Tag: Health Issues

All Those Medical Bills

I am told that today’s session with the ‘Cyber Knife’, focused radiation therapy, will be my last then there will be re-evaluation of my condition and then decide what to move on to for my next treatment….maybe now I can get a bit of my energy back.

I know that health care is very expensive here but since I started my ordeal it seems that bills arrive daily…..makes one ask just what the Hell is going on with, according to some, the best health care in the world.

There are few….make that many….theories at why the costs are so prohibitive….here are a couple of observations….

One of the most talked-about policies in the national conversation around insurance is Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield’s decision in Connecticut, New York, and Missouri to deny claims for anesthesia for surgeries that went longer than a set time limit. It was greeted with huge uproar before the insurer backtracked, citing “misinformation” about the issue. For some, that’s exactly what this was, wrongly painting the insurer as the bad guy. For others, it’s a further sign that the private insurance system needs to go. Two opinions:

Eric Levitz, Vox:

  • “People imagined patients waking up from surgery to find they owed thousands of dollars because their procedure went 15 minutes long,” writes the journalist. But this was a “cost control” that would’ve reduced payments for anesthesiologists who tend to exaggerate and overbill, says Levitz, stressing the burden would’ve fallen on those providers, not patients. Ultimately, if health care costs are to fall in the US, hospitals, physicians, and drug companies—which “charge much higher rates than their peers in other wealthy nations”—need to “accept lower payments,” Levitz writes. “Ideally, we would do this through a comprehensive system of public cost controls and insurance provision. Failing that, we need private insurers to drive a harder bargain with the most expensive doctors and hospitals.”

Dr. Adam Gaffney, MSNBC:

  • Gaffney of the Harvard Medical School redirects the blame onto insurers. “Obviously, most health care spending goes to health care provision,” he writes. “The relevant question is how to realize savings while upgrading care for everyone, and the best answer is by eliminating the gargantuan waste that is our private insurance system.” “The traditional, public Medicare program spends about 2% of its total revenue on administration. Private insurers, by contrast, take 10% (or more) of your premium for administration and profit,” he writes. “This fivefold difference accounts for the more than $400 billion in savings that the Congressional Budget Office projects could be saved annually from eliminating private insurance and moving to ‘Medicare for All.’ Instead, we’re basically setting that money on fire.”

As prices keep rising more and more Americans are searching for answers….

Public sentiment regarding the nation’s for-profit healthcare system—an outlier among wealthy nations—has dominated the national news in recent days following last week’s killing of an insurance executive in New York.

On Monday, just hours before a suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was arrested by police, a new Gallup poll found a 62% majority in the U.S. believe the government should ensure all Americans have healthcare coverage—the highest percentage in more than a decade.

Just 42% of people in 2013 believed it was the government’s responsibility to make sure everyone in the country had health coverage—a low since the beginning of this century.

The poll found that a majority of Republicans still believe ensuring health coverage is not the government’s job, but the majority has shrunk since 2020.

That year, only 22% of Republican voters believed the government should ensure everyone in the country has healthcare, but that number has now grown to 32%.

The percentage of Independents who think the issue is in the government’s purview has also gone up by six points since 2020, and Democratic support remains high, currently at 90%.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/universal-healthcare-poll

Those findings alone should sway the government into action…..HAHAHA!

With the incoming people profit is far more important than the health of your mom or dad….enter those scary death panels that the GOP was warning us about back in 2012….but who knew they would be warning us against their policies?

I will be out of pocket most of the day so this will be my only offering for your consideration.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

For Profit Healthcare Sucks!

Because of my recent diagnosis I am spending more time taking looks at this country’s healthcare system. We are told by some pundits that the US has the best healthcare in the world….I dispute that claim….as someone that is getting up there in age I have need of the system to see that I get older and I am not impressed.

I have been bitching about the healthcare in this country for decades and recently some in the Congress have tried to push through a package they call Medicare For All…..of course I had to write about it in 2019….

https://lobotero.com/2019/03/04/medicare-for-all/ Now back to the lie that we have the best healthcare in the world…..

A report out Thursday shows that the United States’ for-profit healthcare system still ranks dead last among peer nations on key metrics, including access to care and health outcomes such as life expectancy at birth. The new analysis from the Commonwealth Fund is the latest indictment of a corporate-dominated system that leaves tens of millions of people uninsured or underinsured and unable to afford life-saving medications without rationing doses or going into debt. “Despite spending a lot on healthcare, the United States is not meeting one of the principal obligations of a nation: to protect the health and welfare of its residents,” the report states. “Most of the countries we compared are providing this protection, even though each can learn a good deal from its peers. The U.S., in failing this ultimate test of a successful nation, remains an outlier.” People in the U.S., which spends roughly twice as much per capita on healthcare as other rich nations, “live the shortest lives and have the most avoidable deaths,” Commonwealth noted, pointing to frequent “denials of services by insurance companies” and other systematic defects of the American system, including massive administrative costs. Meanwhile, insurance giants and pharmaceutical companies are raking in huge profits, benefiting in particular from the growing privatization of Medicare. More than half of the Medicare-eligible population in the U.S. is currently on a privately run Medicare Advantage plan. “Our private, profit-driven system means that we are paying more for less,” progressive activist Jonathan Cohn wrote in response to the Commonwealth report.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-healthcare-system This failure on the system can be blamed on the bribes paid to Congress to see that nothing changes and the profits just keep rolling in and the officials have their hands out for the big pay offs. This system sucks.  That is the best description I can give. I Read, I Write, You Know “cognito ergo me agitare”

Vegetarianism Vs Meat Eaters

It is a Sunday and as usual I try to give my readers something to think about and hopefully they will learn something in the process.

Today I would like to cover a growing fad….non-meat eaters.

We could go with the cruelty part of the tale but I want to go with the growing concern that many have over the eating for super processed food.

So what is more healthy eating nothing but veggies or the meat?

With increasingly more people opting for plant-based diets – whether it’s for health, environmental, or ethical concerns –  a new study has highlighted that switching to vegetarianism may entail an undesirable side effect: eating more ultra-processed foods.

In a new study, scientists looked at the consumption of ultra-processed food, plus “minimally processed food” across nearly 200,000 people who have participated in the UK Biobank project.

They found vegetarians ate more ultra-processed food (by around 1.3 percentage points) compared to regular red meat eaters. Vegans also ate slightly more ultra-processed food compared to regular red meat eaters, although the disparity was not significantly different (1.2 percentage points).

The study concludes: “This UK-based study found higher UPF [ultra-processed food] consumption in vegetarian diets and lower in diets with a modest amount of meat or fish.”

“It is important that policies which encourage the urgently needed transition to more sustainable dietary patterns also promote rebalancing diets towards minimally processed foods,” it adds. 

Here lies the problem: many people eating plant-based diets in the industrialized world don’t solely eat a balanced variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. When trying to avoid meat, well-intentioned consumers can also opt for meat substitutes, prepared ready meals, and other “convenience foods” that are often loaded with more calories, saturated fat, salt, sugar, and all kinds of additives.

https://www.iflscience.com/vegetarians-vs-meat-eaters-who-consumes-more-ultra-processed-food-76945

I am old and been a meat eater all my life….I do buy lean meats and try not to eat those processed foods as much as possible.  Besides I have yet to find a plant based (god I hate that term) burger that tastes as good as the real thing….and do not get me started on the fake bacon or cheese thing.

I will remain a meat eater as long as I have left on this world.

How about you?

Onto bigger and better things….after all tomorrow is Cyber Monday and the internet ought to be buzzing with deals.

Enjoy your Sunday and as always…..Be Well and Be safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Health Update #1

When I posted about the medical fight I am dealing with there was such outpouring of of support I thought I might keep my readers up to date….

I started my treatment for the prostrate and the meds are kicking my boney butt and after a week of tests my lung treatment should start next week….I tell you this because I have a feeling that the two together is going to be rough and I may have to limit my blog time.

After all the poking and prodding and scanning last week I am told that I will be getting radiation 3 times a week for 6 weeks and then a re-evaluation to decide the next course of treatment…..all that enjoyment should begin in a wee or so as soon as the tests are reviewed and the doctor settles on the course of action.

I so look forward to the side effects (sarcasm).

I am trying to get some drafts ahead of time that will let me blog as often as possible.

So if I am not around much I hope you will understand and stick around until I can bounce back.

I would like to thank all my regulars and those occasional visitors for their time and their interest in IST.

I will try to keep those interested in my progress as often as I can.

Thanx again for your support.

Have a great Sunday….and as always….Be well and Be safe….

New ‘Bug’ On The Horizon?

We all remember the dark days of the Covid thingy…..and now out of China could there be a new worry?

As with Covid starting in China a new bug has escaped the just 90 miles off the Coast of the US….

More than 20 people returning to the US from Cuba have been infected with a virus transmitted by bugs in recent months, federal health officials said Tuesday. None have died, and there is no evidence that it’s spreading in the United States. But officials are warning US doctors to be on the lookout for the infection in travelers coming from Cuba and South America, the AP reports. Here’s a look at the illness and what sparked the alert:

  • What is Oropouche virus? Oropouche is a virus that is native to forested tropical areas. It was first identified in 1955 in a 24-year-old forest worker on the island of Trinidad, and was named for a nearby village and wetlands. It has sometimes been called sloth fever because scientists first investigating the virus found it in a three-toed sloth, and believed sloths were important in its spread between insects and animals.
  • How does Oropouche virus spread? The virus is spread to humans by small biting flies called midges, and by some types of mosquitoes. Humans have become infected while visiting forested areas and are believed to be responsible for helping the virus make its way to towns and cities, but person-to-person transmission hasn’t been documented.
  • How many cases have there been? Beginning late last year, the virus was identified as the cause of large outbreaks in Amazon regions where it was known to exist, as well as in new areas in South America and the Caribbean. About 8,000 locally acquired cases have been reported in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, and Peru. Some travelers have been diagnosed with it in the US and Europe. The CDC said Tuesday that 21 US cases have been reported so far—20 in Florida and one in New York— all of whom had been in Cuba. European health officials previously said they had found 19 cases, nearly all among travelers.
  • Are there other concerns? In Brazil, officials are investigating reports that infections might be passed on from a pregnant woman to a fetus — a potentially frightening echo of what was seen during Zika outbreaks nearly a decade ago. The CDC has recommended that pregnant women avoid non-essential travel to Cuba and suggested all travelers take steps to prevent bug bites, such as using insect repellents and wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants.

Please do not rush out and buy up all the toilet paper….this is just an FYI to let my readers know what is lurking just offshore.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Drug Deal

I have written about one of my drugs prescribed cost me $536…..I almost had a stroke when told…..now the Biden admin has a deal with drug companies to do what they did for insulin…..slash the prices on certain drugs.

Seniors will save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for the 10 costliest prescription drugs under Medicare as a result of the Biden administration’s negotiations with drug companies, according to a Thursday announcement. Beginning in 2026, the costs of 10 popular medications will be reduced by between 38% and 79% from 2023 list prices, though “those figures overstate the actual savings that will be achieved, as drugmakers already negotiate behind-the-scenes discounts with private companies that run Medicare drug plans,” per Bloomberg. The government itself will save $6 billion, bringing total savings in the first year to $7.5 billion, per the outlet. The Congressional Budget Office suggests the program will slash $237 billion from the federal deficit over 10 years.

President Biden stressed that all Republicans voted against the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which granted Medicare the authority to negotiate drug prices on behalf of its 66 million members, per the Guardian. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, noted she cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of the IRA. “Without her vote, we wouldn’t be talking about having negotiated drug prices,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. Some drug companies don’t see this as a win, however, warning the IRA will harm the development of new drugs, restrict access to medicine for patients, and ultimately result in higher costs. Here are the 10 drugs and price changes based on a 30-day supply, courtesy of NBC News:

  • Eliquis, a blood thinner from Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer, falls from $521 to $231
  • Xarelto, a Johnson & Johnson blood thinner, falls from $517 to $197
  • Januvia, Merck & Co.’s diabetes drug, will cost $113, down from $527
  • Jardiance, Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly’s diabetes drug, moves from $573 to $197
  • Enbrel, an Amgen rheumatoid arthritis drug, will cost $2,355, down from $7,106
  • Imbruvica, an AbbVie and J&J drug for blood cancers, falls from $14,934 to $9,319
  • Farxiga, an AstraZeneca drug for diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease, falls from $556 to $178
  • Entresto, a Novartis heart failure drug, will cost $295, down from $628
  • Stelara, a J&J drug for psoriasis and Crohn’s disease, falls dramatically from $13,836 to $4,695
  • Fiasp and NovoLog, diabetes drugs from Novo Nordisk, will cost $119, down from $495

Medicare plans to target another 15 drugs in 2025 and 2026, per the Washington Post.

This is good news for Seniors…..check out the list and see if any drugs you take are on it.

My problem is this piecemeal approach to lower prices…15 here and 15 later…..these companies have already milked the public and now we give them a few months to milk it more.

But remember these prices will not drop until 2025-2026….so do not celebrate too much until they finally drop.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Sneezing, Right?

It is Sunday again and I hope everyone is having a good and safe 4th weekend…..and as usual I had to find something that would keep with my tradition of asking questions that need asking but few ask them.

A few months back I had a rib injury and the most pain I experienced was when I had to sneeze….fact it while my bib is better I still have some pain when I sneeze.

Every time I sneeze and have that rush of pain I think just how much worse could a sneeze be?

Well I had to ask….

A man in Florida had such an epic sneeze that he pushed his intestines outside his body, a vivid scenario that makes the phrase “spilling your guts” horrifically literal.

The 63-year-old man, who just had staples taken out from a surgical incision, was having breakfast with his wife at a diner when he sneezed hard and coughed, according to a study published in the American Journal of Medical Case Reports, which goes into excruciating detail about the gruesome incident.

Immediately upon feeling pain and wetness in his lower abdomen, the man looked down to see “several loops of pink bowel protruding from his recent surgical site.”

Despite the shock and horror he may have been experiencing, the man had enough forbearance to cover up his protruding intestines and waived the idea of driving himself to the hospital in case moving around would injure him more.

His wife then called for an ambulance. First responders noted that he had a three-inch “vertical laceration with ‘large amounts of bowel’ protruding through it,” with very little bleeding.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/man-sneezes-intestines-burst

After that I thought how much worse could a sneeze be?

Since I try to be an FYI on Sundays I had to find out….

Sneezing is normally a protective mechanism that keeps potentially harmful things – such as dust, bacteria and viruses – out of our respiratory system. The process is controlled by the so-called “sneezing centre” in the brain’s medulla (which governs autonomic functions, including breathing). It’s activated by the presence of irritants in the lining of the nose and airways, which send impulses to the centre.

The response is a closing of your eyes, throat and mouth while your chest muscles contract – compressing your lungs and driving air out of your respiratory system. This forces whatever triggered the response “out” of your system at an impressive speed – up to 15.9m/s (35mph) in some cases.

But despite the benefits of a good sneeze, it can sometimes come with a greater risk of injury than many might realise.

For instance, violent sneezing can cause the lung to herniate through the intercostal muscles between the ribs – usually at a point of weakness. This is typically a result of morbid obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes or smoking.

There are also cases of sneezing tearing the delicate tissues of the lungs. This happens when the higher pressure air deep in the lungs escapes into the space between the chest and the lung, causing this air to compress the lung on one or both sides of the chest.

https://theconversation.com/the-dangers-of-sneezing-from-ejected-bowels-to-torn-windpipes-232103

Damn!

Now you know just how dangerous a sneeze can be…..please be careful.

Enjoy the rest of your day and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Should We Worry About Our Health?

Under normal circumstances I would say yes just because we are all getting older but with the coming election it should be a prime motivator for your vote.

I know there are many that think the winner of the 2024 election has already been decided in Trump’s favor…..if that is indeed the case then maybe there are a few things you should consider as your vote draws near.

Under a GOP led Trump government our health and safety will be under assault….

Those bodies now find themselves under threat from right-wing politicians and legal activists alike, who together are working to gut the so-called administrative state on the grounds that it is supposedly bloated, leftist, and too powerful. But these efforts, which include two Supreme Court cases this term as well as Donald Trump’s second-term plans, would have tangible and severe consequences not just for those who keep our government functioning every day but for the hundreds of millions of Americans who rely on that government to keep them safe and healthy.

The federal government is a gargantuan institution tasked with regulating all sorts of small but consequential minutiae of American life—everything from regulations on airline safety to workplace standards for dealing with hazardous chemicals. Congress grants agencies the power to set these rules themselves—the FDA is governed by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, while the EPA’s power is spread among laws like the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts—because Congress itself has neither the time nor the expertise to decide, or even simply review, the thousands of rules finalized every year.

But conservatives want to eliminate these agencies’ long-standing legal authority, and they just might succeed thanks to two consequential cases before the Supreme Court. One is a challenge to the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, the abortion medication, which the plaintiffs—a coalition of anti-abortion medical professionals—claim was insufficiently vetted. In oral arguments last month, the Supreme Court signaled it might find that the plaintiffs do not have standing, but if the justices decide otherwise and side with the plaintiffs, experts warn that the FDA’s regulatory processes would be completely undermined. People would have the ability to challenge drugs for any reason, political or otherwise.

https://newrepublic.com/article/180704/trump-war-government-administrative-state-public-health

Watch for this attack on your health for if these toads win the election it will be forthcoming.

Just something to think about….that is if you care about your health.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–06May24

Just a mere 6 months before we go to the polls and then there is Congress who try to act up so they can claim a victory to be used in their expensive campaign ads….

A recent health bill was up for consideration….and the political game was afoot….stop Biden from a legislative win at all costs…..the cost could be your health.

I’m afraid I have some bad news.

As a hospital doctor, I’ve gotten pretty good at delivering bad news. Still, it never gets any easier. It certainly was not easy the day I told my 53-year-old patient, a devoted father of two, that his stomach pains were not from gallstones as everyone had assumed. Whenever a doctor says “bad news,” our minds often jump to that terrible “C”-word we fear: cancer. Unfortunately for my patient, I diagnosed him with a deadly form of cancer: cholangiocarcinoma. Over the next year, I would watch him deteriorate as he was readmitted with complication after complication.

Cancer affects everyone in some way, shape or form. Whether personally or through a family member or friend, the stress and heartbreak of a cancer diagnosis is immeasurable. Which is why I was so surprised when I read that Congress would not be renewing investments in the “Cancer Moonshot” initiative dedicated to curing cancer.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2024/05/05/biden-cancer-moonshot-initiative-congress-funding/73525016007/

Another prime example of how the Congress and the parties have no sense of what is good for the people of this country….for them it is about the elections and the cash.

Is this what you sent your reps to DC to do?…..if not then DO something about it the games these slugs play at your expense.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

Then VOTE!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Decaf Drinkers Beware!

It is another Sunday and a day where I try to be informative…..so today instead of history it will be an FYI.

I admit it I love a good cup of coffee…..when my blood pressure went high my doctor said I needed to cut out salt (no problem for I use very little salt) and to cut my coffee drinking….so under his advice I went to decaf, I would rather drink urinal water then this stuff and then Sue got me some half-caf, better than decaf but still lacked taste….for you see I drink my coffee straight….no milk, no sugar, no flavors of any sort….so taste is important to me….after about a month I chanced it and went back to real coffee (actually Sue got it for me for she was tired of my ‘bitchiness’).

Now that I have given you my diatribe of coffee maybe it is time for me to get to the point……

So if you are a drinker of decaf coffee you might want to pay attention….

For fans of decaffeinated coffee, we have some bad news.

The not-so-buzzy version of coffee can harbor a chemical that can cause cancer, CNN reports, which has health and environmental activists pushing to have the substance banned for its use in making decaf coffee.

Methylene chloride is the substance in question and it’s used by coffee roasters to remove caffeine from coffee beans. It’s also utilized as a solvent in various manufacturing and commercial processes, but the federal government banned its use as a paint stripper in 2019 and is now considering an almost complete kibosh on its use for consumers and industry except in limited settings.

The reason? Short-term exposure to the chemical, research shows, can harm your central nervous system. And being exposed to the chemical for a longer period can induce liver and lung cancers, as well as liver damage more generally.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/decaf-coffee-cancer

My taste buds saved me from this worry….and I thank them.

As long as I have you here and interested….

Is there a coffee apocalypse coming?

When Henri Kunz was growing up in West Germany in the 1980s, he used to drink an instant coffee substitute called Caro, a blend of barley, chicory root, and rye roasted to approximate the deep color and invigorating flavor of real coffee. “We kids drank it,” Kunz remembered recently. “It had no caffeine, but it tasted like coffee.”

As an adult, Kunz loves real coffee. But he also believes that its days are numbered. Climate change is expected to shift the areas where coffee can grow, with some researchers estimating that the most suitable land for coffee will shrink by more than half by 2050 and that hotter temperatures will make the plants more vulnerable to pests, blight, and other threats. At the same time, demand for coffee is growing, as upwardly mobile people in traditionally tea-drinking countries in Asia develop a taste for java.

“The difference between demand and supply will go like that,” Kunz put it during a Zoom interview, crossing his arms in front of his chest to form an X, like the “no-good” emoji. Small farmers could face crop failures just as millions of new people develop a daily habit, potentially sending coffee prices soaring to levels that only the wealthy will be able to afford.

To stave off the looming threats, some agricultural scientists are hard at work breeding climate-resilient, high-yield varieties of coffee. Kunz, the founder and chair of a “flavor engineering” company called Stem, thinks he can solve many of these problems by growing coffee cells in a laboratory instead of on a tree. A number of other entrepreneurs are taking a look at coffee substitutes of yore, like the barley beverage Kunz grew up drinking, with the aim of using sustainable ingredients to solve coffee’s environmental problems—and adding caffeine to reproduce its signature jolt.

https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/04/coffee-cup-best-bean-brand-climate.html

Damn climate change!

I shall continue to drink that magical brew until my last breath or until I can longer afford it whichever comes first.

A little FYI for my readers….have a marvelous Sunday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”