NPR's Talk of the Nation: Changing Face of America

Live Town Hall: Boston

Listen to Talk of the Nation's Town Hall Meeting
Thursday, June 29, at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT.

Talk of the Nation Host Juan Williams

The Changing Face of Healthcare

For generations, Americans have wrestled with the challenge of providing affordable healthcare for everyone. The American healthcare system is in crisis, but in Massachusetts a group of doctors and activists think they can prod their legislature to create a workable, patient-focused health care system. We'll find out what's happening in Massachusetts and how it could be recreated in other places. We'll invite you to help us answer the key question: what should health care be?

Talk of the Nation broadcasts live from Boston this month. In the first hour, host Juan Williams talks with guests about how the efforts in Massachusetts could force the state's legislature to create reforms that will restore focus on health in the doctor-patient relationship.

In hour two, Williams explores how alternative medicine is booming in mainstream America. Millions of Americans are looking for healthcare that preserves their quality of life and growing numbers are getting their care outside traditional medicine. As alternative treatments - acupuncture, micropressure, herbs or Tai-Chi - gain popularity, they're also creating challenges. Among them, how to integrate the sometimes intuitive and hard to quantify alternative treatments into standard, scientific American medical practice.

Return to The Changing Face of America home page.

Guests:

Dr. Harris Berman,, CEO of Tufts Health Plan

Dr. Susan Bennett, Lown Cardiovascular Center

Dr. Tom Delbanco, Harvard Medical School professor at the Department of Aging & Mental Health, University of South Florida

Dr. David Eisenberg, director of Harvard's Division for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies. He is also the director of Beth Israel-Deaconess Center for Alternative Medicine, Research and Education.

Dr. John Renner, president of National Council for Reliable Health Information and Chief Medical Officer of www.healthscout.com.

Dr. Donald Levy, Internist at the Marino Center for Progressive Health and an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The Changing Face of America is an 18-month-long NPR series that tells the stories of regular, everyday Americans and the issues they face at a time of rapid and dramatic change in the U.S. This special series can be heard on NPR's Talk of the Nation, All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

Web pages for The Changing Face of America series are produced by Davar Ardalan, Joshua T. Barlow and Maggy Sterner.