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Ethics forum looks at single-payer health insurance

Nov. 7, 2007

KALAMAZOO--An emergency room doctor will be the featured speaker at a public forum addressing single-payer health insurance Tuesday, Nov. 13, at Western Michigan University.

Dr. James Mitchiner, who works in emergency medicine at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, will take part in the forum, titled "Single Payer Health Insurance: What It Is, What It Isn't and Why We Need It," starting at 7:30 p.m. in Fetzer Center's Putney Auditorium. The forum is sponsored by the WMU Center for the Study of Ethics in Society and is free and open to the public.

Mitchiner will introduce the concept of single-payer health insurance as a viable option for health care reform, explain its purposes and rationale, describe the myths and misconceptions surrounding it and summarize the challenges associated with its implementation.

Mitchiner is president-elect of the Washtenaw County Medical Society and serves on the Michigan State Medical Society Committee on Health Care Quality, Efficiency and Economics. He is a past president of the Michigan College of Emergency Physicians and has served the American College of Emergency Physicians in several capacities, including chair of its State Legislative and Regulatory Committee, member of the Federal Government Affairs Committee and participation on task forces on EMTALA, emergency department crowding, health care and the uninsured and performance improvement and quality.

Mitchiner is also a member of the clinical faculty of the University of Michigan-St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Emergency Medicine Residency Program and has an academic appointment at the University of Michigan Medical School.

The program is co-sponsored by the Western Association of Retired Faculty.

Media contact: Mark Schwerin, (269) 387-8400, mark.schwerin@wmich.edu

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