Speaking in Orange County Monday Former President Bill Clinton blamed an increasingly complex and "encrusted" U.S. healthcare system for ballooning expenses, sicker patients and unnecessary deaths.
Clinton said decades of adding conflicting rules and stopgap measures to an outdated health bureaucracy has led to a bewildering and Byzantine system that accidentally kills 200,000 patients per year in the U.S.
"There’s no devil here," he said. "We have an encrusted system that's killing people, not because there's somebody lurking behind the curtain.
"There need be no evildoers in this story. There's just human nature and the nature of human development,” he added. “Institutions have become ossified and rigid... where position is more important than purpose, or people get overwhelmed by complexity."
Clinton spoke Monday at the Inaugural Masimo Patient Safety Science and Technology Summit at the Laguna Niguel Ritz Carlton. The aim of the conference is to sign up manufacturers and developers of health monitoring devices to share information with one another to reduce unnecessary patient deaths in the United States.
Eight major manufacturers Monday announced their commitment to share information with each other to create a "health data superhighway," which would automatically warn clinicians, patients and families of symptoms indicating an upcoming heart attack, seizure or other health threat.
The U.S. spends 18 percent of its gross domestic product on healthcare, six percentage points higher than the nation with the next most healthcare spending, said Clinton.
Yet the U.S. has poorer outcomes for patients than other Western countries, despite spending more, he said.
Clinton commended the patient safety summit participants for getting together with their knowledge and expertise to help solve the problem of unnecessary patient deaths. Solving the problem would also help address the high cost and poor outcomes that plague the U.S. healthcare system.
“Networks of creative cooperation will dominate the 21st century, for good or for ill -- the cumulative impact of people thinking together, talking together, working together,” Clinton said. “The failure to continuously improve the system... is undermining the productivity of the country.”
Clinton discussed several of his Clinton Global Initiatives that he says have improved the lives of more than 4 million people who now have health clinics near their villages, can afford AIDS medication, or have access to healthier and less sugary foods in schools.
It was these initiatives that inspired Mission Viejo-based Masimo Corporation founder Joe Kiani to organize the patient safety conference. The $500 million-per-year company makes medical devices that monitor hemoglobin levels, the amount of oxygen in the blood and brain function, among other data.
Central to the strategy hashed out at the conference would be to allow medical monitoring devices to communicate with each other and allow computers to collate patient data to keep an eye out for something going wrong. A fluctuation in hemoglobin, for instance, may not mean much alone, but when coupled with some other fluctuations, it could mean disaster for the patient, Kiani said.
Another improvement to patient healthcare addressed at the summit would be to reduce errors in administering drugs and the number of blood transfusions using older blood, which deteriorates over time and can harm patients. Also, instituting basic checklists during surgeries and other procedures -- similar to those used in the aerospace industry -- can help save lives.
“I know that none of you want to be a part of a system that leaves us sicker and broke, or you wouldn’t be sitting here,” he told the crowd. “I think our future belongs to creative networks of cooperation.
“We’ve got to share data, not hoard it. It’s not unrealistic to think that by 2020, you can get rid of unnecessary deaths in the American healthcare system."
Now that you've lost the argument you have to throw up a smoke screen? Sorry, not buying it.
I am glad you see through his public persona. The writing is all over the wall. Some just choose to ignore it.
I'd be very curious to know who your "role model" politicians really are. You seem to believe that leaders and politicians are always to be morally superior beings, and that we should hold expectations of such superiority, lest we become a corruptible society. This is all well and good to say this on the surface, such as: "I expect the President to adhere to his oath". Perfectly understandable. Except everyone knows that they don't. Everyone is disappointed when they don't. But not everyone is shocked when they don't. That's the difference. So if you're accusing me of the death of outrage in political circles, I'm not ashamed to admit my guilt. While you're at it, add in the Olympics, Major League Baseball and the Tour de France to your indictment of me. I'm confident that my sentiment hardly lies on the outskirts of the Bell curve of American public opinion. Am I wrong to view things this way? Maybe. We glamorize and vilify historical figures to undue extremes and then express disappointment when facts come to light. The excrement always floats to the surface, as it did with Bill Clinton, Ulysses S. Grant, George Washington and other historical figures. This is the way of things. No one is morally perfect, especially politicians. I try not to get all emo about it. That is all.
No, I didn't. You're putting words in people's mouths that they did not say. I simply said that Bill could have probably chosen better. This is not say that cheating on his wife was morally acceptable behavior. It was a terrible thing to do in all cases.
But Jefferson owned slaves (as many contemporaries die), and there's also historical evidence that he sired children with these slaves. He then sold and re-bought and re-sold these slaves again, splitting up the new family fabric he himself had created, with little regard. Jefferson did all of this after promising his wife Martha on her deathbed never to re-marry (and to live a celebate life). Does this make Thomas Jefferson a inveterate liar and a scum bag? Perhaps. Certainly through the eyes of an arrogant, holier-than-thou personality, the answer is "yes". And anyone who disagrees with this is surely an untrustworthy moral relativist scum himself. Instead, I like to think of Thomas Jefferson of a very intelligent, well-educated and brilliant man. He was not morally perfect by any means, but the preponderance of his life deeds and contributions were significant and not completely cancelled out by his moral imperfections. Few question the net positive and benefit regarding the life and contributions of Thomas Jefferson.
I am not fooled easily.
HAH! Are you a government bean counter by trade or just by hobby??? HAH! Obama might be interested in making you our next Secretary of Treasury! HAH! I urge you to apply!!! HAH! At the very least you could be Paul Krugman's water boy. You could help him pave the way to hell with good intentions!!! HAH! :^)
You also left out some of his involved successes: 1. Reversed ethnic cleansing in Kosovo via 79 day war vs. Serbia via NATO. Ditto Bosnia-Herzegovina. 2. Brokered Good Friday Peace Accord in Northern Ireland 3. Brokered Wye River accords with Israel and neighbors. 4. Brokered peace talks and protected democracy in East Timor. 5. Advocated financial relief to alleviate Mexico's currency crisis. There were many failures as well in public policy, etc. But overall Clinton's presidency appears to be largely viewed as a net positive for the country compared to his predecessor and successor.
But we expect harlots to act like they do. But we should not take for granted or expect the leaders of our nation to behave like harlots. The fact that YOU have been desensitized is YOUR problem. Please don't PROJECT your problem upon the rest of us. :^)
To come closer to affording such massive entitlement schemes like Obamacare something else has to change. I can't be certain, but I bet the answer has something to do with an American future where it's consciously decided that we start making more butter and a lot less guns. No country has been involved in more elective military interventions and expensive misadventures over the last 50 years than the United States. Few empires survive this for very long. Also Keynesian economic policy - e.g. govt subsidized demand coupled with massive over-consumption by nation's citizens and an uncontrolled central bank- must all die a fast death. Then again maybe our nation's destiny really is to become a hybrid of 1989 Japan and 2011 Greece?
Please don't PROJECT your problem upon the rest of us. :^)" I'll remember your words, JustUs.
Yes, but Humpty is still in mid-flight and has not hit the ground yet. When he hits the ground you'll know it. Trust me you will. And that will be the laws of math at work. It will force us to rebuild from the ground up. Unfortunately it will also destroy both our political and economic systems as we know them today. And the cure could be worse than the disease. So there are no guarantees. And chances are good it won't be better. It will be worse. World history tells us so. But the laws of math are VERY real. When Humpty connects with the pavement you will learn how real they are!
The same approach can be applied to Thomas Jefferson, or George W. Bush or any other historical figure. One does not have to "drag the country's morals threw the sewers" to do this and make an objective assessment. That's all I'm saying.
The problem is when your country is dying you have to steal from others to survive. Why do you think we attack oil rich nations and not the poor African nations where people have been slaughtered by the millions? Simply because the African nations have nothing that we want. The oil-rich nations do. It's not hard to figure out. And the defense contractors own the Pentagon and Congress and the POTUS. Just like the oil-companies own them. Just like the banks own them. The nation is owned by the corporation and only managed by the politicians who are owned by the big money. Public unions are also part of that mix. So there you go. Only the laws of mathematics will solve the puzzle in the end. US healthcare is on life-support. They won't tell you this. But it is. In a few years they will be denying anyone over 70 a heart bypass, hip or knee replacements. Organ replacements are out of the question unless you are independently wealthy. They will give those in pain NSAIDS or opiates and tell them to grin and bear it. The unspoken message will be "You've lived a long enough life. Now it's time for you to move on and make room for the younger generations". And in a way I agree with them. You are going to see massive changes in US healthcare. And you can bet your bippy on that. The money has all but run out. And the games are about over.
We can do MUCH better than Clinton. We have much higher quality material in America and they should be encouraged to step forward. Unfortunately, just like with street gangs, the DC gangsters have to hold certain personal credentials to reach the top. And those credentials are mostly deplorable. One is the ability to look into a camera and lie without flinching or smiling or smirking. And the credentials build from there. But that is one of the BASIC requirements. The problem is that they laugh at the moral code in the highest ranks of governement and business. And world history tells us that morals are the glue that hold society together. This is very basic stuff, mfriedrich. You should already know it. That's why I wonder if you are just in denial or willfully ignorant in this regard? Quite serious I am. He should not be praised. He is unworthly of it. He should be scorned.
You're full of nonsense tonight, aren't you? You're not helping your credibility on these boards. Much more of that and I will heavily discount anything you claim in the future.
Is this the sentence that has your panties in a twist??? "I can see where he would rather have Monica then Hillary though"!! What is sick about it? I was referring to intellect, not physical appearance. You gotta read the words put down and not your own biases..... "Am I God's gift to women"? I never said I was but what is your opinion? I was born in the likeness of God! I was created by God! God is great!
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