Kip Sullivan sent this article to me today. Usually, I find them before he sends them to me. A quick introduction to the topic of this article. Billions of dollars are being spent on value-based ACO programs. They have done little to improve Americans’ health or lower health care costs. As the authors point out, of the 50+ ACOs examined, less than a handful cut costs. The ACO organizational cost saves were one percent or less. “Value-based...
Read More »Media’s ongoing lies about Merrick Garland
“The media’s ongoing lies about Merrick Garland are doing a lot more harm than you think” – Palmer Report, James Sullivan An interesting little blurb on the impact of the latest President Joe Biden administration (Merrick Garland) action reminding hospitals they must do abortions if the mother’s life is endangered. As taken from the Palmer Report. Aside from deliberately lying about the nature of the DOJ’s probe into Jan 6, the media’s...
Read More »Coronavirus dashboard for July 27: likely at or past the BA.4&5 peak
Coronavirus dashboard for July 27: likely at or past the BA.4&5 peak Let’s start with Biobot, since wastewater doesn’t lie. The bad news is, that it shows a nearly 50% increase between June 29 and July 20. The good news is, in the last week of that period, between July 13 and July 20, it only increased less than 4%, suggesting that the BA.5/July 4 superspreader celebration wave has peaked, at a level equivalent to 500,000 “real” cases (from a...
Read More »Assorted News on Various Topics
What I have been reading this week . . . ~~~~~~~~ Politics “What Will Come of the January 6th Committee’s Case Against Trump?” | The New Yorker, Amy Davidson Sorkin “The committee itself cannot file criminal charges, though it can refer its findings to the Department of Justice. It’s not news to the D.O.J., of course, that laws were broken.” “EU ban on Russian gold puts Switzerland on the spot” – SWI swissinfo.ch “The European Union has...
Read More »Alzheimer’s II
I was provoked to write the post immediately below by this shocking article which suggests possible fraud. I feel the need to comment on this passage “Yet Aβ still dominates research and drug development. NIH spent about $1.6 billion on projects that mention amyloids in this fiscal year, about half its overall Alzheimer’s funding. Scientists who advance other potential Alzheimer’s causes, such as immune dysfunction or inflammation, complain...
Read More »Alzheimers and Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha
Sorry I will not provide links. Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (TNF alpha) is an inflamatory peptide hormone. A soluble protein which is based on part of the receptor for TNF alpha is used to treat arthritis. It has been noted from health insurance records that this treatment is associated with a much reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease. One important aspect of Alzheimer’s is the formation of placques (clumps) of a peptide called amyloid beta....
Read More »Coronavirus dashboard for July 22: the BA.4&5 wavette Peaked?
Coronavirus dashboard for July 22: the BA.4&5 wavette has (probably) peaked – by New Deal democrat No economic news today, so let’s update the COVID situation. As of yesterday, nationwide (dotted line below) cases declined slightly to 123,000. Cases have been slightly elevated from their previous 100-110,000 range for several weeks, but appear to have peaked. Deaths (sold line) rose slightly to 429, and are roughly 100 above their...
Read More »The Latest VA Health Commission Prematurely Dies Along with Plans
A well-deserved death for an ill-conceived plan for veterans. The 2018 VA MISSION Act was to help shape the future of veterans’ health care delivery by creating the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission. The modernization as planned by Trump was to be accomplished by downsizing VA hospitals and clinics with the goal of privatizing the VA’s healthcare services. Instead of following President Biden’s attempt at bipartisan support, both...
Read More »COVID heads toward endemicity
Coronavirus dashboard for July 11: BA.4&5 now over 80% of cases without creating a new wave, as COVID heads toward endemicity The CDC’s variant proportions data for this past week is out, and it shows that combined BA.4&5 made up slightly over 80% of all infections. BA.5 was at 65%, and BA.4 at 16%: [Note: graphs are not yet available. I will post both the national breakdown and the regional variations graphs as soon as they are...
Read More »W.Va. Court Rules in Favor of Drug Wholesalers
“Federal judge in W.Va. rules in favor of drug distributors in landmark opioid trial,” (WCHS). Why I think the judge’s ruling is BS. The City of Huntington and the County of Cabell sued three drug companies (Wholesalers) responsible for distributing hydrocodone and oxycodone or opioids. Their claim was AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc., and McKesson Corp. were responsible for the increase in addiction in the county and Huntington....
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