Lecturer Howard Shurdut returned to North Shore Towers on Monday, July 6 to talk about President Barack Obama’s second 100 days in office, focusing mainly on healthcare.
During his second 100 days in office, Shurdut said that Obama has been “attacking healthcare problems” and promoting his own healthcare program.
“Healthcare is not one issue, it’s not two issues, it’s not three issues,” Shurdut said. “It’s hundreds of issues. There’s no one thing that’s going to fix the healthcare problem.”
While talking about issues in this area, Shurdut noted that the United States spends more money on healthcare than any other advanced country.
One area that Shurdut focused on was preventative medicine. He said that, in general, the system in the United States does not allow for the practice of preventative medicine. He also explained that such practices can actually save money.
In regards to doctor training, Shurdut said that many want to become specialists or go practice in big cities because of how much they owe in student loans. He also said that nursing schools in the United States have been closing and insurance for doctors costs so much that they have needed to increase their fees.
Shurdut also touched on the benefits of the digitization of medical records and information, which enables it to be accessed in other locations.
“It is vital to our health – economic health, physical health, personal health – to have something of this sort in place,” he said.
Another healthcare-related area that Shurdut included in his lecture was liability reform, including caps on malpractice lawsuits. He said that some sort of threshold should be put into place so that the cost of malpractice insurance can be reduced.
“There are all sorts of things that have to be done,” Shurdut said of reforming the healthcare system. He added that it is something that will have to be done step by step, and that there are many steps involved.
