My friend Herb Kohl had deep convictions, including more equitable health care | Opinion

The recent death of Herb Kohl concluded our association of 70 years as mutual friends and ideological colleagues. We began to interact as University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate fraternity brothers living together at our frat house. We frequently discussed maximizing opportunities to achieve what our democracy provided for us to attain professional prominence as minorities.

We continued our association while living in Boston as Harvard University graduate students. We exchanged thoughts and aspirations over the subsequent years, as Kohl endeavored to convert his convictions to attainment. After directing the election campaign of Gov. Pat Lucey, he chaired the Wisconsin Democratic Party for two years starting in 1975.

A distinctive feature of our association was in late 1985. I returned to Milwaukee for one day while working as a staff member for Sen. Ted Kennedy. I sought to convince Kohl to run for the U.S. Senate. He had recently purchased the Milwaukee Bucks for $18 million, but was beginning to focus on a career in government. He decided to continue converting his convictions to attainment, and conducted a successful campaign for the Senate in 1988, succeeding the retiring incumbent Sen. William Proxmire. He served for24 years as our senator.

Kohl's legislative legacy included improving Medicare equity

He was extremely active on several major Senate committees. His greatest accomplishment was as Chair of the Special Senate Committee On Aging. Herb greatly revered Kennedy, and shared his commitment to healthcare equity, particularly for elders. We frequently discussed our shortage of physician primary care providers. This was a major cause of healthcare inequity, especially for minorities residing in both urban and rural Health Professional Shortage Areas. We discussed pursuing support of the previously introduced and enacted Kennedy led legislation to educate more primary care physicians.

In subsequent years, the shortage of primary care physicians persisted; thus I discussed with Kohl a primary care alternative. He was a major influence in developing the concepts serving as the foundation for a recently published article in Health Affairs Scholar entitled “Nurses Can Be “REACH” Accountable Care Organization Partners to Mitigate Medicare Inequity," which I authored in conjunction with Dr. David Sundwall who is the former Administrator of the Federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

The ideas outlined in this paper serve as the mission of Successful Aging, Incorporated, a 501 (c)(3) Wisconsin corporation was formed by ten faculty members of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH) to facilitate a demonstration of nurse guided primary care for underserved Medicare beneficiaries in Milwaukee. This project was based upon a concept previously developed with Kohl's advice described in a 2016 op-ed published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel entitled “Redesign Medicare Delivery.” Upon demonstration of feasibility, we project that these nurse guided Clinics could be integrated within our vast network of community health centers. Their mission of health care equity currently is greatly limited by a shortage of primary care providers.

Herb Kohl loved Pfister coffee shop.He had one final gesture for hotel's staff.

This tribute to Herb Kohl represents an added perspective to the multitude of memorial tributes this month. I believe my association with him will have facilitated attainment of healthcare equity for minority Medicare beneficiaries, as an expected component of our democracy - an attainment of Kohl's convictions. Hopefully, the healthcare equity which evolves for these Medicare beneficiaries will serve as a legacy of Herb’s conviction regarding the essential role of minority equity in our American democracy.

Richard Rieselbach is Professor Emeritus of Medicine (UWSMPH), Founding Dean of the UWSMPH Milwaukee Academic Campus and Board Chair and CEO of Successful Aging Inc.