What is the future of public hospitals given this wave of cutbacks?
I think the question is different. The issue is what’s going to happen to the health care system in this country. Not only are public hospitals troubled. Look at all the private hospitals that have already closed in the state of Illinois. So it isn’t just what’s going to happen to the public health system; it’s what’s going to happen to the health care system generally. When you talk about public hospitals, however, you also need to talk about the question of public health. How do we preserve the public institutions so that we can deal with prevention questions and health education questions, in order to preserve the public health of our citizenry? Now, if you ask me should we downsize, should we be more involved in ambulatory care, should we be joint venturing with other institutions, should we be in the forefront in the fight against tuberculosis, in the fight against sexually transmitted disease, in the fight against gun violence, clearly the answer is yes because that is public hea
