP, or a far greater percentage than any comparable nation, combined with ever continuing access, coverage (now possibly moreover the issue of under-insurance) and quality (including the frequency of patient or iatrogenic harm) health care policy students are left to wonder to what extent has health care delivery or legitimate health care delivery been compromised or even undermined by medical commerce.    

During this 27 minute conversation Ms. Gibson explains what's meant by the Eisenhower-inspired "medical industrial complex" and her use of the phrase "privatized gains and socialized losses" in this context.  She discusses the unwarranted influence of the health care industry in part by noting pharmaceutical industry behavior and the advent of so called "consumer directed health plans.  Ms. Gibson also evaluates to what extent the ACA will strike a better balance between health care and medical commerce or again the "medical industrial complex."  

Ms. Rosemary Gibson is a Senior Advisor at the non-profit Hasting Center, a research organization dedicated to addressing ethical issues in health, medicine and the environment.  Ms. Gibson is also an editor of JAMA Internal Medicine.  Previously, Ms. Gibson was a Program Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation where she addressed safety and quality issues particularly in palliative care.  Among other books Ms. Gibson is the author of Wall of Silence, The Untold Story of the Medical Mistakes That Kill and Injure Millions of Americans.  Ms. Gibson serves on numerous boards including the Consumers Union Safe Project and among others she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.  Ms. Gibson is a graduate of Georgetown University and the London School of Economics.

Information on Rosemary Gibson's book, noted during this interview (and coauthored by Janardan Prasad), The Battle Over Health Care, can be found at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Battle-Over-Health-Care/dp/144221449X. 

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