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Tommy Thompson: “America has to be part of [the World Health Organization].”

Featuring: Tommy Thompson, Conservative | Former Candidate, U.S. Senate Wisconsin

Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson

Published July 30, 2025 | Video Starts at 42:27

But what do we do now if we're not part of the who? Or do you think that that will change? I think that will. I think, I think eventually America has to be part of [the World Health Organization]. who. And I think, I think we will go back in. I have all, all the reason in the world to believe that that's going to take place. (42:27–42:29)

CLAIM

Asserts that the U.S. should be part of the WHO.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Tommy Thompson

“25% of the people never take their medicines.”
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“50% of the people get hung up on drugs because they go to a doctor who prescribes too much painkilling medicines.”
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“Nine minutes for a doctor, that's all you get.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 16:20-16:22
“Medicare is going broke in what, 10 years.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 18:36-18:40
“93% of the money on healthcare goes to get you well after you get sick, and less than 7% keep you well in the first place.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 45:28-45:37
“We were there before anybody else with the federal government, [Howard Zucker and Tommy Thompson], the team to help out whenever we could.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 05:03-05:11
“We said, there's going to be mental health problems. And we turn that to our assistant, Charlie, and says, you gotta set up a conference.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 06:22-06:32
“It was set up for November 19 that year, about two months later. National Conference on Mental Health to help out New York and the citizens…”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 06:35-06:49
“Medicare's got problems, Medicaid's got problems, and we have to fix it.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 11:09-11:14
“We completely redid Medicare and we had Part D, which was a tremendous success.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 11:15-11:23
“Badger Care was an idea that I came up with and that was probably, I think probably the best health care for low income people in the…”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 12:25-12:36
“Badger Care...is still in existence, and it's still working.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 12:25-12:36
“Now [the Global Fund] is an $8 billion operation.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 13:29-44:23
“We don't have enough doctors, don't have enough nurses. We certainly don't have enough technicians.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 14:39-14:44
“You have to wait sometimes six months, nine months to see a specialist.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 16:22-16:26
“Public health at the state level was just being starved.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 20:47-20:52
“After anthrax, the federal government and the president said, do whatever you need.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 22:13-22:20
“We have to rebuild the state's public health system.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 22:24-22:27
“For many years thereafter, they were putting money into public health.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 22:29-22:33
“They're taking away money from public health.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 22:34-22:37
“The states have got to be the first line of protection for our public health system.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 22:40-22:48
“The public health system has already got big gaps in it.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 23:22-23:27
“D.A. Henderson was the leader in being able to stamp out smallpox.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 24:07-49:17
“I built a command center. And at 9:30 every morning during COVID I had every campus report into me.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 27:08-27:16
“The thing that I'm the most concerned about is food safety.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 27:58-28:02
“I still am absolutely worried about the sanctity and the safety of food that we're importing from all over the world.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 28:05-28:13
“I don't see anybody really looking at how do you protect the importation of food.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 29:02-29:06
“I'm sure that there is need for some reductions. No, I'll never accept the statement that we can't cut anything.”
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“Healthcare is not stagnant. Healthcare changes. We have different viruses, we have different bacterias.”
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“The federal government needs to be able to inculcate the professors and researchers from the university.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 33:40-33:49
“Universities are too insular, Howard, and they've got to be much more cooperative with government units.”
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“Global health was something that I really loved because I thought America could really show its leadership.”
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“We did that through our Global Health Fund and through the Millennium Fund.”
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“Women had to come in and bring their own sutures when they go to operate.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 37:12-37:17
“Doctors could not deliver maternal care to other women.”
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“We came back home, we raised the money, we remodeled the hospital.”
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“USAID would. Funded some crazy stuff and they shouldn't fund it.”
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“This administration, and I think rightly so, wants to save money and wants things to be more efficient.”
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“United States cannot be by itself. We have to be able to have a coordination on health care and global health throughout the world.”
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“People have got to know they gotta, they've gotta stop smoking, they gotta start exercising, they can't take in so much sugar, and they've…”
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“You got to get into the K12, you got to get into the classroom. That's where the childhood obesity has got to be.”
Ep26 - HHS Then & Now with Tommy Thompson | Uploaded July 30, 2025 | 48:25-48:32
“The direct causes of all of this, of course, is diabetes, and that's just an epidemic in our society.”
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“I'm a big believer in vaccines.”
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“We were able to get a vaccine for Covid in less than 12 months.”
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“Measles are starting to come back because I don't think people are vaccinating their kids enough.”
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“We're not educating the young people of our society enough to go into all of the healthcare fields.”
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“Businesses should be setting up their own clinics and should be sponsoring individuals that are in their community to go on to medical…”
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“Congress has a tendency to only take a look at things that really are causing them problems back in their districts.”
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“There's nobody out there in Congress really pushing for more money for public health.”
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“Public health is getting shortchanged.”
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“We need people like the Cassidy's and John Thune to be advocating for more money for public health care at the state levels.”
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“I also put the barcodes on pharmaceutical drugs that nobody else [did].”
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“Universal health care is not achievable here in the U.S.”
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“The United States government is broken. I mean, we're 30, 36 trillion, soon to be $38 trillion in debt.”
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