I was pleased to see ABC Nightly News lead off the program with the story about America's growing prescription drug habit last night. (Interesting so many other media have ignored the story ... to their advertiser's delight.) In the past decade prescription drug use for pain has soared more than 50%, to the point that we now consume 80% of those drugs in the world.
Prescription drug overdoses have become a huge problem ... more people are killed with these drugs today than crack cocaine did in the 1980's or black tar heroin in the 1970's. Pain clinics are now passing out pills like M&M's with Florida being ground zero for the problem.
What does the DEA proposed to correct this problem? More education for doctors! Do they seriously think doctors don't know what they're doing? They're making money. More education for the drug supplier isn't going to solve the problem but more education for drug consumers about the addictive power of these drugs might. Maybe people will begin to realize that all drugs carry risks and we'll begin to reverse our drug-obsessed health care system in this country.
Showing posts with label ABC TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ABC TV. Show all posts
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Thursday, June 25, 2009
ABC Primetime Prescription
So did you watch President Obama on ABC's PRIMETIME: Prescription for America last night? Or the additional segment on NIGHTLINE? Yes, it was a one-sided presentation of Obama's goals for health care reform but with pointed questions it seemed to bring up a full picture of the need for change and our options.
The fact is America can't continue with our current health care system, period. We simply cannot afford it. Already 16.3% of our GDP it continues to climb faster than inflation (usually 2x or 3x) and will soon cripple our economy. I enjoyed the comment from the doctor at the Mayo Clinic that we simply can't afford to give all treatments to all people. Every special interest group recognizes that change is going to happen, they just want to protect their interests.
There are several fundamental changes being proposed by the administration. First is a shift from Western medicine's focus on treatments to an emphasis on prevention which is the foundation of Eastern medicine. Since the three leading causes of death in our country are preventable this is self-evident.
The key part of this shift is a change from a nation of medical specialists (80% of doctors today) to relying on primary care doctors. In every other industrialized country the ratio is reversed with 80% primary care doctors and only 20% specialists. Again, doctors have simply followed the money in a system that's evolved to reward procedures instead of results.
If you managed to stay up late you heard the best question of all: Every other industrialized country in the world manages to provide health care for every citizen while spending half of what we do in America. It's time for a change.
Change is coming whether we want it to or not, it has to. Now the challenge is to shape the change for the best future for America.
The fact is America can't continue with our current health care system, period. We simply cannot afford it. Already 16.3% of our GDP it continues to climb faster than inflation (usually 2x or 3x) and will soon cripple our economy. I enjoyed the comment from the doctor at the Mayo Clinic that we simply can't afford to give all treatments to all people. Every special interest group recognizes that change is going to happen, they just want to protect their interests.
There are several fundamental changes being proposed by the administration. First is a shift from Western medicine's focus on treatments to an emphasis on prevention which is the foundation of Eastern medicine. Since the three leading causes of death in our country are preventable this is self-evident.
The key part of this shift is a change from a nation of medical specialists (80% of doctors today) to relying on primary care doctors. In every other industrialized country the ratio is reversed with 80% primary care doctors and only 20% specialists. Again, doctors have simply followed the money in a system that's evolved to reward procedures instead of results.
If you managed to stay up late you heard the best question of all: Every other industrialized country in the world manages to provide health care for every citizen while spending half of what we do in America. It's time for a change.
Change is coming whether we want it to or not, it has to. Now the challenge is to shape the change for the best future for America.
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