Utahn James Mason - who was the No. 2 health official in the Bush administration - says the Clinton administration will prescribe similar medicine for America's health.
And Mason, assistant secretary for health at the Health and Human Services Department, says the Bush administration's work helped increase life expectancy, decrease infant mortality and made gains against cancer and AIDS."It does not matter which party is in power as long as we're heading in the right direction and have a good science base," Mason said. "The baton will be passed and progress toward reaching goals will continue."
The nation's health plan under Bush, "Healthy People 2000," is making progress toward reaching 300 measurable objectives, including achieving a smoking-free society, Mason said.
Mason considers a smoke-free society as one of the department' top goals, saying cigarette smoking is "public enemy No. 1."
In the 20 years since the first U.S. surgeon general report on smoking, information to the public about tobacco is beginning to sink in, Mason said.
As part of that battle, the department released earlier this month with the Environmental Protection Agency another study saying nonsmokers - especially children - face an increased risk for lung cancer from secondary cigarette smoke.
Mason said even with reductions of smoking achieved so far, cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths.
AIDS is another area where Mason and the department made gains. It licensed three primary drugs for AIDS, which Mason said prolong life and make the patient's final days less painful.
Mason said just as early research on AIDS was built on different types of cancer research, AIDS research will benefit other medical research.
Mason said a major health problem facing President Clinton - and one he promised to solve - is lack of universal health care.
"I think we are all interested in health-care reform," Mason said.
"We cannot go on leaving part of our population outside of the system," Mason added. "Part of keeping the costs down is the emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention."
With the change of administrations, Mason has accepted a position as vice president for policy development at the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences. He will also teach at the university, which trains doctors for the military and Public Health Service.