July 2000 • Volume 6 • Number 7
AAFP leader asks how presidential candidates will promote primary care
AAFP President-elect Richard Roberts, M.D., J.D., was the first panelist to ask presidential candidates' health advisers a question about primary care at a June 6 debate in Washington.
President-elect Richard Roberts, M.D., J.D., right, a panelist at the June 6 debate about presidential candidates' health strategies, asks for a stronger focus on primary care. At left are panelists Richard Smith, vice president of the American Association of Health Plans, and Mary Jane England, president of the Washington Business Group on Health.
Roberts fired away: "Many of us who take care of patients feel the health care strategies of the candidates should focus more on the golden circle of care than the brass ring of cure, more on making care accessible than on chasing every proposed innovation. What are George W. Bush and Al Gore going to do to promote primary care, preventive services and restorative care?"
The health experts answered in terms of the candidates' proposals to expand the services of community health centers and improve the safety net for citizens who fall through the cracks in the health care system.
Roberts, of Madison, Wis., joined representatives of other health-related groups at the National Press Club for the debate, covered widely in the media. The session was sponsored by two umbrella groups the Academy belongs to, both based in Washington: the Health Care Quality Alliance and the National Health Council.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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