UCLA Sponsors Symposium on Universal Health Care

/0 Comments/in , , /by

UCLA hosted experts in health care and policy at the E. Richard Brown Symposium on universal health care in California. Faculty with joint appointments at UCLA Luskin contributed to the symposium through workshops and presentations. The March 1-2, 2019, event honored the legacy of E. Richard Brown, a UCLA professor and public health leader who advocated for health care reform. The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, founded by Brown in 1994, celebrated its 25th anniversary with the symposium. The first day of the conference, which can be accessed via webcast, took place in Sacramento and focused on planning, policy and political perspectives. UCLA professor of health policy and management Gerald Kominski gave a presentation on the contributions to coverage policies made by the Center for Health Policy Research. UCLA hosted the second day of the conference, including a workshop on the successful implementation of universal health care systems in Taiwan, Canada and other middle-income countries. UCLA professor of health policy and management Thomas Rice spoke about realizing Brown’s wish for universal health care. The symposium also featured UCLA professor of public policy Mark Peterson and professor of health policy and management and public policy Jack Needleman. Joseph Kutzin of the World Health Organization summarized the importance of universal health care: “Everyone should be able to have access to good-quality health services, without fear of the financial consequences for themselves, their families, their businesses and their jobs.”

 

Thomas Rice

/in , , /by

In addition to his appointment in Public Policy, Thomas Rice is Distinguised Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management.

Dr. Rice previously served as the UCLA campus as Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel from 2006 to 2011 and as Interim Dean of Public Health in 2012. As Vice Chancellor he was responsible for overseeing the promotions, recruitment, and retention of faculty at the campus level. He also served as Chair of the Department of Health Services from 1996 to 2000 and 2003 to 2004.

Dr. Rice is a health economist, having received his doctorate in the Department of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley in 1982. His areas of interest include health insurance, competition and regulation; physicians’ economic behavior; and Medicare. He was lead author of a book about the U.S. health care system, for the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, published in 2013. The fourth edition of his book, The Economics of Health Reconsidered, was published in 2015. He served as editor of the journal Medical Care Research and Review from 1994 to 2000.

Dr. Rice was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2006. He was chair of the AcademyHealth Board of Directors in 2005-6, and previously he had been awarded its Article of the Year Award and its Young Investigator Award.