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CNN's Sanjay Gupta approached for Surgeon General

Discussion in 'Free Speech Alley' started by Krypto, Jan 6, 2009.

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Krypto Huh?

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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/th...ma_wants_journalist_for_sur.html?hpid=topnews

President-elect Barack Obama has offered the job of surgeon general to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon and correspondent for CNN and CBS, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.

Gupta has told administration officials that he wants the job, and the final vetting process is under way. He has asked for a few days to figure out the financial and logistical details of moving his family from Atlanta to Washington but is expected to accept the offer.

When reached for comment today, Gupta did not deny the account but declined to comment.

The offer followed a two-hour Chicago meeting in November with Obama, who said that Gupta could be the highest-profile surgeon general in history and would have an expanded role in providing health policy advice, the sources said. Gupta later spoke with Tom Daschle, Obama's White House health czar and nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, and other advisers to the president-elect.

The Michigan-born son of Indian and Pakistani parents, Gupta has always been drawn to health policy. He was a White House fellow in the late 1990s, writing speeches and crafting policy for Hillary Clinton. His appointment would give the administration a prominent official of Southwest Asian descent and a skilled television spokesman. Gupta, who hosts "House Call" on CNN, has discussed the job offer with his bosses at CBS and CNN to make sure he could be released from his contractual obligations, the sources said.
His role as journalist and physician have sometimes overlapped. During the 2003 Iraq invasion, Gupta was embedded with a Navy unit called Devil Docs and, while covering its mission, performed brain surgery five times, the first of which was on a 2-year-old Iraqi boy.

Gupta's only hesitation in taking the post is said to involve the financial impact on his pregnant wife and two children if he gives up his lucrative medical and journalistic careers. But he is expected to accept the position within days.
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Krypto, Jan 6, 2009

#1
paducahmichael Tiger Band Class of '73

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Krypto said: ↑

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/th...ma_wants_journalist_for_sur.html?hpid=topnews
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Great - now Life-Alert knows who their next spokes-Doc will be. Koop is looking pretty old.

paducahmichael, Jan 12, 2009

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DRC TigerNator

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I like Gupta but question anything Tom Daschle is involved in. I cant believe Obama hired a lobby stooge for Health & Human Services Secretary.

DRC, Jan 13, 2009

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red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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drc40 said: ↑

I like Gupta but question anything Tom Daschle is involved in. I cant believe Obama hired a lobby stooge for Health & Human Services Secretary.
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Come on, Daschle has been a policy advisor to a health care industry lobby firm for 2 years because he's an expert on government health policy. Before that he was in the House of Representatives for 8 years and the Senate for 18 years, rising to Majority Leader. The guy knows Washington politics, health care policy, and government administration.

Plus he's been studying the heath care problem as a Senate leader for years. Daschle was first author on a book concerning health care coverage titled "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis". The book delineates the weaknesses of previous attempts at national health coverage and sets forth plans for change.

red55, Jan 13, 2009

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Krypto Huh?

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I am sorry Red, but please, you just highlighted the problems with Daschle. 8 years as a congressman, 18 years as a Senator and 2 years as a lobbyist. In the 28 years he has been in Washington, has has not done much to solve the problem. Now that he is in the private sector, he has the answers all of a sudden?

I understand the argument for experience and i agree that he has a lot of Beltway experience, but in 28 years he has not found a solution. Why should his "failed" beliefs be involved in trying to hire the next guy who will attempt to solve the healthcare problem.

Krypto, Jan 13, 2009

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red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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Krypto said: ↑

I am sorry Red, but please, you just highlighted the problems with Daschle. 8 years as a congressman, 18 years as a Senator and 2 years as a lobbyist. In the 28 years he has been in Washington, has has not done much to solve the problem. Now that he is in the private sector, he has the answers all of a sudden?
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So who has done more to "solve the problem"? No one. It's going to take people who have at least studied the problem and have published ideas about how to change it. What issues do you have with his ideas for changing the health system . . . or is your objection purely political?

Krypto said: ↑

I understand the argument for experience and i agree that he has a lot of Beltway experience, but in 28 years he has not found a solution. Why should his "failed" beliefs be involved in trying to hire the next guy who will attempt to solve the healthcare problem.
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What are these failed beliefs? Make your case.

red55, Jan 13, 2009

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LSUDeek All That She Wants...

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Why does health care cost as much as it does?

1) People who can pay are paying for those who can't. (Whose job is it to pay for critical care services for the indigent?)

2) Malpractice insurance is through the roof due to frivolous lawsuits, ambulance chasing, and greed.

3) Increased governmental regulation increases the costs of doing business. See HIPAA, NPI, and the like.

A single payor system is *NOT* the answer. It would put millions of jobs underwater and would only further increase costs.

LSUDeek, Jan 13, 2009

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red55 said: ↑

Come on, Daschle has been a policy advisor to a health care industry lobby firm for 2 years because he's an expert on government health policy.
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How does being employed for 2 years by the health lobby qualify him as an expert? What health care studies has Dachle been involved in when he was an elected official? Has any of it ever made its way into law or policy? I havent read his book but considering his employment I would venture to guess it leans heavily on whats best for the health care industry.

Everyone talks a good game regarding health care but when it comes to nut cuttin time the weasels bow down to the almighty dollar. Nobody wants to address the ridiculous profits margins built in to the industry as a whole because they lobby hard for no regulation. Start regulating what a hospital can charge for an aspirin or a band aid and then we are getting somewhere.

Daschle has been paid by the very entities who caused health care costs to spiral out of control. How can he be objective?

DRC, Jan 13, 2009

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red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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drc40 said: ↑

How does being employed for 2 years by the health lobby qualify him as an expert? What health care studies has Dachle been involved in when he was an elected official? Has any of it ever made its way into law or policy?
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You answered none of my questions, only asked new ones. You first.

drc40 said: ↑

I havent read his book but considering his employment I would venture to guess it leans heavily on whats best for the health care industry.
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You're arguing on a wild-ass guess?

drc40 said: ↑

Everyone talks a good game regarding health care but when it comes to nut cuttin time the weasels bow down to the almighty dollar. Nobody wants to address the ridiculous profits margins built in to the industry as a whole because they lobby hard for no regulation. Start regulating what a hospital can charge for an aspirin or a band aid and then we are getting somewhere.
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This is not Daschle's position. What are you talking about?

From Daschle in January 2008 LINK:

- Establish an autonomous oversight body for health care comparable to the Federal Reserve for our monetary sector. We need to give this group the ability to control costs, starting with chronic disease, which represents the largest block of costs to the system.
- Investments in information technology would result in quantum leaps in efficiencies and quality improvements.
- Pooling would aggregate the risks/costs for small business and individuals.
- Negotiate drug pricing. Build on and leverage the purchasing volumes that government already is responsible for.
- Prevention. Wellness, easy access and early intervention clearly saves enormous dollars.
- Comparative Effectiveness. As the Congressional Budget Office and Institute of Medicine have recently pointed out, an autonomous national institute that could use large data sets to identify the approaches that work best would clarify and unify clinical practice throughout America, and would have significant impact on both quality and cost.
- Transparency. We cannot fix our problems until we can see them more clearly.
- Medical Malpractice. Make it easier for physicians to make the best decisions, and protect them from frivolous legal actions.
- Patient-provider interactions. Take advantage of technology to smooth the flow of communications between patients and the health system.
- Universal Coverage. Increase access through health vouchers and coverage.
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Here's another Daschle proposal from March 2008: LINK

"The Fed Health could help reduce administrative costs. Roughly 30 cents of every dollar in health care is spent on administration rather than health benefits. Our administrative costs, on a per capita basis, are seven times higher than that of our peer nations. Each state has their own system for Medicaid and insurance regulation. We have different health-care systems for active duty military members versus veterans. And private insurers spend billions trying to enroll the healthy and avoid the sick. A Federal Health Board that sets evidence-based standards for benefits and quality for federal programs and insurance will lower this complexity and thus costs."
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As far back as 2005: LINK

"The fragmented and uncoordinated system for insuring people in the U.S. gives purchasers little power to negotiate for lower prices. As a result, half of the profi ts in the drug industry worldwide are paid for by Americans, for example.56 Moreover, we pay – perhaps two to three times as much as countries such as Great Britain – for the complexity, marketing costs and insurance overhead that result from a market-oriented system."
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drc40 said: ↑

Daschle has been paid by the very entities who caused health care costs to spiral out of control.
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He has been paid by the taxpayers for 26 years to oversee heath care among other things.

drc40 said: ↑

How can he be objective?
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We have a general in charge of the CIA. How can he be objective? We have a lawyer as Attorney General. How can he be objective? The guy is an expert and he has a plan. You got a better one?

red55, Jan 13, 2009

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red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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LSUDeek said: ↑

1) People who can pay are paying for those who can't. (Whose job is it to pay for critical care services for the indigent?)
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it's not just about indigent health care. Most of the bankruptcies in the country are due to catastrophic illness cleaning out a family's savings. Hard-working families. Insurance-owning families. Families with money.

red55, Jan 13, 2009

#10

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