Thread by @usnehal

@miriampcallahan @EricTopol @WSJ @Twitter @NRA @PennMedicine That too...

@miriampcallahan @EricTopol @WSJ @Twitter @NRA @PennMedicine By good “golf buddies”, meaning cutting deals with industry without required reporting or public scrutiny — in 18 holes you can negotiate a lot. Ethics/integrity, which is which what do-called “woke” students have, may end those special relationships.

nytimes.com/2019/01/11/sci…

@miriampcallahan @EricTopol @WSJ @Twitter @NRA @PennMedicine Nothing wrong with industry per se, as long as everyone plays by the rules and fulfills obligations.

@miriampcallahan @EricTopol @WSJ @Twitter @NRA @PennMedicine Fact is that this country passed legislation creating Medicaid/Medicare (so-called “entitlement” programs)

*at the same time*

as ending Jim Crow/segregation

America was *not* ready

to actually have to drink from same drinking fountain
*and*
share major resources

@miriampcallahan @EricTopol @WSJ @Twitter @NRA @PennMedicine Ever since there have been use of coded language and imagery, dog whistles, on “they” might get “some of what is yours”

This is how the rural, suburban, poor or middle class white voter is persuaded to vote against personal interest

politics-prose.com/book/978019996…

@miriampcallahan @EricTopol @WSJ @Twitter @NRA @PennMedicine The AMA opposed passage of Medicare and Medicaid.

On fact, doctors got awfully political back then to block extension of healthcare access to all

newyorker.com/news/news-desk…

@miriampcallahan @EricTopol @WSJ @Twitter @NRA @PennMedicine “A new A.M.A. political-action committee offered campaign support to candidates who opposed the bill. The A.M.A. women’s auxiliary launched Operation Coffee Cup, in which doctors’ wives hosted living-room discussions about the dangers of socialized medicine.”

@miriampcallahan @EricTopol @WSJ @Twitter @NRA @PennMedicine This is a very old fight within medicine and the U.S. that is about whether healthcare is something akin to education or roads — available to all?
Or a commodity to sell?
Right or privilege?

And further, right for whom?
Who is an actual full citizen?

@miriampcallahan @EricTopol @WSJ @Twitter @NRA @PennMedicine Characterizing as “doctors should not get involved in politics/activism” is cuz old guard is losing both numbers & power. Medical students in the AMA think very differently than the senior generation. A longstanding policy position was nearly overturned

medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverag…

@miriampcallahan @EricTopol @WSJ @Twitter @NRA @PennMedicine There was an odd focus on shortage of specialists (another fight/turf war within medicine, AMA) as BOTH primary care and specialty fields of medicine are projected to have workforce shortages, why would a frmr Dean not describe all the relevant data?

news.aamc.org/press-releases…

@miriampcallahan @EricTopol @WSJ @Twitter @NRA @PennMedicine This is merely rebranded old and long-standing struggles within medicine, made to seem a new threat by using terms like “woke” when is:

Is healthcare a right vs privilege
How is healthcare financed
Who gets access to care
Dominance of speciality vs more focus on primary care