Health care reform will not be highest priority

Barack Obama will need to act swiftly in his first 100 days as president to resolve the domestic crises facing the nation, but concerns about the economy mean that health care reform will not be the highest priority during that time, says leading public health experts at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D., professor of social work and medicine at WUSTL, and Timothy McBride, Ph.D., associate dean for public health at WUSTL’s George Warren Brown School of Social Work, are available to discuss health care legislation under Obama. Haire-Joshu served in Obama’s congressional office and McBride is part of the nationally representative Rural Policy Research Institute’s Health Panel.

A growing problem for veterans — domestic violence

“The increasing number of veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) raises the risk of domestic violence and its consequences on families and children in communities across the United States,” says Monica Matthieu, Ph.D., an expert on veteran mental health and an assistant professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis. Treatments for domestic violence are very different than those for PTSD. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has mental health services and treatments for PTSD, yet these services need to be combined with the specialized domestic violence intervention programs offered by community agencies for those veterans engaging in battering behavior against intimate partners and families.”

Experts to discuss future of health care in Missouri and across the country Oct. 16

What does the future hold for health care in Missouri and across the country? Leading health-care experts from the Brookings Institution, Washington University in St. Louis and the state of Missouri will explore this issue during a free conference at 8 a.m. Oct. 16 in the Eric P. Newman Education Center Auditorium at the School of Medicine. Speakers will focus on how current policies must change to expand care innovation and maximize impact; the prospects for reform; and comparisons of reform proposals in terms of cost, quality and access to care.

The Pulitzer and the Brown School join forces to explore the social relevance of art

Washington University in St. Louis have announced a new partnership. Through events, publications and community projects, the Brown School and Pulitzer hope to explore how social work and the arts can interact in a meaningful way. The first public event of the partnership is a street festival at Grand Center from 6-9 p.m. on Oct. 3 at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. The festival celebrates The Community Light Project (CLP), an initiative with the goal of bringing together people of all ages and interests around light, art, and community.

Despite all the attention paid to Social Security, it’s a minor problem compared to Medicare, says leading health economist

McBride”The problems with Social Security can be solved easily compared to those of Medicare,” says Timothy McBride, leading health economist and associate dean for public health. “Social Security can be fixed right now, although most people don’t want to solve it with tax hikes. We cannot solve Medicare as easily. Medicare is in a serious crisis relative to Social Security,” he says. McBride is available to discuss Social Security and Medicare.
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