Re: Response to A-CHAMP Questionnaire

January 2, 2008

> 6. What will you do to assure that health insurers pay for promising new

treatments

and behavioral therapy?

>

> Our health care system is predominantly fee-for-service: providers are paid

for each

treatment, regardless of its necessity or quality. For example, a hospital that

makes a

medical error is often paid for the error and then paid again to fix it. Our

system should

pay for results, rewarding better, more efficient care.

>

> As part of my proposal to transform our health care system and guarantee

quality,

affordable health care for every American, Medicare, my new Health Care Markets

and

other government programs will lead the way by paying higher rates to plans and

providers that provide the very best care and penalizing plans that fail to meet

critical,

quantifiable goals.

This means he will let QuackWatch and the AMA decide what gets paid for and what

doesn't, which will be catastrophic.

Andy

January 2, 2008

So who is the best candidate for our kids? They seem to all tells us

what we want to hear. The answers are genetic and very diplomatic, but

who do we trust?

Zurama

>

> A-CHAMP just received responses to our candidates questionnaire from

which are posted below. We have also received responses

from Senator Biden and Senator Obama which you can read at the A-CHAMP

website, www.a-champ.org. Please feel free to distribute to anyone,

anywhere, anyhow.

>

> 1. Will you fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education

Act?

>

> Education is America's sturdiest ladder of opportunity, but for

many of the more than 5 million school-age children with disabilities,

that ladder is missing several rungs. With IDEA, Congress made a

commitment to America's children. Having a disability should not

stand in the way of a child receiving a quality education in the least

restrictive setting. But the federal government has not lived up to

its responsibilities, funding less than half its share.

>

> I support a steady path toward fully funding the federal share of

special education costs and will enforce the right to receive a free

and appropriate education in schools that are fully accessible –

starting with quality early childhood education that is inclusive of

all children, regardless of disability or their learning style, and

continuing with individualized education programs when requested and

classroom materials and technology that are accessible to all

students. Additionally, child care providers need training to help

them recognize when additional services might be needed and where

those community resources are.

>

> I have repeatedly voted to fully fund special education and to

make the funding mandatory, and I oppose efforts to roll back key

provisions of IDEA. It is time that children with disabilities

receive the quality education they deserve.

>

> 2. Do you believe that the Combating Autism Act provides enough

money to find the cause, or causes, of autism and effective treatments?

>

> While Congress took an important step last year by dedicating more

than $900 million to address autism over the next five years, more can

and must be done. Resources for research should be a central part of

future autism initiatives.

>

> 3. How much funding will you request to study potential

environmental triggers of autism?

>

> As president, I will issue an all-hands-on deck research challenge

and dedicate the needed resources to unravel autism's mysteries and

follow wherever the science takes us.

>

> 4. Do you believe there is an autism epidemic in the United States?

>

> Autism and autism spectrum disorders affect an astonishing one in

150 children. More children than ever before – a 700 percent increase

over the last decade – are being classified as having an autism

spectrum disorder. I believe that we must learn more about why the

number of children diagnosed with autism and autism spectrum disorders

has been growing.

>

> 5. What will you do to stop health insurers from discriminating

against people with autism and their families?

>

> I will require insurers to keep plans open to everyone and charge

fair premiums, regardless of preexisting conditions, medical history,

and other characteristics. No longer will insurance companies be able

to game the system to cover only healthy people. Several states –

including New Jersey, New York, and Washington – have led the way on

similar community rating and guaranteed issue reforms. In addition,

new national standards will ensure that all health insurance policies

offer preventive and chronic care with minimal cost-sharing.

>

> 6. What will you do to assure that health insurers pay for

promising new treatments and behavioral therapy?

>

> Our health care system is predominantly fee-for-service: providers

are paid for each treatment, regardless of its necessity or quality.

For example, a hospital that makes a medical error is often paid for

the error and then paid again to fix it. Our system should pay for

results, rewarding better, more efficient care.

>

> As part of my proposal to transform our health care system and

guarantee quality, affordable health care for every American,

Medicare, my new Health Care Markets and other government programs

will lead the way by paying higher rates to plans and providers that

provide the very best care and penalizing plans that fail to meet

critical, quantifiable goals.

>

> Only a small fraction — likely less than 0.1 percent — of each

health care dollar is currently devoted to systematic research and

assessment of the comparative effectiveness of various diagnostic and

therapeutic options. I will establish a non-profit or public

organization – possibly within the Institutes of Medicine – to

research the best methods of providing care, drawing upon data from

Medicare, Health Care Markets and medical experts from across the

nation. It will test devices and drugs head-to-head to see which work

best and for whom. This new organization will quickly and widely

disseminate its unbiased, scientific findings to physicians and patients.

>

> Though we have some of the best health care technology in the

world, effective new treatments can take years to be widely adopted.

For example, until recently, many patients did not receive beta

blockers after heart attacks even though they are cheap and highly

effective. Similarly, doctors sometimes prescribe name brand drugs

despite the availability of equally effective, less expensive generic

drugs. As new diagnostics, procedures and drugs are introduced, my

new objective medical research organization will help doctors make

sense of what works best. Government programs will offer incentives

for the use of evidence-based care and treatments.

>

> 7. Do you think vaccines should be investigated as a possible

cause of autism?

>

> We need to step up our research efforts to find the causes of

autism, as well as better treatments. And that research must be

transparent, accountable, open to all possibilities and driven by

science.

>

> 8. What will you do to protect Americans, especially young

children and pregnant women, from exposure to mercury through vaccines?

>

> I will take all necessary steps to make sure that vaccines are as

safe as possible. We must discontinue the use of potentially

dangerous additives, including mercury, in vaccines.

>

> 9. What will you do to provide for the lifetime care that 250,000

to 500,000 current children with autism will need in the future?

>

> Government education services for people with disabilities end at

age 21, even though the need does not, especially for many of those

with autism. Thus, families are left to care for their adult children

with disabilities largely on their own. I will work to develop

ongoing adult education and vocational and recreational programs for

those with autism. My plans for reforming the U.S. Department of

Housing and Urban Development and strengthening federal housing policy

will expand the supply of affordable supportive housing for people

with disabilities, including adults living with autism.

>

> 10. Would you support a large-scale federal study of the

differences in health outcomes between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups?

>

> As president, I will direct my Secretary of Health and Human

Services and my Directors of the Centers for Disease Control and

National Institutes of Health to follow where science takes us and to

determine which studies to undertake based on scientific evidence.

>

> 11. Would you support a federal right for families and individuals

to choose for themselves which vaccines they will use?

>

> I support efforts to ensure the safety of America's vaccines and

to educate families and health care providers about vaccine options.

>

> 12. Are you satisfied that the federal vaccine approval process is

free of conflicts of interests, transparent and rigorous?

>

> Drug companies responsible for testing drugs prior to FDA approval

have an inherent conflict of interest between their desire to profit

from new treatments and the public's interest in ensuring safety and

efficacy. I will move toward requiring fully independent testing of

drugs, including the testing of drugs compared to existing

alternatives. Information about comparative effectiveness would be

required to be made available to the FDA and to the public.

>

January 2, 2008

I wish people would remove "wherever the science takes us" from their vocabulary. Whose science are they talking about? Maurine Gilmore <yogilmore@...> wrote: A-CHAMP just received responses to our candidates questionnaire from which are posted below. We have also received responses from Senator Biden and Senator Obama which you can read at the A-CHAMP website, www.a-champ.org. Please feel free to distribute to anyone, anywhere, anyhow. 1. Will you fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act? Education is America’s sturdiest ladder of opportunity, but for many of the more than 5 million school-age children with disabilities, that ladder is missing several rungs. With IDEA, Congress made a commitment to America’s children. Having a disability should not stand in the way of a child receiving a quality education in the least restrictive setting. But the federal government

has not lived up to its responsibilities, funding less than half its share. I support a steady path toward fully funding the federal share of special education costs and will enforce the right to receive a free and appropriate education in schools that are fully accessible – starting with quality early childhood education that is inclusive of all children, regardless of disability or their learning style, and continuing with individualized education programs when requested and classroom materials and technology that are accessible to all students. Additionally, child care providers need training to help them recognize when additional services might be needed and where those community resources are. I have repeatedly voted to fully fund special education and to make the funding mandatory, and I oppose efforts to roll back key provisions of IDEA. It is time that children with disabilities receive the quality education they deserve. 2. Do you believe that the Combating Autism Act provides enough money to find the cause, or causes, of autism and effective treatments? While Congress took an important step last year by dedicating more than $900 million to address autism over the next five years, more can and must be

done. Resources for research should be a central part of future autism initiatives. 3. How much funding will you request to study potential environmental triggers of autism? As president, I will issue an all-hands-on deck research challenge and dedicate the needed resources to unravel autism’s mysteries and follow wherever the science takes us. 4. Do you believe there is an autism epidemic in the United States? Autism and autism spectrum disorders affect an astonishing one in 150 children. More children than ever before – a 700 percent increase over the last decade – are being classified as having an autism spectrum disorder. I believe that we must learn more about why the number of children diagnosed with autism and autism spectrum disorders has been growing. 5. What will you do to

stop health insurers from discriminating against people with autism and their families? I will require insurers to keep plans open to everyone and charge fair premiums, regardless of preexisting conditions, medical history, and other characteristics. No longer will insurance companies be able to game the system to cover only healthy people. Several states – including New Jersey, New York, and Washington – have led the way on similar community rating and guaranteed issue reforms. In addition, new national standards will ensure that all health insurance policies offer preventive and chronic care with minimal cost-sharing. 6. What will you do to assure that health insurers pay for promising new treatments and behavioral therapy? Our health care system is predominantly fee-for-service: providers are paid for each treatment, regardless of its necessity or quality. For example, a hospital that makes a medical error is often paid for the error and then paid again to fix it. Our system should pay for results, rewarding better, more efficient care. As part of my proposal to transform our health care system and guarantee quality, affordable health care for every American,

Medicare, my new Health Care Markets and other government programs will lead the way by paying higher rates to plans and providers that provide the very best care and penalizing plans that fail to meet critical, quantifiable goals. Only a small fraction — likely less than 0.1 percent — of each health care dollar is currently devoted to systematic research and assessment of the comparative effectiveness of various diagnostic and therapeutic options. I will establish a non-profit or public organization – possibly within the Institutes of Medicine – to research the best methods of providing care, drawing upon data from Medicare, Health Care Markets and medical experts from across the nation. It will test devices and drugs head-to-head to see which work

best and for whom. This new organization will quickly and widely disseminate its unbiased, scientific findings to physicians and patients. Though we have some of the best health care technology in the world, effective new treatments can take years to be widely adopted. For example, until recently, many patients did not receive beta blockers after heart attacks even though they are cheap and highly effective. Similarly, doctors sometimes prescribe name brand drugs despite the availability of equally effective, less expensive generic drugs. As new diagnostics, procedures and drugs are introduced, my new objective medical research organization will help doctors make sense of what works best. Government programs will

offer incentives for the use of evidence-based care and treatments. 7. Do you think vaccines should be investigated as a possible cause of autism? We need to step up our research efforts to find the causes of autism, as well as better treatments. And that research must be transparent, accountable, open to all possibilities and driven by science. 8. What will you do to protect Americans, especially young children and pregnant women, from exposure to mercury through vaccines? I will take all necessary steps to make sure that vaccines are as safe as possible. We must discontinue the use of potentially dangerous additives, including mercury, in vaccines. 9. What will you do to provide for the lifetime care that 250,000 to 500,000 current children with autism will need in the future? Government education services for people with disabilities end at age 21, even though the need does not, especially for many of those with autism. Thus, families are left to care for their adult children with disabilities largely on their own. I will work to develop ongoing adult education and vocational and recreational programs for those with autism. My plans for reforming the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and strengthening federal housing policy will expand the supply of affordable supportive housing

for people with disabilities, including adults living with autism. 10. Would you support a large-scale federal study of the differences in health outcomes between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups? As president, I will direct my Secretary of Health and Human Services and my Directors of the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health to follow where science takes us and to determine which studies to undertake based on scientific evidence. 11. Would you support a federal right for families and individuals to choose for themselves which vaccines they will use? I support efforts to ensure the safety of America’s vaccines and to educate families and health care providers about vaccine options. 12. Are you satisfied that the federal vaccine approval process is free of conflicts of interests, transparent and

rigorous? Drug companies responsible for testing drugs prior to FDA approval have an inherent conflict of interest between their desire to profit from new treatments and the public’s interest in ensuring safety and efficacy. I will move toward requiring fully independent testing of drugs, including the testing of drugs compared to existing alternatives. Information about comparative effectiveness would be required to be made available to the FDA and to the public.

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Search.

January 2, 2008

The answers were okay considering he'd be dead in the water if he

answered some of those questions too directly. Unambiguous vows to

remove mercury from vaccines are in short supply.

Sigh. What we need is a crystal ball to see if promises would be kept

and if hedging is merely political stealth or lack of commitment.

> A-CHAMP just received responses to our candidates

questionnaire from which are posted below. We have also

received responses from Senator Biden and Senator Obama which you can

read at the A-CHAMP website, www.a-champ.org. Please feel free to

distribute to anyone, anywhere, anyhow.

>

> 1. Will you fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities

Education Act?

>

> Education is America's sturdiest ladder of opportunity, but for

many of the more than 5 million school-age children with

disabilities, that ladder is missing several rungs. With IDEA,

Congress made a commitment to America's children. Having a

disability should not stand in the way of a child receiving a quality

education in the least restrictive setting. But the federal

government has not lived up to its responsibilities, funding less

than half its share.