Shouldn't it be our goal to deliver health care to everyone in this nation?

Marsha Rappley, M.D., dean, Michigan State College of Medicine University, says almost all conditions and diseases are curable. So why don't we?

Transcript

I do feel a sense of urgency about solving some of these problems. I don't really think it's acceptable to . . . I don't really think it's acceptable that some people don't get the care that they need.

My interaction with the health system is very rich and deep, both as a recipient and someone who offers care to others.

We are in a position where we actually do help people. Sometimes it's one on one. Sometimes it's a very simple thing like holding someone's hand or extending an arm around a shoulder in a really difficult time.

When I started as a nurse, back in the early '70s, children's leukemia, Wilms' tumors, they were almost universally fatal, and now we look to people with these diagnoses to families and young children and we can talk about the hope of being almost always curable, and that is an amazing experience. If we could just deliver that to every single person in this country, just think how strong we would be as a nation.