Stacey Hettiger and Rick Murdock presented at the September 26th Bioethics for Breakfast event, offering perspectives and insight on the topic “Medicare for All: What Should That Mean?”

“Medicare for All” has become a contentious political slogan. Advocates for various versions of the slogan want to see everyone have access to needed and affordable health care. Critics see all versions of the slogan as unaffordable and hostile to individual liberty. Is compromise possible? Can we have some level of affordable health care for everyone in our society? Can this be accomplished in ways that are congruent with our most fundamental political values? Event speakers addressed these questions and more, inviting response and discussion from those in attendance.

This year’s Bioethics for Breakfast series centers on the theme “Is There a Cure for Our Sick Health Care System?”

About the Speakers

Stacey Hettiger
Stacey Hettiger is Director of Medical and Regulatory Policy at Michigan State Medical Society. Her responsibilities include developing materials, programming, and member communications in the areas of legal and regulatory compliance and State and Federal quality initiatives. This includes advocacy and outreach on issues affecting the delivery of health care such as HIPAA, physician payment models and incentives, and practice transformation. Prior to joining MSMS, Stacey worked for twenty years in the Michigan State Legislature.

Rick Murdock
Rick Murdock retired from the Michigan Association of Health Plans in 2017 after 12 years as executive director, and has since been consulting with the MAHP Foundation to coordinate the Michigan ACE (adverse childhood experiences) Initiative. Prior to joining MAHP, he spent three years working in the Michigan legislature, followed by 18 years in the State Budget Office (mental health and Medicaid and health planning). Additionally he spent 6 years in Medicaid administering the Medicaid managed care program. He has a master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

About Bioethics for Breakfast:
In 2010, Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman invited the Center for Ethics to partner on a bioethics seminar series. The Center for Ethics and Hall Render invite guests from the health professions, religious and community organizations, political circles, and the academy to engage in lively discussions of topics spanning the worlds of bioethics, health law, business, and policy. For each event, the Center selects from a wide range of controversial issues and provides two presenters either from our own faculty or invited guests, who offer distinctive, and sometimes clashing, perspectives. Those brief presentations are followed by a moderated open discussion.