|| News ||
Page 1 of 1

Key AIDS Doc Quits Over Costs


Marcus Conantx390 (Screengrab) | Advocate.com
Marcus Conant

Marcus Conant, a pioneering HIV specialist, is leaving his private practice in San Francisco, among the largest of its kind in the world, because of spiraling health care costs and insurance industry challenges.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the 73-year-old Conant moved to Manhattan last week. He will consult on challenging AIDS cases in the Bay Area from time to time.

“He has been a physician for nearly 50 years, but like many doctors, in the past decade he has become increasingly frustrated with insurance challenges that made running a private practice unnecessarily complicated and a financial nightmare, he said,” the Chronicle reported. “He tried to run his practice part time, using his personal savings to keep the clinic open.

“‘The bottom line is, you cannot make a living practicing medicine unless you work at least 50 to 60 hours a week,’ he said. ‘I'm not the only doctor who's getting to the point where it's not worth it.’”

Conant was working as a dermatologist at the University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center in 1981 when he identified some of the first cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma, the skin disease that signaled the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Facebook. Page 1 of 1
Reader Comments
  • Name: Andreas
    Date posted: 6/22/2010 4:58:30 PM
    Hometown: Chicago

    Comment:

    Wow!!!! This is all Ronald Reagan's fault..... Still stuck in the '80s, girl???

  • Name: Robbie
    Date posted: 6/22/2010 3:53:38 PM
    Hometown: Seattle

    Comment:

    Congratulations, Dr. Marcus Conant, for all the great work you have done in supporting the gay community as it experienced a devastating health crisis with AIDS. You were there in the 1980s with help and compassion, when President Ronald Reagan turned his back on the gay community, saying that gays got what they deserved. Reagan refused to fund AIDS research, and it set back progress for more than a decade. Thousands of gay men died as a result. I view Ronald Reagan as a vile, evil man, who worked with many gays in Hollywood during his acting career. Rock Hudson was a good friend. Ronald Reagan's son Ronnie Reagan is gay. So I view Ronald Reagan's lack of concern as psychotic. As a politician who could effect real change, Ronald Reagan chose instead to be a hateful person like Strom Thurmond.



Don't Miss
  • Best of Broadway Smash: Why You Will Love It

    Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, two of the producers of NBC’s new critically acclaimed musical series, explain why the backstage drama of creating a musical about Marilyn Monroe has mass appeal and why big stars like Anjelica Huston, Uma Thurman, Bernadette Peters, and Nick Jonas were eager to appear in it.

  • Best of Broadway How Broadway Does a Flea Market

    Find out why actress Kathleen Chalfant calls the annual Flea Market and Grand Auction in Times Square "the most glamorous flea market you've ever seen." It raised half a million dollars to fight HIV/AIDS.

  • Travel Slideshow Flag Gayest Cities in America, 2012

    It's no secret that megalopolises New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles have robust LGBT life — and we've even heard tell of little queer hoods like the Castro and P-Town. This isn't that list.

 
 
Advocate Subscribe Promo Banner 300x50
 
Follow Us Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterSubscribe to our RSS feedsDownload our app
Facebook Activity
 
1056 COVER X135 | ADVOCATE.COM
Today's Headlines