SANTA BARBARA, CA, Nov 16 (MARKET WIRE) --
While Congress and the rest of the nation turn the battle over healthcare
reform into a pro-wrestling-style steel cage death match with enough
rhetoric to choke an English professor, at least one expert is looking
beyond the bills on the table for a different solution.
According to a lengthy report by legal expert Terry Mix, "The American
Healthcare Dilemma" (www.terencemix.com), reorganizing the FDA and its
activities could save Americans trillions of dollars over the next decade.
Mix believes that cleaning up FDA miscues and duplicative functions can
save consumers serious money in unnecessary healthcare costs, as well as
free up some much-needed federal dollars. His chief complaints include:
-- More than 50 percent of all serious adverse reactions to drugs are
discovered after the drugs are initially marketed (e.g., they are not
detected during premarket testing).
-- About 2,270,000 patients per year incur hospital costs as a result of
adverse drug reactions.
-- Another 4,300,000 visit other healthcare providers (physicians,
hospital outpatient departments and emergency rooms) as a result of adverse
drug reactions.
-- Approximately 230,000 die each year as a result of an adverse drug
reaction (105,000 using drugs as directed and 125,000 from not following
directions) -- the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.
-- The total annual healthcare cost as a consequence of adverse drug
reactions exceeds a staggering $200 billion -- an amount equal to what is
spent on Medicaid every year and almost half of what is spent on Medicare.
"These costs can be cut in half by fixing everything that is wrong
with the FDA and the system of testing drugs," he added. "This would
amount to health care savings of at least $100 billion per year -- one
trillion dollars over ten years."
About Terry Mix
A graduate of the University of Southern California and Hastings College
of Law in San Francisco and a member of the California State Bar since
January 4, 1967, he has spent most of his 40-plus years in practice
engaged in the subspecialty of drug product liability, litigating against
many of the major pharmaceutical companies in the United States.
Contact:
Rachel Friedman
Rachel@newsandexperts.com
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