Q&A: Interview with US health secretary
Updated: 2007-12-10 17:24
Michael Leavitt: We didn't reduce them by 25 percent. But we reduced them to the point they were about 25 percent below the national average. And I think that's a reflection of a couple of things. One we focused hard on prevention. But also we're a relatively young state. And young people are healthy. A third thing I would say is that there are many things in the state of Utah that encourages healthy living. There are fewer people, for example, who use alcohol or drugs and fewer people who use tobacco. All of those things are unhealthy behaviors. And they ultimately produce greater illness or some kind of chronic disease. So those aren't things I claim credit for as governor, but they were factors that helped accomplish what you reiterated.
Li Xing: I see. You also have this personal 500-day plan. And Chinese netizens are very interested in it. Could you elaborate on it?
Michael Leavitt: Yes. The department of Health and Human Services that I am responsible for is very large and complex part of our government. It includes the Food and Drug Administration, it includes all of our medical research, it includes all of our Medicare, which is health care for the elderly and disabled, it includes Medicaid which is healthcare for our citizens on low income, it manages many of the emergency preparations that we make for things like pandemics or other natural disasters. So it's a large and complex part of government. And I have found as a leader, that it's important to have a vision for what that…a government should and can accomplish and then have an agenda that leads towards that vision. So I laid out for the members of my department a vision of what we would like our department to look like 5,000 days from now.
Li Xing: 5,000 days.
Michael Leavitt: 5,000 days is about 12-and-a-half years.
Li Xing: Yeah.
Michael Leavitt: And then we put forward every 500 days an agenda that will lead us towards the 5,000 day plan. And the 500-day plan is often changed as circumstances change. Sometimes the priorities that we start with are different 500 days from now, but they are always leading towards the 5,000-day vision, which does not change often.
Li Xing: Oh well you are a really far-sighted man.
Michael Leavitt: In our government, it's not often that a person is able to be in a position of leadership for 12 and a half years, but it is important that we're making decisions that lead towards a vision that is long-term.
Li Xing: Good. I know that you graduated with a management degree. Here our netizens are very interested in your 11 years of service as the governor of Utah. Utah has been recognized six times as one of America's best managed states. So could you share a little bit of secret. How did you manage?
Michael Leavitt: I should first of all not take credit for all of that. I was the beneficiary when I became governor of a state that was well managed before I got there. And I in many ways built on traditions that I inherited. My goal when I was governor was always to define what I felt the state could do to improve, to lay a plan out, and to begin working toward it. And so when I was governor, I had a 5,000-day plan and actually when I was governor I had a 10,000-day plan and a 1,000 day… but when I went to the national government, I had to shorten those. The time I spent as governor was a wonderful time in our state’s history. One thing we have in common with the Chinese is that we hosted the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
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