About 100 college leaders have gathered in Nashville this week to talk about health care reform at the behest of one of the area’s best-known health care executives.
Former Hospital Corporation of America president Clayton McWhorter started a new group, SHOUTAmerica, last year, to get young people involved in health care reform. But he says it’s unlikely either presidential candidate will be able to tackle health care reform in the next four years.
“We talk a lot about insuring the uninsured. That’s great. But let me tell you, if we all of a sudden had everyone in the United States insured and we don’t focus on changing the delivery system, you’re talking about a train wreck from a cost standpoint.”
McWhorter says pouring more money into the same system will cause costs to spiral out of control. He says reform will likely fall to the younger generations. Andrew Gaeckle is the student body president of the University of South Carolina.
“It’s going to take a significant impact or crisis potentially for there to be a reaction I’d say, and it’s great that we’re starting to address this before that would even occur.”
Students attending the conference will be charged with returning to their campuses all over the country to start organizing educational activities surrounding health care reform.