Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance

On February 24th, 2010 the Meharry Vanderbilt Student Alliance sponsored an educational event in which they presented a viewing of the acclaimed documentary “Money-Driven Medicine: What’s Wrong with America’s Healthcare and How to Fix it.” This highly lauded film has received massive attention and praise around the world for its exploration of how and why the United States’ $2.6 trillion dollar healthcare industry has failed to meet the needs of the American people. Students, faculty, and community members from Meharry and Vanderbilt campuses came together for this viewing, which took place at the Kresge Building on the Meharry Campus. Afterwards, audience members had the opportunity to engage in a question and answer discussion with one of the film’s main cast members, esteemed healthcare leader and Executive Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, Dr. Clifton Meador.

With healthcare at the forefront of hot topics in the media, many community members took advantage of the chance to express their opinions on the state of our nation’s healthcare crisis, as well as seek explanations from Dr. Meador on complicated systemic concerns within the industry. Topics of discussion ranged from possible solutions on how to solve the crisis, to questions on whether anything at all could be done to self-correct the current state of the healthcare industry. One student inquired about whether the U.S should implement more successful strategies being used in other developed nations. Dr. Meador explained that while it would seem ideal to implement healthcare coverage similar to countries like England or Canada, The United States is limited in the ability to do so as a result of our unique democratic system. Our government does not allow for the centralized control needed to implement and enforce such systems so that they can be as equally effective for the U.S. He also discussed how certain influential powers, specifically pharmaceutical companies, have assisted in increasing the costs of healthcare costs. He explained that the governing bodies of Medicare have no real voice in determining reimbursement rates for prescription medications or procedures. Unfortunately pharmaceutical and biomedical companies have become so powerful within our healthcare industry that they have more pull in determining the costs of healthcare than the people who actually receive the services. The discussion also touched on the roles and responsibilities that patients have in helping to reduce healthcare costs. With the soaring rates of maladaptive habits like smoking and the high prevalence of obeseity, Dr. Meador commented that the American people can and should hold themselves accountable for a certain level of their own well-being.

This educational event shed light on some very important topics in the healthcare debate. Most importantly, it provided community members with a better understanding and perspective on one of the Nation’s most important issues. Stay tuned for similarly engaging MVSA sponsored events in the near future!