Dr. Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General?

The Washington Post reports that Obama wants CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta as the next Surgeon General. At first, I totally rejected this idea because I felt that it was just putting a "celebrity doctor" in a very important job when our health care system needs a major overhaul. After reading about him, however, I found that he does have some experience in health policy with Hilary Clinton. This is not necessarily the kind of health policy that I agree with since Hilary's plans have always been rejected as too expensive and they would most certainly not be approved in the current economic state. I do not know what Dr. Gupta's personal views are on what kind of improvements can be made on our health system, but I do agree with him on some of his actions within the health community. He encourages Americans to live healthier and active lives including the "Fit to Lead" program that encourages presidential candidates to lead healthy lives as a good example to others. I agree with this viewpoint and think it should be expanded. For example, federal workplaces should be examples of healthy work environments and federal grants should only be given to organizations that follow these examples of health promotion. Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the CDC, gave a great speech about these and other steps that should be taken to improve our health system.

If Dr. Gupta encourages these and other positive changes, I would support him as Surgeon General. It helps that he has celebrity status because his role is illuminated. The only thing that I am cautious about is his view on health policy. I hope that he realizes that it is not the right environment to promote nationalized health care and I can not think of a time when it would be an appropriate step for the U.S. to take. Nationalized health care will be a topic for another day! Our health system needs to be improved; I think that Dr. Gerberding, in her speech linked to above, has some great ideas that we can begin to act upon in the looong journey to an improved health system (notice I do not say "health care system" because improving health begins before the doctor's office with prevention!). Let's hope the current and future administrations recognize the importance of these issues.