Address to a Joint Session of Congress
Last Tuesday, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, asked President Trump to address a joint session of Congress. Since the President has only been in office for two months, it wasn’t a regular State of the Union speech, but the President wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to give a speech to Congress, members of the Supreme Court, Cabinet members, military leaders, and you and me.
My job for this week’s blog was to comment on the healthcare issues the President discussed, with a focus on how they would impact older Americans. I complained last year about the small amount of time that then-President Biden spent discussing our nation’s healthcare, but he spoke volumes compared to the time President Trump spent on this topic. You would think that this would be a perfect opportunity for the President to outline his plans for “Making America Healthy Again,” but, by my calculation, he spent only 1 minute out of his 100-minute talk on healthcare issues, and then he only discussed some problems that concerned him. True to my task, I will discuss what he talked about, and then, since it’s my blog, I’ll talk about some things that concern me.
The President highlighted two alarming statistics: that child cancer has increased by 40% and that autism, which used to be diagnosed in one of every 10,000 children, is now one in 36. He thought that Americans had been exposed to toxins and poisons in their environment and food. That’s it, that was all he said concerning the country’s health but, as always, I have an opinion. I haven’t researched his statistics, but it would not surprise me to see an increase in children’s cancer diagnosis. I would also wager that you, like me, have been in discussions with other seniors and heard many say that we never had friends growing up or knew of other children who were categorized as being autistic. I do recognize that diagnosing autism has progressed, as has the recognition of depression and other mental illnesses, but President Trump is really just pointing out something that every one of my friends already suspect . . . our children, our grandchildren and ourselves are sicker than in the “good old days”. I can’t quote statistics or point to scientific studies, but I can tell you it’s a commonly held opinion. So . . . the question is, what will this administration do to Make America Healthy Again?
Are there more poisons in our food than there used to be? I think the answer is yes. Last week, I wrote about nutrition and quoted my son who says. “If some of the ingredients on the food you buy are words you can’t pronounce, let alone know what they are, don’t eat them!” We have the consumer power to drive our country’s food providers to give us healthier options, but good food is costly, and it leaves financially strapped citizens in a bind. We shouldn’t have a situation where only the rich can eat healthily. I’m always leery of the government forcing us to eat better, but a good start would be to ban proven poisons and force manufacturers to be truthful in their labels.
There are some things that have concerned me in the first two months of the new administration. I have always thought our government is too big, but this sludge-hammer approach to reducing the government’s size concerns me. It seems there has got to be a more thoughtful way to make cuts. I worry especially about the cuts to the National Institute of Health (NIH), which gives grants to scientists doing initial groundbreaking drug discovery work, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which ensures the safety of our medicines and our food. I’ve lamented in the past about the impact the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will have on bringing new drugs to market, yet the cuts to the NIH may further dampen discovery, and cuts to the FDA may slow down approvals. There has got to be a way to have a more thoughtful long-range strategy for reducing the size of our government.
I don’t think anyone can really predict what this administration will do, and many would use the word chaotic to describe these first two months. There is one thing that I can comfortably say, businesses hate uncertainty and that is especially true in healthcare. Uncertainty increases risk and that’s bad for business. New drug investors are already considering the risk of the IRA setting the price of new drugs, and now they need to weigh the risk of fewer new discoveries and slower drug approvals. I just don’t see how this is making America healthier.
Another action concerns me. The administration has canceled the meeting that the CDC holds each year to consider the type of flu shot needed for the coming flu season. They have also limited or removed the requirements for public comments on government agencies’ proposed rules and regulations. It doesn’t square with the new administration’s promise of transparency.
I do think that we need to look toward ways we can support preventative medicine. We are discovering new ways to lose weight. We know what it takes to eat healthier. We understand the positive impact exercise has. It seems this administration wants to find ways to overcome or prevent chronic diseases and promote healthier lifestyles. As a government and a people, we can and should work toward this obtainable goal.
Best, Thair