Tag Archives: Healthcare

Several years ago, I got my genome sequenced and obtained my variant call files, the tabulation of all differences between my gene sequences and the annotated human genome. Although my primary care physician was aware, I didn’t require his intermediation to obtain or interpret my genomics data. How I might react to adverse information was up to me. I’ve referred to my variant spreadsheet many times since then, whenever I’ve read about a new variant...

by Jasper Craven Task & Purpose In mid-April, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, and Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough demanding to know why the agency was wounding itself.  Specifically, they worried about a series of seemingly contradictory eligibility and staffing policies. In March, the VA handed down a directive that expanded healthcare eligibility to...

In a previous post, I called attention to the decline in the number of medical students who choose pediatrics as a career. Some of the slack can be taken up by nurses and physician assistants, but access to pediatricians is a growing problem.So, too, is access to pediatric care at hospitals:“Pediatric hospitals have been disappearing all across the country. During the decade before the COVID pandemic, data from the American Hospital Association survey...

Angry Bear has been posting articles on PFAS for a while now. Since I lived in Livingston County, Michigan, this was a problem. You could no longer eat the fish out of Strawberry Lake and some of the shallow wells were contaminated. Other commentaries . . . County shows higher levels of PFAS in blood than the U.S. population – Angry Bear. This goes beyond Livingston County. A Pittance Offered Up for National PFAS Cleanup. PFAS Contamination, the New...

If you want to make the big bux as a physician, you need to do procedures (e.g., endoscopies, colonoscopies, surgery). Among the most poorly compensated branches of medicine are pediatrics and geriatrics. And yet:“Pediatricians attend the same medical schools as those who enter other specialties, and education is expensive. Almost half of those who graduated with over $150,000 in debt 20 years ago have still not paid if off completely. In 2020 the...

I came of age scientifically at the beginning of the cloning era. As various genes associated with human genetic disorders—sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, Huntington’s—were cloned, the papers reporting these successes always ended with some statement that now the door was open to therapy. These prophecies proved to be wildly optimistic. Now, with the advent of CRISPR gene editing, it is becoming possible to realize the...

I have been writing on the Opioid epidemic for years. I was asked to write on it by some organizations. SCOTUS tossing the settlement may be due to the settlement releasing the Sacklers from any liability in promotion and the sale of Oxycontin, etc. Supreme Court tosses opioid settlement worth billions for states, victims, USA TODAY and also at MSN. Quick Note: For the settlement worth $billions, there was also a release of liability for the...

I got my first COVID shot in August 2020 as part of the Moderna Phase III trial. Since then, I’ve had four additional jabs. Today, I’ll get another booster with the latest Moderna vaccine. I’m looking forward to it. I did contract COVID last November during a trip to Colorado. I tested positive for a few days and had mild symptoms, but completely recovered. The vaccine doesn’t prevent you from getting infected, it keeps you out of the ED and the...

The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans found employers are projecting a 7 percent hike for health care costs in 2024. Aon projected the average costs for U.S. employers paying for their employees’ health care could increase 8.5 percent to more than $15,000 per employee in 2024. Voters remember the pain, not the gain by Merrill Goozner GoozNews Here’s another problem for President Biden’s reelection team. In in policy arena...

Introduction: It appears HHS and CMS are taking action with Medicare Advantage plans and their payments to brokers selling Advantage plans. They allowed Kaiser Family Foundation healthcare to republish a Modern Healthcare article. I am lucky enough to have access to and republished at Angry Bear. According to the article, “insurers increasingly not only pay commissions to brokers and agents but also contract with field marketing organizations...