Tune in to This Is America on PBS to see panelist Robert Phillips, M.D., M.S.P.H., director of AAFP's Robert Graham Center in Washington, discuss health care issues during two shows.
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PBS Show Features Graham Center Director
By Jane Stoever
Many PBS stations will air the first show on health care in the United States on Jan. 27 or later. The second segment, to be broadcast Feb. 3 or later, will focus on obesity. The shows will become part of This Is America's video archive online.
After the shows were taped, Phillips noted that when host Dennis Wholey said Americans on average were healthy, Phillips replied that the average American is not as healthy as people tend to be in other developed countries. "Health care here is bipolar," Phillips recalled saying during the taping for the show. "We have people with means, and they're likely to be healthy. We have other people who have trouble getting insurance and finding a medical home. Their health is more uncertain."
Having insurance and also having a medical home is better than having either one by itself, Phillips said during the taping. Having both should be the goal for America, he added.
For the taping of the show on obesity, Phillips said panelist Georges Benjamin, M.D., executive director of the American Public Health Association, called obesity a complex condition requiring complex treatment. Phillips recalled, "I said complex conditions that require complex treatment also require complex financing. Until recently, no one would pay for obesity care in this country. In my training, I wasn't allowed to label someone obese because it would mean the visit wouldn't be paid for. Now, in a few health systems, the physician can be paid for the diagnosis and treatment, but the nutritionist won't be paid, the counselor won't be paid. That means the health care system isn't dealing adequately with obesity in America."
According to Phillips, panelist Arthur Frank, M.D., medical director of the Weight Management Program at George Washington University, Washington, said he had built a model for caring for obese patients, but others can't replicate it because no one would pay for it.
Other panelists on the shows included Charles Mouton, M.D., chair of the community health and family medicine department at Howard University, Washington; psychiatrist Judith Kupersmith, M.D., of Georgetown University; and Elizabeth Ross, M.D., a cardiologist affiliated with Washington Hospital Center in Washington.
This Is America is broadcast to more than 400 cities in the United States, Canada and around the world on PBS stations, the American Life TV Network and Voice of America Television.
After the shows were taped, Phillips noted that when host Dennis Wholey said Americans on average were healthy, Phillips replied that the average American is not as healthy as people tend to be in other developed countries. "Health care here is bipolar," Phillips recalled saying during the taping for the show. "We have people with means, and they're likely to be healthy. We have other people who have trouble getting insurance and finding a medical home. Their health is more uncertain."
Having insurance and also having a medical home is better than having either one by itself, Phillips said during the taping. Having both should be the goal for America, he added.
For the taping of the show on obesity, Phillips said panelist Georges Benjamin, M.D., executive director of the American Public Health Association, called obesity a complex condition requiring complex treatment. Phillips recalled, "I said complex conditions that require complex treatment also require complex financing. Until recently, no one would pay for obesity care in this country. In my training, I wasn't allowed to label someone obese because it would mean the visit wouldn't be paid for. Now, in a few health systems, the physician can be paid for the diagnosis and treatment, but the nutritionist won't be paid, the counselor won't be paid. That means the health care system isn't dealing adequately with obesity in America."
According to Phillips, panelist Arthur Frank, M.D., medical director of the Weight Management Program at George Washington University, Washington, said he had built a model for caring for obese patients, but others can't replicate it because no one would pay for it.
Other panelists on the shows included Charles Mouton, M.D., chair of the community health and family medicine department at Howard University, Washington; psychiatrist Judith Kupersmith, M.D., of Georgetown University; and Elizabeth Ross, M.D., a cardiologist affiliated with Washington Hospital Center in Washington.
This Is America is broadcast to more than 400 cities in the United States, Canada and around the world on PBS stations, the American Life TV Network and Voice of America Television.
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