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Archives / 2008 / April
  • Feeling the health insurance squeeze

    Tags: siy, health insurance, health care costs, perspective

    By Linda Siy, M.D.
    TAFP President, 2007-2008

    We are inundated almost daily with tales of escalating health care costs, exploding health insurance premiums and horror stories from small businesses that have been forced to drop health insurance and families who have lost coverage.

    Health care costs have long outpaced the rest of the economy. In 2008, health insurance premiums are projected to increase at more than twice the rate of inflation. Yet most employers simply accept this as a cost of doing business. But what are we getting in return for these exorbitant health insurance premiums?

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  • Interim Session features healthy debate on the medical home

    Tags: interim session, report, president's letter

    By Linda Siy, M.D.
    TAFP President, 2007-2008

    Happy spring! Our 2008 Interim Session has concluded, and the weekend was a success. The C. Frank Webber Lectureship boasted record attendance this year, and the lectures were of excellent quality. The committees and commissions all met over the course of two days, and the Board of Directors meeting was held Saturday evening, March 15, with much being accomplished. The annual Student and Resident Conference is held in conjunction with Interim Session, and had 26 students and 68 residents from 17 programs attend. A lively residency and procedures fair highlighted their conference, with the opportunity to interact with other active TAFP members.

    Our award-winning communications department unveiled a new advocacy video called “Doctor’s Orders,” which focuses on the importance of advocacy and getting involved with your professional organization. It can be downloaded and shown at your local chapter meetings, residency programs, student interest groups and other occasions where the encouragement to become more active and involved with family medicine’s cause is needed. I encourage you to watch the video, which can be seen through our TAFP Web site, and show it to someone else or present it to a group in your community. The more people on board, the stronger we are, and we are going to need our strength in numbers for the next legislative session in 2009!

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