SEATTLE--Former Bush administration Health Secretary Tommy G. Thompson warned an insurance executives' conference here yesterday that the coming of a flu pandemic is a certainty and they need to take steps to be ready.
"Yes, we are going to have pandemic flu," Mr. Thompson said, noting that such an event has occurred on the average of every 30 years, with the last big epidemic occurring in 1918. "We're on borrowed time. It's not if; it's when."
Mr. Thompson, who left his secretary's post a year-and-a-half ago and is now chairman of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, which works on health care and public health issues, said once a fatal flu mutates to transmit from human to human, "it is going to be lethal."
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.