THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 5, 1995 TAG: 9505030220
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
The Coalition of Public and Physicians for Sensible Health Care Reform USA (COPPS USA), organized by a group of concerned citizens in Portsmouth in 1994, will hold the first of a series of nationwide townhall meetings at 1 p.m. Saturday on the Portsmouth Campus of Tidewater Community College.
The meeting is free and open to the public.
James E. Walsh, a TCC professor who serves as chairman of the COPPS board of trustees, said the meeting will include an open discussion.
``We will exchange our horrible experiences in today's chaotic health care system,'' Walsh said. ``We also will present the coalition's reform proposal, `The American Citizens Health Care Act 1995,' to the public for input and support. We welcome all kinds of ideas from the public and expect to use those supported by a majority of the American people to finalize our proposal.''
The proposed health care act was drafted by the coalition's policy committee chaired by Dr. E. Aubrey Murden Jr. of Portsmouth. The proposal encompasses reforms for the government, the health insurance industry, the hospital industry, the legal industry, physicians and the public.
``The problems of health care system are not limited to one sector. They involve every sector in the system; therefore, a sensible health care reform must have a holistic approach,'' Dr. Robert Su of Portsmouth, honorary chairman of COPPS, said. ``To overhaul the insurance system alone will not resolve the crisis.''
Su is author of ``The Health Care Mess,'' a book written under pseudonym of Dr. Robert Bear Smith.
``We must recognize that the patients and the physicians are the primary players and they must be brought back to the focus,'' Su said. ``We must restore the traditional patient-focused health care system.''
COPPS is seeking members nationwide and currently has members in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, California and several other states.
The coalition is non-profit, non-denominational and non-partisan. It has no paid workers.
E. William Greer is chairman of the membership committee and Cathy Rothman, an accountant, is the organization's treasurer.
``The public and physicians must join this crusade to tell our politicians in Washington and in Richmond not to accept influences from special interest groups.'' by CNB