The Village Square

Dr. Ray Bellamy
Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic
Physicians for a National Health Plan

Dr. Ray Bellamy, an orthopedist with Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic, is the local co-chair for Physicians for a National Health Plan. Dr. Bellamy graduated medical school from the University of California at San Francisco, after which he volunteered for the Navy’s flight surgery program. He completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at the University of Kentucky. After finishing various fellowships in spinal injury and arthritis, Dr. Bellamy served on the faculty at the University of Kentucky, until he moved to Tallahassee in 1974. He has over thirty years practice experience and is a passionate advocate for a single payer health care system.

Dr. Mark Cuffe
Neurosurgeon, Tallahassee Neurological Clinic

Dr. Mark Cuffe has practiced at Tallahassee Neurological Clinic since 1993. He received his Undergraduate and Medical School education from the University of Florida and completed his neurosurgical residency training at University of Alabama at Birmingham where he was the recipient of the Southern Neurosurgical Society Augustus McCravey Resident Clinical Science award. In 1996 Dr. Cuffe became Board Certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgeons and is a Diplomat of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Cuffe can be seen advocating against reform options due to his concerns about physician shortages HERE.

John Hogan
President and CEO, Capital Health Plan, Inc.

John Hogan is the President and CEO of Capital Health Plan, Inc., a non-profit HMO that provides healthcare services and coverage for over thirty percent of the population of Tallahassee. Mr. Hogan has led the organization for over thirty years from its initial development as its only employee. Capital Health Plan has been consistently recognized as one of “America’s Best Health Plans.” The health plan has also been a national leader in efficiency with an administrative overhead that has been maintained below 5% of revenues for over twenty years. He holds an MBA from Florida State. Mr. Hogan was recently elected Chairman of the Board of the national Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP).

Mark O’Bryant
President and CEO, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, Inc.

Mark O’Bryant has led Tallahassee Memorial Hospital since 2003 in serving the hospital needs of a 22-county referral area in north Florida and South Georgia, providing several centers of excellence in the areas of cardiac, neurological, orthopedic, cancer, behavioral health, women and children services. TMH has recently been awarded accreditation in multiple areas of specialty including stroke, chest pain, and brain and spinal cord injury. Mr. O’Bryant has focused on operational and financial improvements centered on evidence-based quality initiatives to achieve a world-class community health system. He is active in our community on the boards of numerous civic organizations and holds a Masters in both Healthcare and Business Administration.

Jill Quadagno, Ph.D.,
Mildred and Claude Pepper Eminent Scholar in Social Gerontology
Florida State University, FSU Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy

In her new book, One Nation, Uninsured: Why the U.S. Has No National Health Insurance Dr. Jill Quadagno describes our nation’s failure to address the health care needs of its citizens. An internationally recognized expert and advisor to several U.S. presidents, she was recently invited by U.S. Senator Harry Reid to make a presentation on a panel entitled “Getting to Universal Coverage: Challenges and Opportunities.” She has appeared on NPR’s “Science Friday” and was featured in by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman in “Death by Insurance.” Dr. Quadagno is also an artist and is participating in a show opening September 4th at Lemoyne Center for the Visual Arts.

William Weissert, Ph.D.
Florida State University, Department of Political Science

Dr. William Weissert has spent his forty year career studying the role of political institutions, including interest groups, in shaping health policy, the effectiveness and costs of health policy and in particular long-term care policy and incentive structures. He is a faculty associate with the Claude Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy. Previously Dr. Weissert served on the faculty of the University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and with the Health Policy Center at the Urban Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School, a Masters from Northwestern. Dr. Weissert is widely published in public health care policy.