Events

The Swiss Healthcare Model: Is It Relevant to the United States?


This event is over. See the recording and related materials below.

VIDEO RECORDING
PRESENTATION
ARTICLE "Individual Responsibility and Community Solidarity-The Swiss Healthcare System" 
New England Journal of Medicine (Nikola Biller-Andorno, M.D., Ph.D. and Thomas Zeltner, MD;  373;23; December 3, 2015)  

Washington area, national, and international healthcare colleagues,
policymakers, and the public are invited to a unique and timely event -
taking place amid the U.S. Presidential debates


MSDC is pleased to host a webinar with Thomas Zeltner, the former Secretary of Health of Switzerland and Director-General of the Swiss National Health Authority. Dr. Zeltner will discuss the Swiss healthcare model and its relevance for the United States.

 KEYNOTE SPEAKER  MODERATOR
Zeltner-photo               Eliot Sorel MD Photo
Prof. Dr. Thomas ZELTNER
(Switzerland)  
Former Director General
Swiss National Health Authority     

Eliot SOREL, MD
(Washington, D.C.)
MSDC Past President



Access to healthcare for all Americans has been more than a century long quest, that is all the more poignant in a Presidential election year during a global pandemic. Some significant gains were accomplished with the Affordable Care Act, which was passed by the U.S. Congress in 2009 and will be contested for a third time before the U.S. Supreme Court* this November. Switzerland has accomplished access to care for all its citizens through a public and private integrated model not predicated on employment. This webinar will review the Swiss healthcare model and address its relevance to the United States. 
  

DESCRIPTION
Access to healthcare for all Americans has been more than a century long quest
starting with President Theodore Roosevelt at the beginning of the 20th century.
Some significant gains were accomplished with the Affordable Care Act passed by
the U.S. Congress in 2009. Access to care in the United States is linked with employment. When one becomes unemployed one may lose health care coverage. The Affordable Care Act* will be contested for a third time before the US Supreme Court this November.

This webinar will review the Swiss healthcare model and address its relevance to
the United States. Switzerland has accomplished access to care for all its citizens
through a public and private integrated model not predicated on employment. There
will also be ample opportunities for questions and answers.


KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Zeltner-photoProf. Dr. Thomas Zeltner, former Secretary of Health of Switzerland and Director-General of the Swiss National Health Authority (1991-2009), has a long history as an innovative leader in public health.

He is the founder and first chairman of the WHO Foundation established in Geneva in May 2020. The WHO Foundation is a grantmaking organization with the objective of addressing the most pressing global health challenges of tomorrow by raising significant new funding for WHO from non-traditional sources. The Foundation will work with individual donors, the general public and corporate partners to strengthen the global health ecosystem.

Dr. Zeltner currently advises the Swiss Government in the COVID-19 crisis, particularly on providing a COVID-19 vaccine to the Swiss population as well as for the rest of the world.  He is Chairman of the Swiss Blood Transfusion Inc. a non-profit public limited company within the Swiss Red Cross. He is also President of UNESCO commission of Switzerland.

MODERATOR
Eliot Sorel MD PhotoEliot Sorel, MD is an innovative global health leader, educator, health systems performance expert, and a practicing physician. He co-chairs the Metrics Group of the Healthy Brains Global and is a cofounder of the Africa Global Mental Health Institute. Dr. Sorel has served as a subject matter expert on World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. National Institute of Health,(NIH), Fogarty International Center, U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, (NIMH), World Bank Group (WBG), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) projects.

*Eliot Sorel, MD, is a co-signatory of Amici Curiae Brief of Public Health Experts, the American Public Health Association, and the American Academy of Nursing, California, et al., v Texas, No. 19-840 and No. 19-1019 (United States Supreme Court, May 2020)