Newt Gingrich Named #6 Most Influential Person in Healthcare

From Newt 2012:

Atlanta, GA -- Modern Healthcare has named Newt Gingrich #6 on their list of most influential people in healthcare. No other Republican presidential candidate is included in their list of 100.

“Newt Gingrich has spent more time and energy developing and popularizing free market healthcare solutions that would save lives and save money than all the other candidates combined” remarked Dr. Michael Burgess, Republican Congressman from the 26th district of Texas.

“As Republicans look for the right candidate to repeal and replace Obamacare, Modern Healthcare has reminded voters that Newt Gingrich’s status as an expert ant thought leader in health care policy is unmatched by any other candidate in the field,” added Burgess.

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As a candidate, Newt is calling for the creation of a 21st-century Food and Drug Administration that shortens the time it takes private companies to deliver new cures and treatments to the patient. Gingrich cites the current FDA’s costly requirements as obstacles in gaining approval for new drugs and medical devices.

“Major reform at the FDA will help firms get products from the research laboratory to the marketplace faster,” Gingrich said. "The current FDA model takes too long, allows people to die in the interim, raises the costs so dramatically that small start-ups couldn't possibly bring new ideas to the table and is in effect driving jobs overseas."

Gingrich also points to electronic medical records as another way to improve health. "Faster access to information in real time allows doctors to make better decisions.”

Most notable, Gingrich wants to invest more in creating public-private partnerships to fund brain science and research with the goal of finding cures for costly diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. Gingrich notes that delaying the onset of Alzheimer's by just five years would save $10 trillion in public and private costs by 2050.

Read further about Newt Gingrich’s “Patient Power” plan to improve healthcare quality, lower costs, and insure every American without mandates at http://www.newt.org/solutions/healthcare.

Newt Gingrich Healthcare Record

In 2003, Newt founded the Center for Health Transformation to develop free market healthcare reforms to foster a 21st Century System of health and healthcare that is centered on the individual, prevention focused, knowledge intense and innovation rich. Newt also served as the Co-Chairman of the National Commission for Quality Long-term Care and the independent congressional Alzheimer’s Disease Study Group.

As Speaker of the House, Gingrich’s leadership helped save Medicare from bankruptcy, prompted FDA reform to help the seriously ill and initiated a new focus on research, prevention, and wellness. His contributions have been so great that the American Diabetes Association awarded him their highest non-medical award and the March of Dimes named him their 1995 Citizen of the Year.