042 - Dr. Susan Rogers Tells Senate: Don’t Hand Medicare to the Profiteers

Community, connection, purpose: these values are almost palpable even in a virtual conversation with Dr. Susan Rogers. Dr. Rogers is an internist, educator, and activist on behalf of those who suffer when profit motives bulldoze the institutions that are meant to serve the public. A neon example of a public good which has been targeted by profiteers is traditional Medicare. As president of Physicians for a National Health Program, Dr. Rogers is fighting back against the shape-shifting strategies launched by insurance companies and private equity firms to cash in on Medicare. She fills us in on the importance of preserving the choice of traditional Medicare, and talks about her work to inform the public and Congress about the “predatory DCEs” or Direct Contracting Entities.<br /><br />She was shaped by growing up in a uniquely integrated community in Chicago as well as by the activism of the 1960s. When she was in middle school, her mom took her to a march led by Martin Luther King, Jr. protesting the state of the public schools in Chicago. She trained at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and then went on to hold leadership and teaching positions there as an attending. While she did defect temporarily to work in other settings in Chicago, she missed the camaraderie and like-minded passion of her Cook County colleagues. She emphasizes the importance of community with colleagues and the significance of a physician’s long-term relationships with patients.<br /><br />Dr. Rogers is exasperated at the privatization of healthcare by people who know nothing about the practice and profession of medicine. She describes the total disconnect when decisions are made by financially-driven business people: “There should be no role for them.”<br /><br />“Resources aren’t placed where they’re needed—<br />they’re placed where they can generate more money.”<br /><br />She compares the inroads of private equity firms in healthcare to the debacle of private equity firms and charter schools siphoning funds away from public schools in