As the year 2009 dawned on us, it’s time for reports on 2008, in as many domains as possible. Given the economic crisis the world is facing, and which is most severe in the United States, it’s important to assess the state of things before going ahead with new plans and strategies.

 

As we are days into the New Year, it’s also almost time for us to greet our new President, Barack Obama, who will officially take office and move into the White House – with a new dog adopted from a shelter, apparently – on January 20^th.

 

One of the main campaigning points Obama relied on was advocating for change, and it seems that this devotion to change is the main responsible for the election of Barack Obama.

 

Of course, the health care system is probably the first that must be reformed, from top to bottom. Except for the known minuses of the current health care system, an overview of its efficiency in 2008 may ease the task of designing a new scheme.

For instance, it seems that the Food and Drug Administration is not sufficiently involved in overseeing the financial conflicts which occur for doctors who conduct medical trials and use certain medical devices.

 

Since 1990, the FDA required doctors to reveal any such conflicts they may have – however, the FDA did not receive disclosure from doctors in over 42% of the trials.