By Charles McClure
news@ltview.com
Halloween Day of 1995 was a memorable moment for me. The publisher of the Mineral Wells Index, where I was working at the time, asked me to cover a Food and Drug Administration inspection of a local manufacturer, Electromedical Products International.

 I didn’t want to surprise anyone, so I called the FDA in advance to ask permission to cover the inspection. The bureaucrats were quite amiable and I was given consent to proceed.
When I arrived at the plant, the owners welcomed me, but it was obvious they were pretty concerned about the looming inspection. The company made a device, Alpha-Stim, that helped control pain and relieve anxiety through tiny electric impulses. The firm was (and does) marketing the product as an alternative pharmaceuticals that treat pain, stress and anxiety — drugs like Valium and Hydrocodone.
The science isn’t as difficult as it sounds. In fact, the cells in our body “communicate” through tiny electric impulses. Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation, commonly referred to as CES, is amazingly effective and is accompanied by tons of research backing that it is safe and effective.
But in those days, the FDA had lost sight of its original mandate, coming to believe it was more than a mere regulatory agency — that it was also an enforcement arm of the government, as I found out that day first hand.
When the FDA inspectors first arrived, they threw a childish fit that I was there and stormed back out of the building to call and complain to their supervisors.
Much to their surprise, they discovered I had made prior arrangements with FDA brass.
Still, one inspector came back in, screaming at me, raring back his fist. I thought he was going to hit me. But being the cool, calm and collected reporter Bob Bullock always claimed I was, I just snapped picture after picture of the inspector’s fist headed right toward my camera.
I dodged the blow at the last second, but the next day, the inspector’s fist headed at me was on page one.
Well, that got me interested, so I began a series of detailed articles investigating some of the tactics used at the time by the FDA. The articles gained notice and I was approached about my interest in working in conjunction with the company and the Medical Device Manufacturers Association to help bring about FDA reform.
Having learned what I had learned, and being horrified by it, I jumped at the chance, and worked closely with Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, and former Rep, Charlie Stenholm, D-Stamford, on what would become the FDA Reform Act of 1997.
I will not go into all the particulars, except to say that our purpose was to find a way to streamline the approval of medical devices. As an example, at the time, Europeans had much better access to the most modern heart stints and other devices because — believe it or not — most of those nations had more efficient regulatory methods for both devices and pharmaceuticals.
In the end, much of my experience wound up on a book, “The Politics of Healing,” by New York State Sen. Daniel Haley. For some reason, I constantly seem to wind up in other people’s books — both fiction and non-fiction.
While we felt at the time we had accomplished much of what we set out to do, the sense of victory was short-lived and bittersweet.
Such is life dealing with government.
Numerous issues arose during the process that really made me sick to my stomach. One such item was a rider that wound up on the final bill that allowed pharmaceutical advertising.
That’s right — you can blame those Viagra commercials partially on your’s truly.
And I learned a lot about the medical industry — more than I wanted to know. I quickly discovered that doctors typically aren’t nearly as smart as they think they are, and that they vary wildly in their skills and effectiveness. I will never forget one doctor who told me: “Why would I want my patients to get well? I would lose their business then…” Yikes.
Also during that experience, I was given some of the best advice concerning politicians I ever received: “Suffer the fools with a smile,” one Congressional aide told me. Never truer words were ever spoken. The fact is that stupidity has a way of ruling BOTH political parties in Washington, D.C.
But nothing from that process left more of an impact on me than seeing the sheer power of the medical lobby — particularly the pharmaceutical industry. These companies did, and continue to lead the FDA around by its nose. They say “jump,” and most of the time the FDA asks, “how high?”
No, I am not exaggerating.
So as I delved into the proposed health care reform bill, H.R. 3200 for the story that appears in multiple parts on this website, all the memories of my work on FDA reform came flooding back into my memory banks.
Do I think the medical insurance industry is broken? You better believe it. I could tell you horror stories that would curl your hair all day and all night. Do I think H.R. 3200 will change things? My hunch is “no.” I could tell you horror stories about politics that would make you want to take a swan dive from a 15th story window faster than a Wall Street banker in a bear market.
The truth is, the lobbies are too powerful for any meaningful changes. And is typically the case with all legislation, a few simple rules would fix most problems, but instead a 1,000 page bill is written in legalise that most Americans don’t really understand, and really doesn’t shake out until somewhere further down the road when laws are actually implemented.
I have no clue what H.R. 3200 would or would not do. The financial numbers concern me, but so do the massive issues with our existing health care system. I will tell you this — I don’t read it as being a classic “European-styled” health care system, in the truest of definitions. With that said, I also don’t see how it would not stifle competition within the private insurance industry — which often does behave in a despicable manner. All of this from every angle is a mixed bag, and who really knows what’s in that bag in the first place?
But I dutifully read every boring page of that bill, and I DO understand most legalise and am never intimidated by any attorney, because I can comprehend how they work, or don’t as the truth typically proves.
My gut tells me the medical insurance industry just needs a few rules, like an easier and less expensive way for employees to move from job to job, the removal of state-to-state laws to even the playing field, and Medicare and Medicaid need to be tightened up and streamlined, covering more people.
Yet in the end, I am not a person who looks at the world and complains about how many things do not work. Instead, I look at the world — particularly this nation — and stand in complete amazement at how well most things do work. All I need to do is drive right across the border to Mexico to remind me of what a unique place America is. Suffice it to say, my glass is always half-full.
However, with that said, when people ask me what have been the most depressing moments of my life, I always point to my three stints in government constituent work. It is something I have an incredible gift for, yet my disdain for the proverbial sausage factory persists.
But, hey, the money was good; the rewards, few.
Despite my reservations, I will take a wait-and-see attitude about health care reform, reminding all those who read my columns to never let your guard down for a single second when dealing with government or business.
The truth is that this nation works in spite of human nature, which is an unwieldy beast that is seldom tamed.
My advice? Don’t listen to anyone. Go read H.R. 3200 for yourself online at www.house.gov and decide for yourself. Just type in the bill number in the online search engine.
I subscribe to a simple premise that has guided my journalism career: People are smart enough to make their own decisions — they don’t need any help from me.