If you are applying this year, you WILL be talking about health care reform in your interviews. It is a dense, complicated subject that makes my eyes glaze over when I try to wrap my tired brain around it. Nonetheless, I certainly have to get up to speed on the subject and those aspiring to go into medicine will need to do so as well. These two articles provide some excellent insights into the issue. The New Yorker piece has been cited by many, many people in the weeks since it came out - including President Obama - and is fast becoming THE go-to article to illustrate what is wrong with the current system. I can promise you that these issues will come up in your interviews. Good luck!
Campkel already mentioned this first piece from The New Yorker:
The Cost Conundrum, by Atul Gawande
Another thought-provoking piece is from the Wall Street Journal:
The Myth of Prevention, by Abraham Verghese
Both authors are physicians who, blessedly, can write well. (Dr. Verghese is the author of one of my favorite books about medicine, the beautiful and poignant My Own Country, about his work in eastern Tennessee at the beginning of the AIDS crisis in the 80s.) You can hear Dr. Gawande interviewed on NPR, here, on ‘Fresh Air.’
Thanks for posting those links.
Now I need to get some interviews!
Thank you so much, Mary! I used to be well-versed in health care policy, but that was back before I needed to cram Sn2 reactions into my brain, so these refresher articles are very helpful.
Thank you, Mary.
Tho’ I am not applying this year, I am thinking it could very well come up again next year during interviews albeit a different format, different perspective.
- jkp2117 Said:
Tho' I am not applying this year, I am thinking it could very well come up again next year during interviews albeit a different format, different perspective.
Yeah, I'm definitely not thinking that this will be the last year that we will be seeing articles with this type of information.
I won’t be applying for another two years so hopefully I will have enough time to come up with something intelligent to say! I am going to try and attend the OPM conference next year in Chicago and would love to have a forum, lecture, or something on this topic to better prepare for those questions.
Well, I would have to second that! That would be a great topic. My goal is to apply next cycle, so any hints on how to better my presentation at interviews would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for your support…
Although fascinating reads and food for fodder, I can not sit comfortably comparing the healthcare of two vastly different demographics. This hasn’t really been disclosed in these articles. Sure the civilian poverty rates may be similar, but these authors are discrediting the fact that ElPaso has a significant military base there and that the military population’s health care statistics are also counted with civilian statistics more than likely. Obviously the number of those on medicare will be lower in El Paso than in McAllen. I’m just not getting the cost correlation between these two cities.
I DO however believe something must be done. What that answer is, I don’t know. I leave that to the politicians to decide. If it comes to staying the same or continuing to hinder the poor from care, I may find myself setting up free clinics or something lol. Now…the question is…how to find funding for such things?
Thank you Mary. Good WSJ article. His example of $150k to medicate a group to achieve 1 year of extra life for one male was interesting. But, he didn’t say how many bypass surgeries and ER visits would be prevented, which may balance out the quoted cost.
Thanks for sharing.
Very interesting articles, first one seemed to have more meat. But this Health Care Reform will be a very interesting Ordeal, and I hope that we can achieve at least an intial improvement and then continue to grow.
I dont believe that Just the government or Just the doctors, or Just the insurance companies are totally responsible, or can fix it individually…
It will require everyone, including people making the choice to not pick up the 5th Big Mac of the week, because u dont feel like cooking… LOL…
Thanks again… 
Thanks Mary, I am in the midst of secondary appications now.
Hi Mary,
I think I think,I can apply next year…thanks for the article
I think that would be a good topic for the next OPM conference at Chicago. Thanks Mary!
Mary - Belatedly wanted to tell you thanks. I did “prep” (or as a British colleague put it “revise”) health care reform prior to my interviews, and it was helpful. Tried to relate my views to things I had personally seen and experienced, so as to incorporate it in my “story”.
What an inspiration!! Minus the kids, our lives are similar. I’m looking into GWU and Howard COMs for 2012. Thanks for the insight!!