Category: Health

Comparing the candidates’ health care promises- how Americans’ medical care may change in 2016

In this post, I review and summarize what each candidate proposes and plans according to information on their official websites. I’ll give you the links and encourage you to read them for yourself.

In 3 months, on November 8, 2016, United States citizens will elect the 45th President.

This graphic from USA.GOV reviews the process of electing the President.

How to become President inforgraphic
The Presidential pathway from USA.gov

I plan to vote and hope you will too if you are eligible. 

I don’t endorse a candidate on this blog because I want everyone who visits to feel welcome, and politics is not the focus of this blog. But I am watching the campaign closely; I listened to the major speeches at both of the major party conventions.

I am especially interested in the candidates’ views on health care. Health care was a major issue in the last election and proved to be momentous.

In his campaign, the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, promised health care reform and as President he delivered with the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the first time Americans have had universal health care.This election’s  major party candidates also make promises about health care.

 

 

 The 2016 Presidential candidates

In this post, I review and summarize what each candidate proposes and plans according to information on their official websites. I’ll give you the links and encourage you to read them for yourself.

The Republican party convention occurred first, so I will start with its candidate.

Republican- Donald J. Trump, Chairman and President, The Trump Organization

 

 

 

“Healthcare Reform to Make America Great Again”

Mr. Trump believes the Affordable Care Act, which he refers to as Obamacare, is an “economic burden” to the country. He says it has caused

  • Runaway costs,
  • Websites that don’t work,
  • Greater rationing of care
  • Higher premiums
  • Less competition
  • Fewer choices

He recommends a

“series of reforms that follow free market principles and restore economic freedom and certainty” , which will

“broaden healthcare access, make healthcare more affordable and improve the quality of the care available to all Americans.”

As President, Mr. Trump will request Congress to

  1. Completely repeat Obamacare, eliminate the individual mandate to buy health insurance.
  2. Modify existing law that inhibits the sale of health insurance across state lines.
  3. Allow individuals to fully deduct health insurance premium payments from their tax returns.
  4. Allow individuals to use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which should be tax free, allowed to accumulate, and become part of one’s estate at death.
  5. Require price transparency from all healthcare providers.
  6. Block-grant Medicaid to the states.
  7. Remove barriers to entry into free markets for drug providers, allowing consumers access to imported, safe and dependable drugs from overseas.

Also under his health care plan, Mr. Trump includes

  • Enforcing immigration laws
  • Eliminating fraud and waste
  • Energizing our economy
  • Reform our mental health programs and institutions
Oval Office replica
replica of the Oval Office at the Reagan Presidential Library-photo by Dr. Aletha

Next, the  Democratic Party convened and nominated its candidate-

Democrat-Hillary Rodham Clinton, lawyer, former First Lady and Secretary of State

 

 

 

“Universal, quality, affordable health care for everyone in America”

  1. Maintain and expand the Affordable Care Act
  2. Bring down out-of-pocket costs for copays, deductibles and prescription drugs
  3. Expand access to care for low income groups, immigrants and rural populations.
  4. Defend access to reproductive health care.

As President, Mrs. Clinton will work with Congress to

Fight addiction and substance abuse with prevention, treatment and recovery programs and reforming the criminal justice system handling of offenders.

Set a goal to prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer’s Disease by 2025. Help those affected and their families get the care they need.

Create an AIDS/HIV policy to increase research, expand treatment options, increase health care financial options for those affected, and eliminate discriminatory laws.

Develop an “autism initiative” to expand insurance coverage, increase funding for research, early identification and intervention, employment opportunities, and school safety.

Commit to fully implement the Americans with Disabilities Act, and increase support for persons with disabilities and their families.

Under the heading of health Mrs. Clinton includes her positions and proposals for

  • Climate change
  • Women’s rights and opportunity
  • Support for veterans, the military and their families
  • Paid family and medical leave
couches in room with Presidential seal on the floor
another view of the Oval Office replica by Dr Aletha

Follow this link to read about another woman, a physician, who is running for President-

From the O.R. to the Oval Office- 3 Docs Who Ran

exploring the HEART of healthcare policy

Please explore some of the other posts on this blog about the United States’ healthcare system . Here’s one to get you started .

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Dr. Aletha

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6 Best Medical Books of the Past 75 Years

What are the best medical books written in the past 75 years? Here’s one opinion.

I need to tell you this post contains multiple affiliate links, both for your convenience and to help support this blog by the commission paid if you choose to use. Thank you.

 

I read the Parade magazine in my Sunday newspaper regularly (see previous post). To celebrate  75 years of publication,  the editors commissioned  author Ann Patchett to create a list of “The 75 Best Books of the Past 75 Years” .

 

As Ms. Patchett explained, she enlisted the help of the staff at Parnassus Books, a bookstore she owns in Nashville Tennessee. They limited their consideration  to books written in English. She calls the list a “mash-up that exemplifies the passionate convictions of 17 booksellers.”

 

Many of the books of the list are unfamiliar to me, but I recognized some well known classics like

Charlotte’s Web

The Old Man and the Sea

Fahrenheit 451

A Wrinkle in Time (a personal favorite of mine) 

Where the Wild Things Are

To Kill a Mockingbird, and

the Harry Potter series.

 

Although many books deal with birth and/or death to some extent, I searched the list for ones with a definite medical connection or theme that ran through most if not all of the book.  I’m sharing those with you here.(There might be others, these seemed most  obvious to me) . They are listed in chronological order by publication dates.  

 

Caution: Most of these discuss adult themes and issues which may not be appropriate for children or adolescents without adult guidance.

 

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

This is a novel about a woman with depression but is considered semi-autobiographical. The author , Sylvia Plath, a poet,  suffered from depression and died by suicide not long after publishing this book, her only novel. It was also made into a film.

 

 

 

 

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey.

This may be more familiar to you as the same titled movie which won five major Academy Awards, including Best Actor  Jack Nicholson and Best Actress Louise Fletcher.

 The novel’s events take place in a psychiatric hospital and examines the treatment and mistreatment of patients in such facilities.

 

The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA by James D. Watson, PhD.

 

the double helix molecule of DNA
used courtesy of skeeze on Pixabay

 

 

 

As the name implies, Dr. Watson wrote about his and Francis Crick’s discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. The book mostly ignored the contributions of Rosalind Franklin, who also worked on DNA, earning it criticism for this.

 

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Described as a young adult novel, it relates the story of  a female high school student who sinks into depression after being raped, which she is afraid to report to anyone.   

 

 

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

In this novel ,  Lucy, a young woman hospitalized with a mysterious illness for 9 weeks, receives a 5 day visit from her mother.   

 

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, M.D.

A memoir by a neurosurgical resident who learns he is terminally ill. I have reviewed this book here. I would vote this as the best medical book. 

 

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi