Nancy Milliken
UCSF Associate Professor Bree Johnston, MD, MPH, was among a renowned group of health care experts and public leaders who spoke at the Women's Health Summit in San Francisco.
The program was co-hosted by the Women's Working Group on Universal Health Care, a collaboration of diverse women's organizations that aim to move California toward universal access to health care.
Thursday's event was a precursor to Women LEAD: Leadership Education and Advocacy Day next week, during which women will meet with their legislators in Sacramento to urge them to consider universal health coverage statewide.
"Women are known to make the vast majority of the health care decisions for their families, and yet they remain the majority of the uninsured and underinsured," said Nancy Milliken, MD, director of the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women's Health. "As a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health, UCSF was asked to convene this group and to co-host this year's summit to bring together leaders in our community for a day of learning and dialogue."
The Women's Working Group considers health care affordability and access to be the new priority in women's health. Just as reproductive health served to define the discussion of both women's health and women's rights since the 1970s, the absence of universal health care is defining many of women's decisions, from employment and home finances to personal health and the health of their families.
"Health care coverage affects access to comprehensive, quality health services and is an important factor in a woman's health and the health of her family," Milliken said.
The forum, which grew out of UCSF's 2005 Women's Health Summit, examined the issues of affordability and access to health coverage within the context of women's health.
The program is featured the perspectives of community leaders, health care providers, researchers and policymakers who share a commitment to engaging women in the health care reform debate.
A nationally renowned thought-leader on the topic of universal health care, Johnston is the chair of the Society of General Internal Medicine's Geriatrics Interest Group and is an active member of Physicians for a National Health Program. An associate professor, UCSF Department of Geriatrics, Johnston represented the physician's perspective in a panel discussion.
The summit's panel of speakers also included Tangerine Brigham, deputy director of health and director of the Health Access Program, San Francisco Department of Public Health; Elizabeth Patchias MPP, health policy analyst in the National Women's Law Center and co-author of "Women and Health Coverage: The Affordability Gap;" Ysabel Duron, news anchor, KRON 4 Weekend Morning News and Aileen Hernandez, state chair of the California Women's Agenda.
Related Links:
The National Center of Excellence in Women's Health at UCSF
California Plan for Health Care Would Cover All
New York Times, Jan. 9, 2007
Health Care for All California
