Our Health Policy Matters

President Reagan gave his first speech on the AIDS epidemic almost twenty-five years ago on May 31, 1987.  This was after 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS, 20,849 had died, and over a quarter of a million had been infected with HIV. For years, he had been criticized for ignoring and underfunding the worst public health crisis of the late 20 th century.   So he began his speech with a joke: “A charity committee approaches the wealthiest man in town for a contribution.  ‘Our book shows that you haven’t contributed any money this year,’ they tell him.  ‘Does your book also show that I have an infirm mother and a disabled brother?’ he replies.  ‘Why no,’ they say, ‘we didn’t know that.’ ‘Well, I don’t give them any money.  Why should I give any to you?’” The bad joke was an inadvertent punctuation mark on a presidency too fondly remembered by both republicans and democrats today. On matters of health, Reagan took us ...

President Reagan gave his first speech on the AIDS epidemic almost twenty-five years ago on May 31, 1987.  This was after 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS, 20,849 had died, and over a quarter of a million had been infected with HIV. For years, he had been criticized for ignoring and underfunding the worst public health crisis of the late 20 th century.   So he began his speech with a joke: “A charity committee approaches the wealthiest man in town for a contribution.  ‘Our book shows that you haven’t contributed any money this year,’ they tell him.  ‘Does your book also show that I have an infirm mother and a disabled brother?’ he replies.  ‘Why no,’ they say, ‘we didn’t know that.’ ‘Well, I don’t give them any money.  Why should I give any to you?’” The bad joke was an inadvertent punctuation mark on a presidency too fondly remembered by both republicans and democrats today. On matters of health, Reagan took us ...