Dr. Linda Rae Murray, President of APHA, Addresses PHANYC

On Wednesday, June 1, 2011, Dr. Linda Rae Murray addressed the Public Health Association of New York City (PHANYC) at Hunter College, NYC, where she was greeted with enthusiasm by the Association’s members. Dr. Murray, who hails from Chicago and has a long history in community medicine, was invited to speak to PHANYC about federal health care reform legislation. She gave a powerful presentation, challenging the adequacy of market-based systems to meet the health needs of all Americans and reflecting her strong public health perspective.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Murray described herself as a “single payer” person. She was among others in hailing the Affordable Care Act for what it accomplished in expanding coverage to many Americans, but was less optimistic about what the legislation might mean for the future of public health. Dr. Murray suggested that in certain cases health care reform might possibly result in disenfranchising individuals who currently had coverage, such as undocumented immigrants. She also struck a chord in turning upside down more conventional notions about the legislation’s progressive approach to a person-centered framework to care delivery in highlighting that it was important not to lose sight of the community and the role of community organizing in implementing this framework.

Calling for more focused attention on community-based care

and a commitment to social justice, Dr. Murray recognized health care as a human right. In light of her perspectives on improving public health and changing social structures that impede access to health care, Dr. Murray was asked about how she saw the complex and thorny issues of implicit and explicit forms of rationing, so frequently a source of disagreement in the context of costs spent on care for the seriously ill and persons approaching the end of life. Dr. Murray was very clear in expressing her view that rationing was not appropriate to U.S. policy formulation at this point in time given the wealth of the nation’s resources. In further engagement with the meeting participants about the political process, Dr. Murray described differences in ideological perspectives about the role of government as one of the central issues in the public discourse about health care reform. 

Reported by Mary Beth Morrissey, PHANYC member