Advice to New President
Even before the November 4 election and as the U.S. economy began a precipitous
tailspin, political pundits began
speculating about what issues the new president should address in the early
days of his presidency—if not sooner.
During that time LocumTenens.com decided to find out what issues were on the
minds of America's physicians.
In October 2008 we received 1,457 responses to a two-question survey regarding
the top issue area he should address
in his first year in office (multiple-choice) and their advice to the new
president (open-ended).
Considering our timing, it's no surprise that among 203
psychiatrists responding to the LocumTenens.com survey,
close to three fourths (70%) indicated the U.S. economy was the
most pressing year-one issue. However, it's interesting to note
that physicians are not that different from many other Americans
who were concerned about many issues beyond their own
careers and industries as the 2008 election neared. Highlights of
their open-ended comments follow.
U.S. Economy
"Devise a regulatory plan for financial institutions and appoint an oversight
committee with a publicly known chain of
command and instate clear and specific guidelines."-- Psychiatrist, Minnesota
"Create task groups of laypersons, such as experts in their respective fields
from politicians to professors and those
currently ‘walking the walk' such as doctors of various fields for healthcare,
energy engineers from various aspects (oil,
solar, cars, etc.), economy experts (down to the CPA for economic reform), and
scientists who have worked on global
warming. Set a 90-day limit to have each task force to come up with a
step-by-step implementation plan."
-- Psychiatrist, Connecticut
"Create an infrastructure repair and improvement program, along the lines of the
Work Projects Administration (WPA)
in the 1930s, but updated to include current scientific and international
realities; short-term more jobs, longer term
revitalized economy. This should also include REAL healthcare and education
reform, as this is a part of the overall
infrastructure, economy and citizen well-being. Infrastructure and jobs first,
with concurrent transitioning of competent
healthcare and competent education (will obviously take longer to do) for ALL."
-- Psychiatrist, Arkansas
Energy
"Initiate work on nuclear reactors, offshore drilling, Alaska's energy
resources, clean coal, solar and wind, etc."
-- Psychiatrist, USA
"Start public infrastructure projects, such as light and high speed rail systems
and government-sponsored competitions
for solar and battery technology projects."
-- Psychiatrist, Georgia
Healthcare Reform
"Pay attention to the mental health parity that was included in the $850 billion
dollar Wall Street buy-out."
-- Psychiatrist, New York
"Give Medicare the same deal as the VA has with the pharmaceutical industry."
-- Psychiatrist, USA
"Reign in managed care. Make health care universally affordable. Create a
government-sponsored, nationwide chain of
primary care clinics and hospitals that accepts everybody who has government
health insurance and apply
sliding-scale fees. Halt Medicare Part B and start negotiating prices of
medications as the VA does and close the
'doughnut loophole.' Make medical fraud a federal offense. Regulate the prices
of medications that go into the market."
-- Psychiatrist, New York
U.S Foreign Policy
"Set a time line to get troops out of Iraq. Get more help from neighbors of
Iraq/Afghanistan in rebuilding these
countries. Start talking to Iran. Meet with G8 leaders and have an objective
plan to work toward alternative energy
sources to stop using oil which would help the climate as well."
-- Psychiatrist, California
"Begin to cooperate with other nations so that we may reduce our military budget
and have money to fund important
domestic priorities."
-- Psychiatrist, Texas
"Focus on thinking carefully, building a special team of wise and moral
counselors. Communicate your
thoughts to the American people and listen to them rather than to special
interests.
Be restrained in your actions and initiatives."
-- Psychiatrist, Ohio
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