I have requested that this letter from the Harvard Medical School (Class of 1955) be posted on our blog. I wanted to call attention to this letter even though it doesn’t explicitly support single payer, because many of the signers are strong single payer advocates. The signers include significant leaders in medicine – chairmen of departments, deans, professors at major medical schools and prominent practicing physicians. I hope that they will turn their advocacy in the future towards promoting Medicare for All. —Oliver Fein, M.D.

Fifty-nine members of the Harvard Medical School Class of 1959 are convinced that reform of the American health care system is essential, must be substantial and carefully designed, and must include a public health insurance option.

We present our position in this statement, a result of intense discussions begun at our June reunion commemorating 50 years since graduation. We are a majority of our 112 living American classmates. Six declined to sign the statement because they disagree with it, 3 more because it is not detailed enough, and 44 expressed no opinion.

Each of the signers has 50 years of experience and leadership in clinical practice, medical education, administration, and/or research. Our collective careers cover a wide variety of primary care and specialty fields in a range of organizational settings, in both private practice and academia, across the United States.

We believe that our humane and enlightened country, committed to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, has the obligation to provide everyone with the opportunity to obtain affordable insurance and quality health care.

We support President Obama’s proposal that all citizens should be offered the option of a government-sponsored medical insurance plan, along with private options. In our opinion, health care reform will fail without the discipline of competition from a public option.

Excluding a public option would throw away a vital opportunity to test different ways to provide quality care for all. A public plan would help develop and evaluate new standards of practice, malpractice reform, and reimbursement of physicians, and would emphasize preventive care. To be affordable, it would have to avoid financial incentives for unnecessary services and contain measures that curb financial abuse and waste by some hospitals and, unfortunately, by some of our medical colleagues.

A public option would also identify and encourage use of demonstrated best practices shown to be effective at less cost, offer greater access, and provide higher quality of care. Administrative overhead, as now in Medicare, would be significantly lower without for-profit intermediaries. These innovations could help lift the competitive burden that health care places on American employers in the global marketplace, while also offering portability and continuity of coverage during job changes and illness.

Common sense demands a planned, full comparison of the relative benefits of public vs. private options. At the outset, there must be clear and uniform ground rules for measuring, reporting, and evaluating cost, access, and quality of care for all plans.

We urge Congress and the President to take this courageous step at a vital time in our nation’s history.

Names and relevant positions of signers are attached. This statement represents only their opinions, not necessarily those of other 1959 graduates of Harvard Medical School or of that institution.

CO-SIGNERS, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL CLASS OF 1959

Norman O. Aarestad, M.D., F.A.C.R.

Radiation oncology, retired

Denver, CO

Eugene M. Abroms, M.D.,

Formerly Prof of Psychiatry,

University of Wisconsin Medical School

Ardmore, PA

Robert S. Adelstein MD

Bethesda, MD

James E. Barrett, M.D.,

Research Professor Emeritus of Community and Family Medicine and Psychiatry,

Dartmouth Medical School

Hanover, NH

Harvey H. Barten, M.D.

Psychiatry

Scarsdale, NY

Costan W. Berard, M.D.

Formerly Chairman, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine,

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,

Past President, United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology,

St. Helena Island, SC

Robert S. Blacklow, M.D.

Formerly Dean, Northeast Ohio college of Medicine

Currently, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine,

Harvard Medical School

Lincoln, MA

Forst E. Brown, M.D.

Professor Emeritus of Surgery,

Dartmouth Medical School

White River Junction, VT

Charles E. Burden, M. D.

Pediatrician,

Bath, ME

Boyd R. Burkhardt, M.D,

Clinical Plastic Surgeon,

Tucson, AZ.

Savelly B. Chirman, M.D.

Internal Medicine, retired

Santa Barbara, CA

Norman A. Clemens, M.D.

Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine,

Cleveland, Ohio

Richard E. Conway, M.D.

Orthopedic Surgery

Rockport, MA

Richard W Darrell, M.D, ScD

Clinical Professor Emeritus of Ophthalmology,

Columbia University

Fort Myers, FL

Donald E. Dillon, M.D.

Hematology/Oncology, retired

Ocean View, DE

Hall Downes, M.D.

Professor Emeritus of Physiology and Pharmacology,

Oregon Health Sciences University

Portland, OR

Karl Engelman, M.D.

Professor Emeritus of Medicine,

University of Pennsylvania

Hilton Head, SC

Charles J. Epstein, M.D., D.Sc.(h.c.)

Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, , and

Former Director of the Program in Human Genetics,

University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco

Tiburon, CA

Lois Barth Epstein, M..D., D.Sc.(h.c.)

Professor of Pediatrics, Emerita, and

Former Director of the Tumor Immunology and Interferon Laboratory,

Cancer Research Institute,

University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco

Tiburon, CA

Gerald C. Finkel M.D.

Clinical Professor of Pathology,

Univ. of Washington

Seattle, WA

Frederick B. Glaser, M.D., F.R.C.P. (Canada)

Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry,

Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University

Greenville, NC

Warren M. Gold, M.D.

Professor of Medicine,

University of California, San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

Robert A. Goldstone, M.D.

Orthopedic Surgery

Glen Rock, NJ

Anne M. Haywood, M.D.

Associate Professor of Pediatrics and of Microbiology & Immunology,

University of Rochester

Rochester, NY

Arthur L. Herbst, M.D

Joseph B Delee Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus,

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

Kenneth Herrmann, M.D.

Research Virologist,

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, retired

Atlanta, GA

David Korn, M. D.

Vice Provost for Research,

Harvard University

Professor of Pathology,

Harvard Medical School

Boston, MA

Anton O. Kris, M.D.

Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,

Harvard Medical School

Cambridge, MA

Nelson R. Lampert, M.D.

Clinical Professor of Surgery, retired

University of California, San Francisco

Ross, CA

Lucian L .Leape, M.D.

Adjunct Professor of Health Policy,

Harvard School of Public Health

Cambridge, MA

Cavin P. Leeman, M.D.

Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry,

SUNY Downstate Medical Center

New York, NY

Herbert Lessow, M.D.

Psychiatry

New York, NY

John T. Maltsberger, M.D.

Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,

Harvard Medical School

Boston, MA

Ira Marks, M.D., F.A.A.P.

Pediatrics, retired

Old Chatham, NY

Kilmer McCully, M.D.

Chief, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine,

VA Boston Healthcare System

Winchester, MA

John F. Merrifield, M.D.

Psychiatry, retired

Lexington, MA

Eli C. Messinger, M.D.,

Formerly Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry,

New York Medical College

New York, NY

Roger V. Moseley, M.D.

Formerly Asst. Clinical Professor of Surgery,

College of Medicine and Dentistry (NJ)

Princeton, NJ

J. David Poutasse, M.D.

Radiology, retired

Pittsfield, MA

James W. Prichard, M.D.

Professor Emeritus of Neurology,

Yale Medical School,

West Tisbury, MA

Judith L. Rapoport, M.D.

Washington, DC

Stanley I. Rapoport, M.D.

Washington, DC.

George D. Raymond, M.D.

Gastroenterology, retired

West Palm Beach, FL

William Reed, M.D.

Internal Medicine, retired

Albuquerque, NM

Richard S. Rivlin, M.D.

Formerly Professor of Medicine, and

Director, Career Development Program,

Nutrition and Cancer Prevention,

Weill-Cornell Medical College

Scarsdale, NY

John J. Roach, M.D.

Seattle, WA

Norman Robbins, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus of Neurosciences,

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Shaker Heights, OH

Irwin H. Rosenberg, M.D.

University Professor and Dean Emeritus,

Tufts University and Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy

Boston, MA

David Rush, M.D.

Professor Emeritus of Nutrition, Community Health and Pediatrics,

Tufts University

Cambridge, MA

Kevin G. Ryan, M.D.

Radiologist, retired

Port Ludlow, WA

Richard G. Sanderson, M.D.

Cardiothoracic Surgery, retired

Tucson, AZ

Paul E. Sapir, M.D.

Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Human Behavior,

Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University

Providence, RI

Peter B. Schneider, M.D.

Professor of Medicine and Radiology (Nuclear Medicine),

University of Massachusetts Medical School

Worcester, MA

Richard Lee Schoenbrun, M.D., Ph.D.

Psychiatry, San Francisco Community Mental Health Center

Belvedere, CA

Gordon M. Shepherd, M.D., D.Phil.

Professor of Neurobiology,

Yale University School of Medicine

Hamden, CT

John J. Soltys, M.D.

Professor of Psychiatry, retired

Univ. Of North Carolina Medical School

Chapel Hill, NC

Bruce W. Steinhauer, M.D.

Professor, Internal Medicine,

College of Medicine of the University of Tennessee

Memphis, TN

John Urquhart, MD, FRCPE, FAAAS, FRSE

Emeritus Extra-ordinary Professor of Pharmaco-epidemiology,

Maastricht University (Netherlands)

Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences,

Center for Drug Development Science,

University of California San Francisco Medical Center

Chief Scientist, AARDEX Group

Palo Alto, CA

Elliot S. Vesell, M.D., Sc.D.

Founding Chairman of Pharmacology,

Evan Pugh Professor of Pharmacology,

Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

Hershey, PA