White House Forum on Health
Right place at the right time
Right place at the right time
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 1 of 2
Siavash Sarlati has witnessed a lot for a second-year medical student at UW-Madison School of
Medicine and Public Health. His family immigrated to the United States from Iran when he was young
and settled on the fringe of Milwaukee’s inner-city. He knows what it is like to be a struggling immigrant.
And he saw a lot of people struggle to survive in the inner-city. He worked in rural Ecuador the summer
before he entered medical school and worked in a HIV/AIDS clinic in Nairobi, Kenya. He has seen what
the consequences are when people don’t have access to the proper medical care.
But Sarlati also saw a lot of privilege when he attended the exclusive University School during his high
school career. He spent four years in school with people who had access to the best medical resources.
Sarlati has seen the inequities from both sides.
“We spend 17 percent of our GDP, about $2.4 trillion, on healthcare in this country and our health
indices don’t reflect that kind of expenditure,” Sarlati said during an interview at a coffeehouse on State
Street. “People of color, people of lower incomes and people in certain areas of the country in rural areas
Siavash Sarlati participated in the White House
Forum on Health in Washington D.C. March 5
Forum on Health in Washington D.C. March 5
don’t receive the quality and quantity of healthcare that they need and it is seen in the differences in their outcomes relative to people who have better access
and more resources.”
Sarlati is an activist who is determined to do something about the inequities that he has seen. He takes pride in the fact that Che Guevara, Toussaint L’
Overture and Harriet Tubman were all healthcare practioners before they embarked on their social causes. While he is immersed in his medical studies, Sarlati
has continued his activism as a member of Medical Students for Minority Concerns and has worked at a clinic at Grace Episcopal Church for the homeless.
So it would come as no surprise to anyone who knew him that Sarlati answered President-elect Barack Obama’s call last December for people to hold healthcare
forums in their communities. “I thought it would be a great idea to do something with my classmates and get something going on at school,” Sarlati said. “But it
was finals time and I decided to do something when I was off from school and in Milwaukee for my winter holiday. We held a community discussion a couple of
days after Christmas at my dad’s house where I grew up. I had 16 people show up. The transition team through change.gov provided an outline and questions to
ask. We were encouraged to have our own conversation obviously. They weren’t trying to bias anyone. But they had some questions in specific areas that they
wanted us to address and submit a report based on the conversation. I did that and a couple of weeks later; I got a phone call from an intern with the transition
team to touch base. He thanked me and we talked about the submission that I made. He asked me some personal questions about what I wanted to do with my
career and about my commitment to health reform and why I was interested in it.”
About two months later, Sarlati was woken up by a phone call. It was the same intern he had spoken with in January. The intern extended an invitation to
him to be one of seven “citizen” members at the White House Forum on Health, the vehicle that President Obama was using to launch his healthcare reform
initiative. Sarlati gladly accepted.
“We were all from different backgrounds,” Sarlati said. “I was a med student. There was a woman who was a Republican and a full-time caregiver for her son
who has a rare genetic disorder. There was a small business owner from Wisconsin, a border patrolman from Texas and an EMT from a rural Indiana area. He
actually ended up introducing the president at the forum. We were VIPs. We were right up front for the closing and the introduction session where the president
spoke. We were right behind him for the town hall meeting at the end. He shook our hands. He came over and said thank you. We posed for a photo with him.
Afterwards, I don’t want to quote someone, but I got a call from someone who said they liked the discussion that we had and the fact I was a medical student.
They thought it would be a good representation. That’s why I was asked.”
The working group that Sarlati was in had some pretty heavy hitters. It was chaired by Zeke Emanuel, the brother of Rahm Emanuel who is President Obama’
s chief of staff. It also included Sen. Bernie Sanders, a representative from Pfizer and Eric Whitaker from the University of Chicago Medical School.
Sarlati felt the forum was productive because it brought so many different people with different viewpoints and interests around the table. “It was productive in
that it showed people that all of the voices were going to be heard,” Sarlati said. “I think it sent out the message that healthcare reform will happen and this is
something they are committed to. The process now is going to be figuring out what that reform will look like. It showed me that different sides — Republican,
Democrat, business, insurance companies, people, and physicians— could work together. There was a lot of good conversation and a lot of good debates. There
were good ideas coming from all of these sections. One of the first things the president said was something like ‘The perfect can no longer be victim to the
essential.’ He really sent out a strong message that people are going to have to compromise in all sections. No one is going to get everything that they want. And
he said that there were no sacred cows. I think that was the central message of this thing. We’re all going to be involved, but all of us also have to be able to
make concessions and work to make a cooperative and far-reaching reform that will keep everyone happy. In my opinion, you have to disappoint some people if
you want to change things. From my own analysis, it seemed that is what the president was trying to say in his own diplomatic way. Some people will be
disappointed, but this is something that needs to happen.”
While Sarlati plans to stay involved in the healthcare reform debate as much as his studies and the process allows him, he is realistic enough to know that
his role on the national level has come to an end, for now. “I would doubt that I would be involved in any more of the process,” Sarlati said. “It would be cool.
After the forum, I sat down with a classmate and we sent out letters to a bunch of politicians across the country with some ideas that we had, hoping that my
name on that roster might actually get it read or get some attention. I wasn’t given any indication that we would be involved any further. A picture of our group is
on healthreform.gov. Personally, I’m staying as involved as I can. In addition to this interview, I’ve done some radio interviews. I’ve been asked to be a part of the
Milwaukee Democratic community forum on healthcare reform. I’m trying to bring as much attention to the issue as possible. As far as flying back to Washington
or anything like that, I don’t know. I would doubt it.”
Next Issue: Sarlati’s views on healthcare reform
and more resources.”
Sarlati is an activist who is determined to do something about the inequities that he has seen. He takes pride in the fact that Che Guevara, Toussaint L’
Overture and Harriet Tubman were all healthcare practioners before they embarked on their social causes. While he is immersed in his medical studies, Sarlati
has continued his activism as a member of Medical Students for Minority Concerns and has worked at a clinic at Grace Episcopal Church for the homeless.
So it would come as no surprise to anyone who knew him that Sarlati answered President-elect Barack Obama’s call last December for people to hold healthcare
forums in their communities. “I thought it would be a great idea to do something with my classmates and get something going on at school,” Sarlati said. “But it
was finals time and I decided to do something when I was off from school and in Milwaukee for my winter holiday. We held a community discussion a couple of
days after Christmas at my dad’s house where I grew up. I had 16 people show up. The transition team through change.gov provided an outline and questions to
ask. We were encouraged to have our own conversation obviously. They weren’t trying to bias anyone. But they had some questions in specific areas that they
wanted us to address and submit a report based on the conversation. I did that and a couple of weeks later; I got a phone call from an intern with the transition
team to touch base. He thanked me and we talked about the submission that I made. He asked me some personal questions about what I wanted to do with my
career and about my commitment to health reform and why I was interested in it.”
About two months later, Sarlati was woken up by a phone call. It was the same intern he had spoken with in January. The intern extended an invitation to
him to be one of seven “citizen” members at the White House Forum on Health, the vehicle that President Obama was using to launch his healthcare reform
initiative. Sarlati gladly accepted.
“We were all from different backgrounds,” Sarlati said. “I was a med student. There was a woman who was a Republican and a full-time caregiver for her son
who has a rare genetic disorder. There was a small business owner from Wisconsin, a border patrolman from Texas and an EMT from a rural Indiana area. He
actually ended up introducing the president at the forum. We were VIPs. We were right up front for the closing and the introduction session where the president
spoke. We were right behind him for the town hall meeting at the end. He shook our hands. He came over and said thank you. We posed for a photo with him.
Afterwards, I don’t want to quote someone, but I got a call from someone who said they liked the discussion that we had and the fact I was a medical student.
They thought it would be a good representation. That’s why I was asked.”
The working group that Sarlati was in had some pretty heavy hitters. It was chaired by Zeke Emanuel, the brother of Rahm Emanuel who is President Obama’
s chief of staff. It also included Sen. Bernie Sanders, a representative from Pfizer and Eric Whitaker from the University of Chicago Medical School.
Sarlati felt the forum was productive because it brought so many different people with different viewpoints and interests around the table. “It was productive in
that it showed people that all of the voices were going to be heard,” Sarlati said. “I think it sent out the message that healthcare reform will happen and this is
something they are committed to. The process now is going to be figuring out what that reform will look like. It showed me that different sides — Republican,
Democrat, business, insurance companies, people, and physicians— could work together. There was a lot of good conversation and a lot of good debates. There
were good ideas coming from all of these sections. One of the first things the president said was something like ‘The perfect can no longer be victim to the
essential.’ He really sent out a strong message that people are going to have to compromise in all sections. No one is going to get everything that they want. And
he said that there were no sacred cows. I think that was the central message of this thing. We’re all going to be involved, but all of us also have to be able to
make concessions and work to make a cooperative and far-reaching reform that will keep everyone happy. In my opinion, you have to disappoint some people if
you want to change things. From my own analysis, it seemed that is what the president was trying to say in his own diplomatic way. Some people will be
disappointed, but this is something that needs to happen.”
While Sarlati plans to stay involved in the healthcare reform debate as much as his studies and the process allows him, he is realistic enough to know that
his role on the national level has come to an end, for now. “I would doubt that I would be involved in any more of the process,” Sarlati said. “It would be cool.
After the forum, I sat down with a classmate and we sent out letters to a bunch of politicians across the country with some ideas that we had, hoping that my
name on that roster might actually get it read or get some attention. I wasn’t given any indication that we would be involved any further. A picture of our group is
on healthreform.gov. Personally, I’m staying as involved as I can. In addition to this interview, I’ve done some radio interviews. I’ve been asked to be a part of the
Milwaukee Democratic community forum on healthcare reform. I’m trying to bring as much attention to the issue as possible. As far as flying back to Washington
or anything like that, I don’t know. I would doubt it.”
Next Issue: Sarlati’s views on healthcare reform