Tag Archives: Healthcare

One of these things is not like the others. Fentanyl is killing about 70,000 Americans a year. The others are known to be useful in treating opioid dependency yet (in 2014 sorry will Google more) only half of private opioid use disorder treatment programs offered pharmaceuticals and less tha one third of patients actually received the drugs “The proportion of opioid treatment admissions with treatment plans that included receiving medications fell...

The myth of markets How is it that a market created by Madison Avenue becomes prescient? Omniscient? It doesn’t. It isn’t; never was. Like capitalism, the primacy of private healthcare and the myth of markets are a big lie.The planet is dying from our burning of fossil fuels, yet we hear ‘news readers’ demand that alternative energy needs to be competitive with fossil fuels. Like hell, it does. Markets may, probably do, have a place in an economy,...

Open Thread: NPs and PAs are Handling Increasingly More Primary Care Visits, Medscape, Avery Hurt “Healthcare Primary Care visits to NPs and PAs, also known as advanced practice providers, have been rising in recent years compared to doctor visits, according to the latest studies. The proportion of Medicare visits that NPs and PAs delivered nearly doubled in the 7-year period 2013-2019 (14% in 2013 to 26% in 2019), according to research published...

Siri: “Hey Jill, how are you? Anything you would like to talk about?”Jill: “I fell while hiking today.”Siri: “Were you hurt?”Jill: “Left ankle is somewhat swollen and sore from jamming the foot into a rock while trying to stay upright.”Siri: “Sorry to hear that, Jill. Any idea why you fell?”Jill: “I don’t know, just fell.”Siri: “Did you feel dizzy?”Jill: “No.”Siri: “Did you trip?”Jill: “I guess so.”Siri: “Why do you think that, Jill?”Jill: “I think...

Patients already paying price for PBMs diverting copay cash meant for needy, WSYX, Part 3, Darrel Rowland Part 3 of a 3-part investigation adding the detail of what is occurring with the PBMs. In a nut shell, Patients are told that they can avoid huge out-of-pocket spending for their drug and obtain their prescription for free. Yet what may not be clear to patients is that their deductible, coinsurance, and other out-of-pocket obligations are...

This is the second part of the ABC 6 On Your Side web series on hidden reasons for high drug costs, we’ll show you why you may never see that aid. If you had time, you may have read Part One. It covered how Ohio HB 135 lingered till it died by not taking the bill up in the Senate Health Committee. A bill designed to cut drug prices for many Ohioans HB 135 won unanimous approval in the House last year. The  bipartisan passed measure with 60...

This is Part 1 of a three-part story of how politics and delays backed by commercial interests and business sponsor groups delayed and eventually killed a bill meant to aid Ohio citizens. Kind of a forerunner to what may happen if Congress ever promotes a bill for healthcare-for-all. I will post the other two parts over the next two days, We sought a cause of death for HB 135. We found it … and something far bigger, WSYX, Darrel Rowland Part 1...

Democrats are good at killing themselves politically in elections. We are also good at not pushing back when our candidates are under fire. Instead, we find excuses to promote others as substitutes. Or, we take our voting to other extremes such as voting for Disney characters, the family dog or cat, themselves, etc. You do not believe such? Twenty-sixteen was the year of the “Others” vote which put a potential criminal and now an indicted...

This just blows me away every time I read one of these articles about what people are thinking about Covid vaccines. And then there is some pseudo-authority who is reinforcing the false paradigm on whether the vaccines works. “Sick, sick, sick,” Digby’s Hullabaloo, digbysblog.net Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo calls the mRNA vaccines “an unsafe medication”. This is incorrect and irresponsible. Someone should ask Ron DeSantis if he would...

In May of 2023 The $20 Billion Scam At The Heart Of Medicare Advantage, PNHP, Matthew Cunningham-Cook and Andrew Perez, Lever News, May 2023. Health insurance company Humana enjoyed a banner year in 2022. Humana made $2.8 billion in profits in 2022, while paying out $448 million in dividends to shareholders, and paying more than $17 million in compensation to its CEO. One of the main inputs to those earnings was the federal government’s $20.5...