The irrepressible Donna Rovito is the founder of the Lehigh Valley COALITION for Health Care Reform, a local grassroots coalition of health care professionals and concerned citizens. This Saturday, her group will host some of the nation's most outspoken experts on health care practice and policy in a free educational workshop at DeSales University. It will go from 1 to 5 p.m. at Gerald White Pavilion of the University Center. Here's part of the news release I received.
In addition to a dozen expert presentations, the event will include short breakout sessions with individual speakers, exhibits, and a panel discussion with questions and answers from participants and the Internet. The event will also be available on live streaming video.
"We are proud to me a member of the impressive coalition participating in this event. It is imperative to educate patients and doctors that the law signed by the President last year rehashes the same failed top-down schemes that created our problems in the first place," says Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) Executive Director, Jane Orient, M.D. AAPS, a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, was founded in 1943 to defend the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship, is one of the event's primary sponsors. AAPS President-Elect Alieta Eck, M.D. will speak about alternatives to the PPACA in her presentation entitled "What Would Be Better Than ObamaCare."
Richard Armstrong, M.D.,Chief Operating Officer of Docs 4 Patient Care, a nationwide physician advocacy organization which supports quality of care, affordable access and patients' freedom of choice, another event sponsor, agrees: “It is time that this administration began to tell the American public the truth about health care reform, without the spin. We do have to read this massive law to find out what is really in it," he says. Dr. Armstrong, a general surgeon and former Navy doctor from Michigan, will represent Docs 4 Patient Care as a keynote speaker on how "ObamaCare" affects doctors, patients, access to care, and medical innovation.
Both nationwide physicians' organizations are committed to educating the public about the provisions of the PPACA, as well as repealing and replacing the PPACA with reforms that embrace individual choice and the doctor-patient relationship. That's why the Lehigh Valley COALITION for Health Care Reform approached both groups to sponsor the September 17th event, according to Coalition Chair Donna Baver Rovito, who will also serve as MC for the workshop.
Former Arizona Congressman John Shadegg, who represents event sponsor and respected health policy think tank The Galen Institute, is also committed to repealing and replacing the PPACA. "I think I'll do anything in the health-care field that they want, including work for the repeal of 'Obamacare' and for the creation of a viable alternative," Shadegg told an Arizona newspaper after retiring from Congress. "I personally believe that Obamacare will bankrupt the nation, but I also don't think that Republicans can repeal Obamacare unless they can come up with a viable alternative." Shadegg will talk about the Constitutional challenges against the law, as well as federal efforts to defund, repeal and replace it.
The four hour workshop will kick off with a quick look at the nuts and bolts and implementation timeline of the PPACA, says Rovito, a longtime local advocate for liability reform and quality health care. PA State Representative Doug Reichley will touch on the Constitutionality question, how "ObamaCare" affects Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania's participation in the legal challenges against the law. Following Reichley, two Pennsylvania physicians who have recently formed a Pennsylvania chapter of Docs 4 Patient Care, Harrisburg Opthalmologist Elena R. Farrell, D.O. and York Orthopaedic Surgeon Nick Pandelides, M.D., will speak about how "ObamaCare" affects families, seniors, personal liberty, taxpayers, medicare, medicaid, and the deficit.
Government Affairs Director for the PA Chamber of Business and Industry Sam Denisco will speak on the law's effects on businesses, workers, job creation and the economy, while Pennsylvania-based grassroots activists Terrence O'Connor, Esq., William Taylor Reil and John Morningstar will talk about three grassroots efforts to eliminate the PPACA in PA - the Health Care Freedom Act, Nullification, and Health Care Compacts. Area businessman and Tax Limitation Committee Chair John Brinson will talk about separate reforms he believes should replace "ObamaCare."
Dr. Eck will wrap up the presentations with proposed solutions. "Government cannot provide health care," says Dr. Eck, who along with her husband operates a private internal medicine practice in Piscataway, NJ. "It can only meddle, restrict, coerce and underpay for services it promises to provide, all while taxing taxpayers beyond their ability to pay." Dr. Eck, who co-founded a free clinic for the poor and uninsured, will speak about effective solutions and "What Would Be Better Than ObamaCare." Dr. Eck is a frequent guest on news programs and in the pages of national publications, and has testified before Congress about better ways to deliver health care. "ObamaCare was presented to us as a solution to the wrong problem. The problem is not lack of health insurance for the poor-- it is lack of a timely, efficient way for the poor to access medical care without wasting taxpayer dollars," according to Dr. Eck.
The quality of national, regional and local sponsors is a testament to the importance of the health care reform issue, says Rovito, who along with a coalition of about 20 concerned citizens decided to sponsor an educational event about the PPACA several months ago. "We were thrilled with the immediate and enthusiastic response we received from the physicians' groups and the Galen Institute, whose president Grace-Marie Turner is one of the authors of the new book Why ObamaCare is Wrong for America." Turner is one of the nation's foremost authorities on the negative effects of the federal health care reform law, says Rovito, and copies of the book will be available at the event.
The Black Ribbon Project, which advocates for health care freedom and the sanctity of the doctor patient relationship, is also an event sponsor, under the direction of columnist Dr. Beth Haynes, who asks: "Which kind of doctor is more likely to be willing to rely on his own judgment in service of your individual best interests? One steeped in the ethics of social justice, beholden to a third-party for payment? Or a physician whose livelihood is directly related to and primarily dependent upon the quality of care he provides to you, the patient?" Also sponsoring the event in support of personal choice in health care is the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, which will be represented by Jonathan Cargan, M.D.
The Pennsylvania chapters of two of the nation's largest grassroots advocacy organizations - Heritage Action and Americans for Prosperity - are also event sponsors. AFP-PA is under the director of former PA Rep. Sam Rohrer who says, "Contrary to what many people think, the attack on our healthcare freedom continues. ObamaCare is not dead nor does it sleep. Its advance must be stopped and select tools used to eliminate any vestige from state and nation. I encourage all who can to attend the Constitution Day event at Desales and learn about what’s happening and what you can do. Being informed is the best preparation to defending our freedom."
The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry and the Pennsylvania Commercial Action Network (PA-CAN) have sponsored the event in support of businesses in Pennsylvania, along with physician magazine MD News, New World Aviation, and VSAS Orthopaedics.
There is no charge to attend Everything You Wanted to Know about "ObamaCare" (but didn't know who to ask). Additional information and free registration can be found at www.Meetup.com/Lehigh-Valley-COALITION-for-Health-Care-Reform or by calling 1-888-698-4111. Advance registration is encouraged due to limited seating. Details about the event can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, or by emailing ObamaCareEvent@aol.com.
