Skepticism

This has definitely been a very informative and eye-opening class, and I think it's great that we touched on so many different issues ranging from LA Care to international health systems and from financing to vulnerable populations. I thought the syllabus was very ambitious when I first saw it at the beginning of the term, but we definitely managed to cover everything in a meaningful way.

I think the most valuable thing that I can do as a citizen to promote effective health reform is to continue to do what I've learned from this class: to question my own assumptions about what constitutes effective policy, to maintain a healthy skepticism about the facts and figures that I come across (both in the popular media and the academic literature), and try to look at issues objectively from all sides before coming to any conclusions. 

I've also discovered that I tend to undervalue political power and popular will while overvaluing quantitative data and all the wonky legislative details, which is something that I feel is better to realize earlier than later in my career as a health professional.

Practically speaking, I will definitely continue to keep up with all the latest health policy news (through the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, etc.) and write even more letters to my local representatives (perhaps by hand this time...thanks, Orlando).