Advertisement
Jousting with Princeton University Health care Economist Uwe Reinhardttoday at the Medco Health Solutions (NYSE: MHS) National Drug Trend Symposiumheld here, Frist told attendees, "If we don't do something about this in thefuture, your American Dream -- your earning capacity -- is gone."
Advertisement
Reflecting back to Babe Ruth's legendary "pointing prediction" for a homerun in the 1932 World Series, Frist suggested the presidential candidates alsonow taking their turns at bat, floating varied versions of health care reform,but, "the question is where are they pointing to?"
"Elections matter," Frist said, adding that, "Legislating is a complicatedprocess and legislation takes a long time to pass." Frist, as Senate MajorityLeader, was a driving force behind legislation to modernize Medicare. He saidthe next president would be hamstrung by the "pay-as-you-go" realities of thefederal budgetary process.
Reinhardt, who mentored Frist as a Princeton undergraduate, poked fun athis student-turned transplant surgeon-turned politician fired back: "Giventhat I taught him to do health policy right, why didn't he do it?"
"Americans suffer a mental condition called cognitive dissonance," saidReinhardt, adding that although voters claim to decry socialized medicine,that's the system currently used to treat our veterans. "Don't we like ourveterans?"
With a safety net already in place for the impoverished and seniors,Reinhardt advocated focusing on the working poor -- families earning between$20,000 and $50,000 a year.
"Healthcare currently for family of four costs about $15,500 a year. Theproblem is that one in four workers makes less than $22,000 a year," he said."This doesn't really compute. We've never helped hard-working people who makeour lives so comfortable."
Frist, who insisted that, "God created economists for one reason: to makethe weather forecasters look good," unveiled a series of predictions for thefuture of healthcare in America:
Frist closed, adding: "What this country needs is more unemployedpoliticians -- and economists."
About Medco
Medco Health Solutions, Inc., (NYSE: MHS) is the nation's leading pharmacybenefit manager based on its 2007 total net revenues of more than $44 billion.Medco's prescription drug benefit programs, covering approximately one-in-fiveAmericans, are designed to drive down the cost of pharmacy health care forprivate and public employers, health plans, labor unions and governmentagencies of all sizes, and for individuals served by the Medicare Part DPrescription Drug Program and those served by its specialty pharmacy segment,Accredo Health Group. Medco, the world's most advanced pharmacy(TM), ispositioned to serve the unique needs of patients with chronic and complexconditions through its Medco Therapeutic Resource Centers(R), including itsenhanced diabetes pharmacy care practice through the Liberty acquisition.Medco is the highest-ranked independent pharmacy benefit manager on the 2008Fortune 100 list. On the Net: http://www.medco.com.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term isdefined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Thesestatements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differmaterially from those set forth in the statements. No forward-lookingstatement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially fromthose projected. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information
