HIGHLIGHTS:
Professor of Law; joined California Western in 1987
M.P.H. Harvard University; J.D. California Western School of Law; B.A. Cornell University
Courses Taught: Contracts I & II; Aging, Law & Public Policy; Health Law & Policy; Public Health Law; Remedies
Profile Page: Susan Channick

The issue of revamping healthcare has emerged again on the national scene. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is boring in on the issue, proposing a major overhaul of the state system that has pleased some while raising the hackles of many advocacy groups. And a range of 2008 presidential candidates, from Sen. Hillary Clinton to Sen. John McCain, talk about the lack of access and escalating costs of healthcare as major concerns for Americans.

For California Western Professor Susan Channick, the renewed interest in healthcare reform is long overdue. For the past 15 years, she has focused on the legal issues surrounding healthcare, and during that time she has been advocating for major changes to the system in this country.

"The interest in true healthcare reform is cyclical. There's probably been a need for universal health insurance for a long time," says Channick. "Because we are at a point of crisis, maybe something can be done."

The crisis is clear to Channick and her colleagues who look at the healthcare statistics in the United States. There are approximately 47 million Americans who don't have health insurance, according to Channick, and the uninsured all too often use the emergency room as their first stop when they're sick.

Nearly 50 million people without insurance is but one of the factors that contribute to skyrocketing healthcare costs, says Channick. Highly sophisticated and expensive new technology and testing and a trend that focuses on treatment rather than prevention are contributing to a system whose costs are spiraling out of control.

"America spends about 17 percent of its Gross Domestic Product on healthcare," she says. "The cost of health insurance has become so overwhelming that many employers have discontinued or greatly reduced their commitment to their employees' health insurance."

So the discussion has now returned to the contentious topic of universal healthcare coverage, say Channick, and there are myriad complex legal issues surrounding the issue.

"Many of the state plans are being discussed are called universal, but they're not traditional single-payer plans. Those that are like the California plan require that all residents have health insurance which will be subsidized by many players, including employers, insurers, providers, and the state," she says. "A single-payer universal healthcare system may never be acceptable in the U.S. because it's just too different from what we have become accustomed to. In addition, single-payer systems have their problems as well."

Channick is very much a part of the national discussion of healthcare reform. She has served on the American Bar Association subcommittees on Medicine and Law and Health Care Decisions and is a member of the American Association of Law, Medicine, and Ethics.

Yet her path to focusing on health and the law was by no means straight. Ten years after receiving her bachelor's degree in psychology from Cornell University, Channick decided to pursue a law degree at California Western. She was married with two young children, and she says California Western offered her a flexible environment where she could thrive.

After graduating, Channick worked for a San Diego firm as a transactional lawyer for about eight years and during that time she started teaching as an adjunct faculty member at California Western. "I liked the planning part of business law, but I didn't like documenting the transaction, probably the most important part of the job," she says.

Channick joined the California Western faculty full-time in 1987. About 15 years ago, she started looking at legal issues affecting the elderly, and that led her to a broader focus on issues surrounding health and the law. In 2000, she took a sabbatical during which she received a Master's in Public Health from Harvard, an experience that had a profound effect on her views of healthcare.

"So much more money in the U.S. is spent on treatment rather than prevention. People have been relying on treatment for so long, but now may be the time to focus on the public health prevention model," she says.