THE TIME HAS COME FOR A NEW POLITICAL PARADIGM

Medical Policy

(Addressing quality of life [e.g., Social Security], health care programs,
insurance and costs, etc.)

Create and work with a Presidential Committee comprised of physicians, nurses and other health care providers, pharmacists, insurance professionals, health care administrators, drug and medical research professionals, medical malpractice attorneys, and individuals with extensive patient experience to identify opportunities to improve the quality of care, increase operating efficiencies, and reduce the cost of providing health care
- Identify and prioritize the objectives of comprehensive health care reform (e.g., the elimination of vexatious litigation, the elimination of preexisting condition restrictions, etc.)
- Share the recommendations with the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and encourage them to consider each recommendation separately with an up-or-down vote and to use the consensus to build a bipartisan bill that will pass both Chambers
Pursue medical malpractice tort reform
- Reduce the use of unnecessary procedures, prescriptions and tests that are associated with the defensive practice of medicine that currently inflates the cost of health care as well as insurance
- Pursue tort reform to eliminate or reduce the filing of frivolous lawsuits that increase the cost of medical malpractice insurance
- Adopt a “loser pays” scenario relative to court costs and legal fees
- Adopt a “double or nothing” approach to appeals
  - If the Appellant’s argument wins on appeal, all fines, etc. are dropped
  - If the Appellant loses but presents a well-argued position on appeal, the original fines, etc. stand
  - If the Appellant loses and is deemed to have presented a frivolous argument on appeal, the fines, etc. are doubled (an approach that should significantly reduce the case load of the Federal Courts)
Instruct the Department of Justice to aggressively prosecute medical, pharmaceutical and insurance fraud
- Prosecute any violators, who are caught, to the fullest extent allowed by law
- Determine whether IBM’s offer (in 2010) to provide the Federal Government with a system and service that was projected to identify and prevent $900 billion in health care fraud … without charge… is still on the table
  - Accept the offer if it still stands
Restrict pharmaceutical companies from advertising prescription medications to the general public
- Reduce the cost of prescription medications by eliminating advertising expense and reducing the public’s dependence upon brand names
Evaluate FDA regulations with regard to clinical trials
- Determine whether there are more efficient and effective ways to conduct clinical trials
- Evaluate restrictions on the voluntary participation of terminally ill patients in clinical trials to establish sufficient sample sizes and accelerate research and development cycles
Medicare / Medicaid reform
- Guarantee that the reasonable reliance interests of those who have paid into Medicare / Medicaid and are within an agreed period of eligibility (as an example: the median age at which more than 50% of one’s lifetime contributions will have been made) are fulfilled
  - De-fund other non-essential Government programs to the degree necessary to supplement any projected shortfall in Medicare / Medicaid
- Determine the impact of comprehensive health care reform (including tort reform and the identification and prosecution of fraud) on the long-term viability of Medicare / Medicaid
  - If additional reform is required to “cure” Medicare / Medicaid, then such adjustments should be made on an inverse-age basis (i.e., the scale of changes should be inversely related to the age of the participant to provide the greatest period of time to adjust to such required changes and the greatest ability to reset expectations)
Provide public sector workers to support health facility maintenance
- Use public sector workers to expand sterilization, disinfection, and laundry efforts within health care facilities
  - Health care-associated illnesses (e.g., CDF, MRSA, VRE, etc.) contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality rates in health care facilities
  - Reducing the related morbidity and mortality rates will save lives, reduce health care costs, and provide meaningful jobs
Evaluate the impact of labor regulations as they apply to in-home health care providers
- Evaluate the creation of possible exceptions for in-home health care providers with respect to hours, breaks, minimum wage, etc.
  - In-home health care providers work in environments in which traditional labor laws may not be directly applicable
  - The in-home health care industry will increasingly become an engine of job growth as the supply of providers will need to rise to meet the demand that will be created by the advancing age of the Baby Boom Generation
Instruct the Department of Justice to aggressively prosecute Social Security fraud
- Prosecute any violators, who are caught, to the fullest extent allowed by law
Social Security reform
- Preclude Congress from continuing to invade the principal of Social Security
- Guarantee that the reasonable reliance interests of those who have paid into Social Security and are within agreed period of eligibility (as an example: the median age at which more than 50% of one’s lifetime contributions will have been made) will be fulfilled
  - De-fund other non-essential Government programs to the degree necessary to supplement any projected shortfall in Social Security, and to reimburse with interest any principal that was withdrawn by Congress to fund unrelated programs
- If additional reform is required to stabilize Social Security, then such adjustments should be made on an inverse-age basis (i.e., the scale of changes should be inversely related to the age of the participant to provide the greatest period of time to adjust to such required changes and the greatest ability to reset expectations)