Ross Perot on Health Care 1992 & 1996 Reform Party Nominee for President

Our healthcare money is not being spent intelligently

NAFTA is backdoor deregulation; lowers FDA standards

The problem with Codex, a United Nations organization, is that they rely heavily upon the expertise of executives from the very industries that are to be regulated.

A comparison of the Codex standards with standards of the FDA reveals the recklessness of US negotiators in adopting those standards. For example, the Codex allows ten times more DDT on carrots than the FDA.

The Codex is a quick and easy way to get around US hygiene standards. [Unethical companies will] use the exceptions provided by the trade agreement to enter the US market with foods that would never meet the US hygiene standards. NAFTA is a back-door deregulation of US health and environmental standards.

Expand Medicare to cover all Americans

Perot has stated in a rather straightforward fashion that he favors:
• Curbing entitlement payments to the affluent;
• and implementation of some sort of a comprehensive health care plan-one that would be akin to Medicare but for all Americans, not just the needy.

Attack AIDS at every level: more education, more research

Short term: cost containment & focus on prevention

I suggest that we should adopt both short-term and long-term strategies. In the short term, a cost containment and prevention program should be developed immediately. Various health-care experts and representatives of affected groups should have a series of work sessions with government officials. A plan should be put into effect as quickly as possible. In the longer term, [we should have] comprehensive national health-care reform based on a public-private partnership.

Long term: comprehensive national health policy

In the longer term, comprehensive national health-care reform based on a public-private partnership should involve the following:
• Establishing a national health board as an independent federal agency to oversee cost containment and comprehensive health-care reform efforts
• Setting a national health policy
• Encouraging problem solving by everyone involved
• Reaching a consensus on a set of principles for reform
• Determining a basic benefit package for universal coverage and appropriate tax treatment of health benefits
• Asking states to submit comprehensive health-care reform proposals that meet agreed-upon principles and cost-containment targets
• Changing federal rules to allow states the necessary flexibility to conduct pilot programs