A Call to Action: Taking Back Healthcare for Future Generations
Hank McKinnell's "A Call to Action" is a book designed to be discussed, argued with, and ultimately acted upon. He believes the healthcare system in the United States is not a healthcare system at all but rather a "sick-care system," focused on "managing costs, avoiding costs and, failing all else,
shifting costs to someone, anyone else." Based on his over 30 years in global healthcare, his prescriptions for change require actions at the individual, corporate and societal level.
In Viewpoint, Hank discussed the need for a wide-range of actions to secure a healthy future, including health savings accounts, prevention-based health care, the pre-eminence of the doctor-patient relationship, and a global public-private response to the AIDS pandemic.
The transcript follows.
_______________________
Moderator: Welcome to Viewpoint on washingtonpost.com. Today our topic is healthcare reform with guest Hank McKinnell, author of “A Call to Action: Taking Back Healthcare for Future Generations.” Let’s get started!
Hank McKinnell: Welcome and thank you, washingtonpost.com, for inviting me today.
_______________________
Kirkwood, Mo.: How do you feel about medical liability reform and its impact on costs for doctors, patients and pharmaceutical companies?
Hank McKinnell: I think the current system doesn't work well and opens the floodgates for a lot of needless litigation. In my book, I call for special courts to help resolve medical liability claims much more equitably.
_______________________
Annapolis, Md.: HIV/AIDS is devastating communities across Africa and the developing world and even here in the US. What is the pharmaceutical industry doing to respond?
Hank McKinnell: Pharmaceutical professional from the research based pharmaceutical companies are doing a great deal about this devastating epidemic. First and foremost, we are discovering and developing the medicines that allow those infected with this virus to live long productive lives.
We are making those medicines available in Africa free of charge or at greatly reduced prices.
At Pfizer we are providing the drug Diflucan free of charge in 20 countries and have trained 20,000 healthcare professionals to treat the fungal infections that prove fatal to HIV/AIDS patients.
In Kampala, Uganda, we have build the Infectious Diseases Institute where in partnership with infectious disease specialists from America and Canada we are training 300 African doctors each year who in turn each train ten more in their own countries. Those 300 train 3,000 who educate, care for, and treat millions. And we are doing this every year.
_______________________
Lyme, Conn. : The health care system is spiraling out of control. I know economists who state they are not worried about social security because any projected deficits in social security are within the margin of error for what they predict the deficit will be in attempting to continue to pay for our health care. We spend more on the administrative costs of health care than we do on pharmaceuticals. Wouldn't it make sense to have just one health care insurance, whether a combination of private insurers in one big pool or a national plan, so we can significantly reduce the administrative costs so we may free up more money to devote to preventive and necessary health treatments?
Hank McKinnell: There is no question that we face a crisis, but its not in health care, its in sick care. I have written a book on this topic, Call to Action, Taking back Healthcare for future generations. We need to spend less treating heart attacks and strokes and spend more on prevention and wellness to avoid people having to be treated for those heart attacks and strokes. That is one of ten "Calls to Action" in my just published book.
_______________________
Washington D.C.: How can Americans best fight against socialized Medicine?
Hank McKinnell: The best way to get us off the wrong track in our system of healthcare is to recognize that the problem is not the high cost of healthcare but the high cost of disease. That way we can avoid the single payer systems of healthcare that are failing in Europe and Canada. I don't know about you, but I want my doctor deciding what's best for me and my family, not some bureaucrat in Washington who puts cost savings before my family's health.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.: We were offered a health savings account, and while it sounded like a good idea, if all the money wasn't used, it was lost. That being the case, it wasn't worth it - how do you envision the accounts being structured?
Hank McKinnell: Health Savings accounts are a great idea. They put you in control not the government or an insurance company. But the rules need to be changed. Everyone should have the same tax benefits. If you save money by managing you health properly you should benefit, not the government or the insurance company.
_______________________
Morristown, N.J.: Dear Hank,
I read your book and enjoyed your comments on how to change our current flawed healthcare system here in the US. While I agree on the need to better coordinate our healthcare records, for speed and ease of access, I'm still concerned about privacy issue. Could you talk a bit about that?
P.
Hank McKinnell: Thank you for reading my book. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Privacy is important. Fortunately there are federal laws on the books that make it a federal felony to disclose your medical information without your consent. We need to enforce those laws strictly.
_______________________
Chicago, Ill. : I read your book and I liked it. I came away with a few surprises. For example, I was surprised that you favor health insurance for everyone in America. What is your proposal for implementing universal health insurance coverage and how will your plan avoid the fate of the Hillary Clinton health insurance plan that went down in flames in the early 1990's?
Hank McKinnell: Thank you for reading and liking my book. I like it as well and I hope my grandchildren will like it even more. I do favor health insurance for everyone just as we all have car insurance. We think we have a problem of the uninsured. The uninsured do get access to healthcare. They just get it in the most expensive way possible in hospital emergency rooms. The problem of the uninsured belongs to all who pay for healthcare or who pay taxes. The Hillary Clinton plan was to have the federal government provide all healthcare. I don't know about you but I want my doctor competing for my business not for government contracts. Just like car insurance, I want multiple providers competing for my business. Then I can change providers if I am unhappy or find a better deal. It's harder to change countries.
_______________________
Trenton, N.J.: How much of our research and development comes from the pharmaceutical industry?
Hank McKinnell: The private research based pharmaceutical industry produces 95 percent of all new medicines. Surprised aren't you.
_______________________
Mesa, Ariz. : Why has the public lost trust in the pharmaceutical industry?
Hank McKinnell: The public has lost trust in the pharmaceutical industry. We are very proud of the wonderful new medications we discover and develop at enormous cost. What we have missed is that for too many people these medicines may not be available when they need them. My industry needs to do far more to help people afford the medicines they need.
At Pfizer, we provide our maximum discounts to large customers to all Americans without health insurance irrespective of age or income. For those with low incomes, two times the federal poverty levels, our medicines are free. If you would like more information log on to www.pfizer.com.
_______________________
Santa Barbara, Calif.: Americans spend more on healthcare than people in other nations. Why? Is our money well spent?
Hank McKinnell: No one leaves America for better health care. No nation produces more innovations in medicine that America. But no, our money is not particularly well spent. We should not be surprised that if we pay for procedures we get a lot of procedures. That if people believe the fiction that someone else is paying for their healthcare that they spend a lot of money. We spend too much on sick care and not enough on true health care. The fault is not with the people in the healthcare system. It's with the incentives.
_______________________
Orlando, Fla.: It is rare that a sitting Chair of a company authors a book. Why this book and why now?
Hank McKinnell: Yes it is. I have believed for some time that we are on the wrong track in the healthcare debate. That we are on the road to rationing and price controls which might even be fine in the short term, but will be disastrous in the long term. A year and a half ago my first grandchild was born, my granddaughter Sarah. I realize that if we didn't change the debate Sarah would inherit less in healthcare than we did. We owe an enormous debt to our parents and grandparents. That's a debt we can never repay, but we can pay it forward for the next generation. That's why I wrote this book.
_______________________
Tyler, Tex.: Why do medicines cost so much?
Hank McKinnell: Medicines cost so much because we can't figure out how to make them faster or cheaper. In fact, modern medications are a wonderful bargain. What percent of total healthcare spending do you suppose are pharmaceuticals. Most people will guess 50 to 60 percent. The reality is pharmaceuticals are a little over 10% of total healthcare spending, about the same as when Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House. Pretty amazing isn't it.
_______________________
Harrisburg, Pa.: Would you favor an increased government role, and/or increased government contracts with academic and research centers, in pharmaceutical research so that private pharmaceutic research costs could be lowered and, in turn, the costs to consumers of pharmaceuticals could be reduced?
Hank McKinnell: You're kidding, right. Can you think of anything where government does it cheaper or better? National Defense is a good start, but it's a short list.
_______________________
New York, N.Y.: Wouldn't it be better for all stakeholders - patients, doctors, drug companies (perhaps not the media owners) if direct-to-consumer advertising for the entire industry was dedicated to public service announcements, limited to disease awareness, medicine compliance and other non-product messages? The industry claims that the doctor is best positioned to make drug decisions - better than government regulators or pharmacy managers - but it insists on going directly to patients. Would you call for an industry-wide debate on DTC?
Hank McKinnell: I will surprise you by agreeing. One of the "Calls to Action" is that we return to the original intent of DTC or what I prefer to call Direct to Consumer Education. In fact, the industry association is drafting a new Code of Conduct as we interact. No erectile dysfunction drug ads on television except for 10 pm to 6 am. I'm in favor of that.
Doctors know best, but an educated patient is an important partner in better health care.
_______________________
Boston, Mass.: How would you fix America’s healthcare system?
Hank McKinnell: Read my book, "Call to Action, Taking back healthcare for future generations." Buy copies for your friends and members of Congress and the State Legislature. Join the Revolution. Your health and your children's and grandchildren's health depends on it.
_______________________
Hank McKinnell: Thank you for caring about healthcare and for being part of this forum.
_______________________
Moderator: Thank you for taking our questions, Hank. Thank you, all, for joining us!
_______________________
