Healthcare: A Presidential Priority?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}No matter who wins Tuesday, both candidates have reminded us that one of their first priorities when they take office in January will be the economy, and a close second_ healthcare... No! Wait
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a•or better yet, I think it was foreign policy and healthcare.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Well any way you look at it, healthcare reform is always one of the Top 5 items politicians would like to tackle after winning the election. But somehow, it always seems to end up taking a backseat to what they perceive as "more immediate" popular needs.
As a practicing physician, I always feel like a bridesmaid, but never a bride. Yet in this election, I truly feel a marriage is in my cards. Now maybe I sound like a hopeless romantic, but if you think that Wall Street has problems, our healthcare system is worse off.
Every time we mention the issues with healthcare in this country, many ill-informed individuals immediately begin to critique our nurses, doctors and researchers, making idiotic claims that Cuba or Venezuela have it better than we do in the U.S. And trust me
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}So when healthcare is put on the political agenda, we do not need to reinvent the wheel. We just need our government to give us the same attention that they have been giving to the crisis on Wall Street
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So just like our economic and political pundits hoping for their perfect gift
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1. Create affordable healthcare insurance for all families with CHOICE.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}2. Make hospitals and physicians accountable for quality and create incentive for success. The incentives should be fiscally responsible, yet REAL.
3. Create the "Pregnant Women's Security Act." We need to decrease premature labor in the U.S. and give financial protection to women with high-risk pregnancies that cannot work.
4. Invest in healthcare infrastructure. We need to built more hospitals and give access to these hospitals to secure federal loans with favorable terms.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}5. We need more nurses. Help nursing students get educational aid and foster the nursing science.
So all I can hope for on our "big day" is that this election brings a union between two American institutionsa•politics and healthcarea•and a president who is really committed to the best interests of the American people.