Michael Bloomberg like Ruth Gottesman before him has just donated $1 billion to John Hopkins Medical School to allow students to train as physicians without incurring the usual quarter of a million dollar debt, the price of getting a medical degree and training. But, as this article points out, while thesse are wonderful gifts from the uber-rich, this is not, or itself, a solution to the dreadful health proposterously expensive healthcare in this country. What we need is a system of universal birthright single payer healthcare. If you go to Stewart, British Columbia in Canada the northernmost and very remote border between Canada and the U.S. you will find excellent quality healthcare. If you cross the border to Hyder, Alaska you are in a medical desert. Why is it that rural Canada can do what the United States seems incapable of? Because the Canadian system is based on universal decent healthcare, where the U.S. system is based entirely on profit.
Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $1 billion to the Johns Hopkins medical school to provide free tuition to most students. Credit: Steve Zak / WireImage / Getty
Michael Bloomberg last week gave $1 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, to make medical school free for most students there.
It’s a well-meaning gesture, aiming to remedy America’s doctor shortages that have left more than 100 million Americans without access to regular primary care, particularly in rural and low-income communities. “By reducing the financial barriers to these essential fields, we can free more students to pursue careers they’re passionate about — and enable them to serve more of the families and communities who need them the most,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
But a donation to an elite, big-city medical school is unlikely to be much help, experts told me.
“If you have this pot of money and you could bestow it on health professional schools with the goal of improving geographic distribution, with the goal […]
I totally agree with you, Stephan!