Lance Armstrong Talks w/ Presidential Candidates on Health

I happened to have the chance to catch almost an hour of this forum the other day and see John Edwards and Hillary Clinton talk with Lance about Cancer and healthcare reform. It was pretty interesting.

There are several good blog entries covering this in more detail (see below):

• Today Blog
• Live Strong Blog

Here are a few of the things I heard / noted:

• Talk about mandating preventative care. Interesting. I never thought about this as a mandate. Could we really do this? Would it make a difference?
• Clinton talked about EMRs (Electronic Medical Records) to help people like Katrina victims and others. Good compelling example. Horrible to have a loss and not know your medical history or what drugs / strengths you are on.
• Debate about whether to include the HMOs at the table for healthcare reform or not. Is it possible to exclude them? Unless the government is going to force something down everyone’s throat, they need the current players to help them understand history and create a transition plan.
• I think it was Edwards that made a point about universal healthcare not being free. I assumed he meant that the money came from somewhere, but I don’t remember him articulating anything specific.
• They disagreed about whether to take money from the healthcare companies. Do any of us citizens really think they aren’t influenced by somebody (money or not)?
• Both seemed focused on technology which I agree is important.
• Lance asked a great question around why the cancer death rate is highest in 15-40 year olds. Great answer (I think by Edwards) pointing out that they don’t go for regular checkups and therefore the disease is often ignored until it is too late.
• Some discussion about providing good care for veterans and the poor. Important point. Can we really have someone go off and fight for us and then not care for them when they come back? That is a shame. Plenty of us aren’t volunteering for the army.
• Interesting discussion on ROI for cancer investment. I am not sure where the numbers came from by they were throwing around studies that $200B in productivity costs are incurred each year due to cancer. How much would we have to invest to recoup some of that?
• Edwards made a point (that I always talk about).  He said that he and his wife while very educated can’t understand communications regarding their health benefits.  Simplicity people.  Clear messaging.  It seems so easy.
• I was also surprised to hear Michael Moore’s movie Sicko brought up several times in the discussions.