The Robert Wood Johnson Medical School chapter of the Benjamin Rush Society held its inaugural event on Wednesday, November 2, 2011, hosting Dr. Alieta Eck, President of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons.

Dr. Eck spoke to medical students about how the costly but ineffective Medicaid program can be replaced with real charity care.  As in many other states, Medicaid in New Jersey chews up a a large portion of the state budget with little to show for it.  Patients are left struggling to find a doctor who accepts Medicaid.

She proposed that the solution to the problem of access to care for the poor can be achieved through real charity care.  Dr. Eck has been working with the New Jersey state legislature to pass the NJ Volunteer Physicians Protection Act.  This Act would would subsidize medical-malpractice coverage for physicians who volunteer four hours per week, deliver two babies, or perform two surgeries monthly.  Dr. Eck believes that this could save New Jersey taxpayers millions of dollars.

Dr. Eck concluded with a case study that compared the Zarephath Health Center, a private charitable clinic founded by her husband and herself in 2003, with a nearby federally qualified health center, Plainfield Health Center.  Zarephath Health Center operates at a fraction of the cost of Plainfield Health Center, and dispenses medicines donated by pharmaceutical manufacturers.  The medical students, receptive to the idea of volunteering to care for the poor, peppered her with questions about her experience and proposals.

According to Lou Magdon, president of the Society's chapter at RWJ Medical School, "It was great to kick off the chapter with a speaker who is such a great role model.  Our medical school, like others, lacks professors who believe in freedom and support free-market solutions to our health-care challenges.  We plan on balancing the conversation at RWJ.  What better way to begin the journey than by starting a conversation about how to better care for the most vulnerable of our neighbors?"

Photos from the event are posted at the Benjamin Rush Society's Facebook page.