Endless online vitriol has been spilt promoting the idea that the COVID-19 pandemic was somehow either (a) an engineered pathogen or (b) a virus that escaped from a research facility. While those allegations served the interests of the Trump Administration, the actual, you know, scientific data supporting them was non-existant.Now, years later, the sorts of experiments that could have weighed in support of natural origins of the pandemic, the...
Read More »SARS-CoV-2 and the Wuhan wet market
Endless online vitriol has been spilt promoting the idea that the COVID-19 pandemic was somehow either (a) an engineered pathogen or (b) a virus that escaped from a research facility. While those allegations served the interests of the Trump Administration, the actual, you know, scientific data supporting them was non-existant.Now, years later, the sorts of experiments that could have weighed in support of natural origins of the pandemic, the...
Read More »12 Month-ending Provisional Number and Percent Change of Drug Overdose Deaths
Reduction in Drug Deaths is 2024 Before I start on this. Credit to Digsby at HullaBaLoo and will be using parts of the same NPR report also. The CDC graphs define the decrease in drug usage nationally and also state by state. Some good news for once on drug addiction. Products – Vital Statistics Rapid Release – Provisional Drug Overdose Data, CDC.gov The three charts I am showing reflect totals and do not reflect a state-by-state reduction...
Read More »12 Month-ending Provisional Number and Percent Change of Drug Overdose Deaths
Reduction in Drug Deaths is 2024 Before I start on this. Credit to Digsby at HullaBaLoo and will be using parts of the same NPR report also. The CDC graphs define the decrease in drug usage nationally and also state by state. Some good news for once on drug addiction. Products – Vital Statistics Rapid Release – Provisional Drug Overdose Data, CDC.gov The three charts I am showing reflect totals and do not reflect a state-by-state reduction...
Read More »Is Medicare Advantage finally hitting a roadblock?
From everything I’ve read, Medicare Advantage is just as scam. By the time my Lovely And Talented Wife® retired and shifted to Medicare two years ago, she took the regular Medicare. This July when I retired, I followed suit. Turns out, a growing number of hospitals and health systems nationwide have dropped some or all of their Medicare Advantage contracts.“Data on this topic is limited. In January, the Healthcare Financial Management Association...
Read More »Listeria Contamination with Processed Foods
Usually, listeria contamination comes from poor cleanup after a “lot-size” of a product is complete. It thrives in a moist, colder environment. Lunch meat, hot dog, sausage etc, manufacturing environment can be prone to having listeria contamination. After a lot or a shift is complete, the machines and the rooms have to be cleaned. The machines disassembled, tables, and equipment are steamed. The walls, floor, and corners are wiped down with a bleach...
Read More »Unforeseen Health Care Bills Coverage Denials by U.S. Insurers
Coverage denials as reported by the Commonwealth Fund today almost never happened in the past and was a rare occurrence. The insurance companies would concede to the findings of the examining doctors. The methodology being used today is to deny, deny, deny until the insured and the doctor give up. I think it was 1997 when a fictional story “The Rainmaker” became a movie, The issue was a bone marrow transplant which was denied by the healthcare...
Read More »Covid Metrics Ending Week August 31
r.j. sigmund‘s notes on Covid Metrics It appears all US Covid metrics are now heading down except for deaths, but we can expect deaths to head lower in a week or two as well, as the reduced numbers of those who are newly infected work through the health care system…among the CDC’s “early indicators” “test positivity”, or the percentage of tests for Covid that were positive, fell to 16.3% during the week ending August 31st, after test positivity ...
Read More »Health Care Systems are Starting to Drop Medicare Advantage Plans
Much of this is the result of commercial healthcare gaming the system with pricing. Medicare Advantage can not compete head-to-head with Traditional Medicare much less the VA. VA sent me to Barrows (Arizona) for an issue with my back and right leg. I was going numb and it was painful to walk. So to make up for just giving me epidural shots in my spine (surgeon’s suggestions), they decide to work on my blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight. They...
Read More »Beyond price controls: Ozempic for all who want it, and a strategic food reserve
Suppose that you wake up tomorrow and discover that a sadistic alien has turned you into an economist. You are just getting over your shock at your new predicament (“How will I make friends? Will anyone ever trust me again? At least I’m not a lawyer.”) when Kamala Harris, responding to voter concerns about inflation, makes a vague statement in favor of government restrictions on the price of groceries. It just so happens that you have a...
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