Tom Daschle’s withdrawal from the process to become Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) won’t stop the health care reform train. That train left the station long before President Obama tapped the former senator to become the conductor.
The feedback Daschle received as he met with concerned citizens across the country underscores the urgency of the situation. Everyone is tired of supporting a system that doesn’t work.
The system doesn’t work because the way we live doesn’t support good health. Stress-filled lives that limit time for healthy practices are causing an epidemic of chronic illnesses that is bankrupting the system and those who depend upon it.
Spiraling costs will undermine the effects of the stimulus if we don’t implement a practical plan for addressing these issues. The head of HHS and/or the White House Office of Health Care Reform must understand what practical steps we need to take.
Joseph E. Pizzorno, Jr., founding president of Bastyr University, is uniquely qualified to develop such a plan. Students at Bastyr receive training to address the whole person, not the just the disease.
During Pizzorno’s tenure as president of Bastyr, the university received funds for alternative medicine research from the National Institutes of Health. He was appointed to the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy by President Clinton and to the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee by President Bush.
Pizzorno’s experience makes him uniquely qualified to work in an administration committed to major changes in public policy. If he is not willing or able to serve, he may know a colleague who is. Click here to read more about his accomplishments.
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Jacqueline Laurette Jones is author of Unmasking a Diagnosis: How to get Help for a Confusing Chronic Illness Without Filing for Bankruptcy.
