Editorial

Groundwork needed before health care can be reformed

Monday, November 24, 2008

The economy is trumping all of Barack Obama's other campaign issues, with he and other Democrats reportedly planning to spend as much as $700 billion over the next two years to fix it.

That's more than we've spent in Iraq over the last six years, and equals the amount Congress promised last month to fix the country's financial system.

It's the biggest government spending program since FDR's New Deal during the Depression.

We have a feeling the new president's promise of affordable universal health care will have to wait.

Judging from a couple of news stories this morning, slowing things down may not be a bad thing.

The Associated Press found that since 2004, Medicaid has paid at least $200 million for drugs that have never been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration.

Some of them simply may not work, while dozens of deaths have been linked to others.

When the FDA was told in 1962 to review all new drugs for effectiveness, the manufacturers of thousands of medications already on the market claimed their drugs were "grandfathered in" under earlier laws, or even the 1962 law.

Officials cite conflicting federal laws, and are looking to Congress for help, but don't expect drug reform to be a top priority just yet.

In another story, the New York Times reported that the host of a popular public radio program, "The Infinite Mind," earned at least $1.3 million over seven years giving marketing lectures for drugmakers, while not disclosing that to his listeners.

The host, psychiatrist Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin, is the latest in a series of doctors and researchers whose ties to drugmakers have been uncovered by Sen. Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican.

In one instance cited, Goodwin, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said that children with bipolar disorder who were left untreated could suffer brain damage. The same day, GlaxoSmithKline paid Goodwin $2,500 to give a promotional lecture for its mood drug, Lamictal, at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, according to the Times.

Such goings-on violated agreements with National Public Radio as well as with underwriters such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, not to mention the public's trust.

If we are to move toward universal health coverage, policymakers need to lay some serious groundwork first.

Drug company influence needs to be reined in so sick people receive the proper drugs for their condition, not just the best-advertised and most-promoted medications.

And, an independent, effective FDA or some other agency needs to be working hard to ensure that the public receives the best possible medication at the most economical price.

Failing that, any attempt at universal health care will turn out to be a boondoggle of massive proportions, while denying services to those who need them the most.

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