Press On

Thirteen years ago, the Affordable Care Act was signed into law. In the years leading up to it, those of us at this blog were passionate advocates for universal health care. We proudly supported then-Senator Obama over Senator John McCain in the hopes that, as President, he would achieve that goal. 

America is not there yet, but we are closer than we have ever been. 

To the people who have contributed this blog over the past 15, I write this note to thank you. You have all done great things: you have worked in the federal government and in state governments, for industry, academia, and startups, and in service on the boards of nonprofits. You are innovators, implementors, and advocates.

Most of you are both clinicians – either doctors or nurses – and involved in a second passion:  public health, policy, law, and business, just to name a few. 

This promises to be my final post on Policy Prescriptions, a blog I started as a resident back in 2008, and I think that it is appropriate to celebrate the many voices who have spoken out trying to bridge the gap between medicine and politics on this website.

You have dedicated your lives to improving the health of your fellow Americans. You have dedicated to raising up a new generation of leaders to follow in our footsteps. You have blazed the trail to foster “evidence-based health policy” – yes, I’m gonna give us credit for that. While we all know that evidence doesn’t always win the day, we know that our stories, combined with our facts make for a powerful combination.

One of our contributors modifies this in a slide deck he uses when speaking, telling audiences to focus on evidence-informed health policy. I trust that each of us will use evidence to inform the policy choices we encourage our nation to take.

Our vision for America reverberates through the work each and every one of us does in our day jobs and in our volunteer work.

We envision a health care system focused on continuity, affordability, and access to quality care for ALL Americans.

I will press on toward that goal, until that day when universal health care arrives here in America. 

Until then, thank you for accompanying me on the journey.

In Solidarity,

Cedric