He said that as a result, there would be "a number of changes", including beginning a project to improve end-of-life care and implementing a new system of appointment booking to deal with a backlog of operations.

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Also known as health promoters, peer educators such as Huynh are proving particularly effective at helping newcomers overcome such barriers as lack of insurance, confusion about the U.S. health care system, insufficient information on potentially life-saving cancer screenings and even cultural taboos that make it difficult for some women to acknowledge and seek medical help.

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She went on to experience universal medicine while working as a navy pediatrician and then felt culture shock when she went into private practice and encountered the complexities of the U.S. health care system: from confronting HMOs and managed care, to dealing with the litigation anxiety that characterizes the life of an American doctor.

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In Chicago, the large Catholic hospital system Presence Health is incorporating end-of-life care and advanced-directives into its ACO.

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Medicare, for example, is part of a health-care system whose costs are increasing with technological advances and rising life expectancy.

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The failure of our system of medical care for people facing the end of their life runs much deeper.

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And when all is said and done, part of why I believe so strongly in reforming our health care system is because of the difference it will make for these women who gave us life -- so simple -- these women who raised us, these women who supported us through the years.

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