In the summer of 1981, I worked as a graduate student in a remote village in Kenya as part of an international healthcare exchange program. That experience changed my life, my view of the world, and my thinking about managing health and illness forever. Years later, after a trip to Cuba, I again saw how much quality, affordable healthcare can be provided despite limited resources. And yet, here we are, a rich country with the poorest health outcomes.
Beginning in 1982, after completing an MA, I worked at several companies leading their marketing and member services departments. After nine years, I left the industry with the knowledge that substantial multi-industry profits were putting the health of patients at risk. Adding to this, rising insurance costs and access and affordability issues were being swept under the nation’s rug.
After leaving those long-ago executive days behind, I committed to a long-standing personal and professional goal: to help fix a broken system and to create one that focuses on health and healing as well as disease and illness. Each of us has the power to create change through advocating for better access, affordability, and innovation in order to create what polls have shown the American people have wanted for over a decade – a healthcare system that works for everyone, no matter who you are or where you live.