During the week of September 1^st, KMUW, 89.1 FM, will present a series on Morning Edition dealing with health care.  A variety of opinions will be represented.  Below are the guests and a brief description of each segment:

Monday, Sept. 1 - Four former majority leaders of the U.S. Senate - Bob Dole,  Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, and George Mitchell - have come together to try to bridge the political gap, and break the impasse  on health care as a project of their Bipartisan Policy Center. Bryan Thompson presents a report on this story, which includes comments by Bob Dole.  This report will air at 6:35 and 8:35 A.M.

Tuesday, Sept. 2 – Dr. Walt Chappell, who has worked on health reform issues with several states and the U.S. Congress, offers his recommendations.  Dr. Chappell helped conduct a couple of town hall meetings on health care reform recently in Wichita.  He says using taxes to pay uninsured premiums is not reform, and we must first bring down costs and make health care more accessible.  Dr. Chappell is interviewed by KMUW’s Frank Dudgeon.  This interview airs at 5:50 and 7:50 A.M.

Wednesday, Sept. 3 – KMUW’s Carla Eckels interviews Jane Byrnes, a Registered Dietician and Certified Personal Trainer in Wichita.  At a recent town hall meeting on health care, she discussed ways to promote what she calls evidence-based health and wellness.  Jane Byrnes talks about evidence-based wellness and how people can be persuaded to actively engage in it.  This interview airs at 5:50 and 7:50 A.M.

Thursday, Sept. 4 – KMUW’s Frank Dudgeon talks with Dr. Charles Fox, Associate Dean in the College of Health Professions and Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Wichita State University.  Dr. Fox says we do not have a “health care system.”  He says it’s not a “system,” but rather a loose conglomeration of business models for health care, and that it’s not “health care” because the emphasis is on managing disease and trauma, rather than on wellness, on being healthy, and on palliative care.  Dr. Fox also talks about what it’s like for health professionals in the U.S.  This interview airs at 5:50 and 7:50 A.M.   

Friday, Sept. 5 - Bryan Thompson interviews Dr. Steven Schroeder, former president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  He was in Kansas City recently to deliver a lecture on behalf of the Center for Practical Bioethics.  Bryan spoke with Dr. Schroeder about why health reform is so difficult.  This interview airs at 5:50 and 7:50 A.M.