Today Our Health and Our Principles are Challenged on Many Fronts Simultaneously, Where Can We Go from Here?

Authors:

DOI: 10.23880/abca-16000283

Volume 9, Issue 1

Abstract

I’m writing today to revisit some of the themes I’ve addressed in these pages as potential issues to be wary of in the future, but the future is now. We are experiencing threats of people losing healthcare coverage or access through Federal policy action and potential closing of facilities though other Federal policy action. Clinicians warn of the traps inherent in insurance coverage (refusal to cover procedures, new definitions of “medically necessary” and “pre-existing condition”). Corporate Healthcare leaders warn of fiscal crisis, and Public Officials offer us scenarios incompatible with the reality we experience. At the same time, we see prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs, devices and interventions promising relief and cures advertised, often with little or no evidence. At the same time the Federal Government agencies we have come to count on in these instances have reduced staffing (eliminating many highly qualified professionals and adding political appointees whose strongest qualification is often loyalty to leadership). The resulting misinformation and disinformation have already resulted in reduction in use rates of life saving vaccines and other counterproductive decision making. My contention I will discuss and explain today is that we need to revisit the basics of principles and incorporate them into our decision making at all levels.

Keywords: Health; Federal Policy; Healthcare

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