"Healthcare" in the US

[CRI]

Indiana Governor Signs Bill Mandating Abortion Information
Gov. Eric Holcomb has signed a bill that requires medical providers to report more patient information to the state.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a new law that will require medical providers who treat women for complications arising from abortions to report detailed patient information to the state.

Supporters said the law, which takes full effect in July, will ensure abortions are provided safely in the state. But opponents argued that it's overly burdensome and will further stigmatize abortion, which has lower complication rates than many other standard procedures.

The Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which successfully fought other abortion laws in court, said it is closely reviewing the law and has not ruled out suing the state over it.

"It seems like our Legislature's dead set on passing radical abortion restrictions every single year," ACLU Indiana director of advocacy Katie Blair said in an interview.

 

[CRI]

Punishing women with the death penalty would cut abortions, Idaho candidate says

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Punishing women with the death penalty would cut abortions, Idaho candidate says

I bet he think's he "pro-life." And, punishing mysogynist candidates from Idaho with the death penalty would cut down on the stupid shit they say too.

 

[CRI]

In areas where medical care is scarce and everyone knows your name, OB-GYNs in private practice may refuse to provide desired long-acting contraceptive methods such as IUDs and implants, give inaccurate information about contraception, and openly judge women for their decisions to seek it.

 

[yield]

Insulin's High Cost Leads To Lethal Rationing
01/09/18

Diabetic ketoacidosis is a terrible way to die. It's what happens when you don't have enough insulin. Your blood sugar gets so high that your blood becomes highly acidic, your cells dehydrate, and your body stops functioning.

Diabetic ketoacidosis is how Nicole Smith-Holt lost her son. Three days before his payday. Because he couldn't afford his insulin.

ffs

 

[8ball]

I can see the US being a right medieval shithole in a couple of decades the way things are going.

 

[yield]

'A Giant Step' Toward Humane Healthcare as Democrats Announce First-Ever Hearings on Medicare for All
January 03, 2019

In an essential and historic step toward developing a humane, effective, and universal solution to America's for-profit healthcare crisis, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) has reportedly won approval from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to hold the first-ever hearings on Medicare for All in two of the most powerful committees in Congress.

"It's a huge step forward to have the Speaker's support," Jayapal said in an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday. "We have to push on the inside while continuing to build support for this on the outside."

According to the Post, Medicare for All legislation is set to receive hearings in the Rules and Budget committees, both of which are chaired by Medicare for All supporters—Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), respectively.

While dates for the hearings have not been officially announced, Jayapal said House Medicare for All supporters expect to release legislation in "the next couple of weeks."

"This will ensure that Medicare for All is part of the 2020 Democratic presidential platforms," said Jayapal, who will sponsor the House bill.

Highlighting reports that legislation to expand Social Security will also get a hearing in the Democratic House, Social Security Works president Nancy Altman applauded news of the coming Medicare for All hearings as "a giant step toward greater economic security."

"This Congress will be historic. House Democrats will hold hearings on expanding Social Security for the first time in almost half a century and on universal health insurance for the first time in almost three-quarters of a century," Altman said in a statement. "The hearings will highlight the wisdom of these policies and put pressure on those who oppose them."

The first-ever Medicare for All hearings will come as nurses and progressive advocacy groups continue to build support for single-payer at the grassroots level, launching pressure campaigns and nationwide Medicare for All "barnstorms" designed to build enthusiasm for the immensely popular, bold, and—contrary to the claims of its critics—cost-saving plan.

Meanwhile, insurance companies, Big Pharma lobbyists, and establishment Democrats committed to maintaining America's healthcare status quo are deploying their vast wealth and resources to "crush" Medicare for All before it even gets off the ground.

As Sanders Institute Fellow Michael Lighty argued in a piece for Common Dreams on Wednesday, "Only a mass social movement can overcome the huge resource and political advantages of the medical-industrial complex."

"It requires elected officials having to choose between voters and donors—and creating an overwhelming demand that forces them to accede to fundamental reform," Lighty concluded. "To be clear, that means guaranteed healthcare for all with no barriers to care."

"This Congress will be historic. House Democrats will hold hearings on expanding Social Security for the first time in almost half a century and on universal health insurance for the first time in almost three-quarters of a century," A small step in the right direction.

"Only a mass social movement can overcome" "elected officials having to choose between voters and donors"

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Drugmakers are starting 2019 with a slew of price hikes, affecting more than 1,000 medications.

The average increase amounts to about 6 percent, said Michael Rea, founder and CEO of RX Savings Solutions, which sells software that helps employers and health plans analyze drug prices. Among the best-known drugs getting costlier are the opioid OxyContin, with a 9.5 percent jump, and the blood thinner Pradaxa, up 8 percent.

Those increases underscore the challenges facing consumers and health care plans as drug costs far outpace the rate of inflation or wage growth. Americans spent $535 billion on prescription drugs last year, an increase of 50 percent since 2010, according to one estimate.

"A 9 percent increase isn't just over inflation -- it's four times inflation," Rea noted. "No matter what, that effect is felt by consumers, by payers and the solvency of public and private health plans."

Big Pharma ushers in new year by raising prices of more than 1,000 drugs

This is more than twice the rate of inflation.

 

[yield]

Big Pharma ushers in new year by raising prices of more than 1,000 drugs

Class war profiteers

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Class war profiteers

Too good for 'em.

 

[Dogsauce]

Those political lobbying bills ain’t gonna pay themselves, to be fair.

 

[CRI]

This isn't party political, but incredibly upsetting and infuriating.

I Was Pregnant and in Crisis. All the Doctors and Nurses Saw Was an Incompetent Black Woman

To get the “healthcare” promised by the healthcare bureaucracy, it helps tremendously if the bureaucracy assumes that you are competent. When I called the nurse and said that I was bleeding and in pain, the nurse needed to hear that a competent person was on the phone in order to process my problem for the crisis that it was. Instead, something about me and the interaction did not read as competent. That is why I was left in a general waiting room when I arrived, rather than being rushed to a private room with the equipment necessary to treat a pregnancy crisis. When my butt hurt, the doctors and nurses did not read that as a competent interpretation of contractions and so no one addressed my labor pains for over three days. At every step of the process of having what I would learn later was a fairly typical pregnancy for a black woman in the United States, I was rendered an incompetent subject with exceptional needs that fell beyond the scope of reasonable healthcare.

“Black babies in the United States die at just over two times the rate of white babies in the first year of their life,” says Arthur James, an OB-GYN at Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University in Columbus. When my daughter died, she and I became statistics.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Been seeing a number of stories in the news lately about what amounts to the ongoing collapse of the American Healhcare System. This is all planned, or course. You can't make near as much money, providing care to everyone are low prices as you can if you pump up costs so much only the well off can afford it.

Here is one example:

An Indiana school superintendent who allegedly used her own insurance to get a sick student medical attention has been arrested and charged with insurance fraud.

Casey Smitherman, who is superintendent of Elwood Community Schools 45 miles north of Indianapolis, was charged with insurance fraud, identity deception and official misconduct – all felonies – on Tuesday. She was later released on $500 bail, court records show.

Smitherman allegedly went to the home of a 15-year-old student who had missed school and noticed that he was suffering from strep throat. After the student was refused treatment at a clinic, Smitherman took matters into her own hands and took the teen to another clinic where she checked him in under her son’s name, WISH-TV reported. She then filled a prescription for the antibiotic amoxicillin for him – also in her son’s name, according to court documents.

http://time.com

So you have a teacher/superintendant who sees a sick student who has been denied care and she decides to do what she can to help. Gets into loads of trouble that may end her career.

Then, you have this item. Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the number of uninsured has risen by 7 million people:

WASHINGTON—The number of Americans without health insurance jumped to its highest level in four years, new figures show, a trend that pits Democrats who say the White House is sabotaging the Affordable Care Act against Republicans who blame high premiums under the law for locking people out of coverage.

The percentage of adults without health insurance climbed to 13.7% in the fourth quarter of 2018, from 12.4% a year earlier and a low of 10.9% in 2016, according to a closely followed Gallup report released Wednesday. The Gallup data is based on self-reported responses from tens of thousands of adults, and has been used in reports produced by policy makers.


About seven million more Americans lacked health insurance in the fourth quarter compared with the 2016 period, according to Gallup. Women, low-income people and younger adults saw the greatest rise in the uninsured rate, the poll found.

Gallup is the latest among polls and data findings to indicate that the uninsured rate that was declining under the Obama administration has leveled off or risen.

More Americans Lack Health Insurance, New Survey Finds

So what they're saying here is that Obamacare was working, however imperfectly. It was improving care for millions of people. Now you have millions more without access to care and this was done on purpose.

And lastly, I have this:

Some Americans with type 1 diabetes have cut back on their insulin usage as the cost of the lifesaving drug nearly doubled over a five-year period.

The annual amount that people with type 1 diabetes spent on the drug rose from about $2,900 in 2012 to about $5,700 in 2016, according to a new analysis from the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI), CBS News reported.

Insulin Price More Than Doubles in U.S.

I found story after story like this. It doesn't matter what drug it is, the cost of it went up far more than inflation. Factor the above in with the government shutdown and its no wonder that people are having to ration insulin. Again, this was all done on purpose.

 

[8ball]

I found story after story like this. It doesn't matter what drug it is, the cost of it went up far more than inflation. Factor the above in with the government shutdown and its no wonder that people are having to ration insulin. Again, this was all done on purpose.

Even without changes in insulin costs it is estimated that in a couple of decades, one in every two US dollars spent on healthcare will be directly or indirectly due to diabetes.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Even without changes in insulin costs it is estimated that in a couple of decades, one in every two US dollars spent on healthcare will be directly or indirectly due to diabetes.

Yes, the food system in the US has suffered from many of the same issues as the healthcare system. There's sugar, fat, and salt, in nearly everything we eat. We put sugar in canned vegetables. We also have some serious lifestyle factors that contribute too. We're going to have to overhaul that and all of the other lifestyle problems or its going to bankrupt the system. Its amazing that we've put up with so long.

 

[spring-peeper]

Parents Protest For Kids' Right To Suffer From Preventable Illness

Hundreds of conspiracy theorists in Washington state gathered Friday to protest against vaccinating kids.

Approximately 700 people gathered for a public hearing in Olympia to oppose a bill that would put more requirements on families attempting to back out of mandatory vaccinations for children, The Washington Post reported. The bill would specifically make it harder to opt school-age children out of getting vaccine shots for mumps, rubella and measles.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Paul Harris, comes amid the state’s worst measles outbreak in decades. At least 49 cases have been confirmed in Clark County, leading Gov. Jay Inslee (D) to issue a state of emergency.

The cases are primarily in children ages 1 to 10, most of whom were unvaccinated.

That hasn’t stopped parents like Monique Murray from fighting against treating preventable illnesses.

“I don’t feel I’m putting my child at risk,” Murray told CBS News. “There’s nothiing that’s going to change my mind on this on that specific vaccination.”

 

[NoXion]

I really do not understand how the fuck any significant amount of parents can be anti-vax in the middle of a damn measles outbreak!

 

[equationgirl]

I know, it's not like measles is like getting the sniffles.

 

[Nylock]

I really do not understand how the fuck any significant amount of parents can be anti-vax in the middle of a damn measles outbreak!

Because they are irrational and stupid and convinced of their worldview despite evidence to the contrary.

 

[Ming]

I really do not understand how the fuck any significant amount of parents can be anti-vax in the middle of a damn measles outbreak!

Quite a funny clip from Jimmy Kimmel with some real doctors getting rather annoyed about this issue.

 

[yield]

It's all about confidence or trust in medical experts, vaccine manufacturers and government.

Been having unpleasant chats with an old friend of mine. She's refusing to give her boy the second MMR jab as she thinks there's a link to autism.

 

[Ming]

It's all about confidence or trust in medical experts, vaccine manufacturers and government.

Been having unpleasant chats with an old friend of mine. She's refusing to give her boy the second MMR jab as she thinks there's a link to autism.

Maybe show her the wiki on Andrew Wakefield. He was struck off.
Andrew Wakefield - Wikipedia

 

[CRI]

Sadly, not the least bit surprised by this. Failed this time, but Judge Kavanaugh is on a mission, which is why there was the tooth and claw fight to get him on the SCOTUS.

Brett Kavanaugh shows true colours in supreme court abortion dissent | Arwa Mahdawi

The US supreme court voted 5-4 to block a Louisiana law that would have dramatically reduced access to legal abortions in the state. Opponents of the law said it would have meant only one doctor would have been eligible to perform abortions in the entire state.

The statute requires doctors who provide abortions to have active admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles.

As the Center for Reproductive Rights explains, these laws “single out the medical practices of doctors who provide abortions and impose on them requirements that are different and more burdensome than those imposed on other medical practices.”

It is alarming that the Louisiana law was blocked by so narrow a margin, as there is already clear precedent showing it is unconstitutional.

While Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, joined the court’s liberals in putting a hold on the Louisiana law, Kavanaugh was not just in favour of the law, he wrote a dissent on his own behalf.

Anger is now mounting towards Senator Susan Collins, who cast the decisive vote confirming Kavanaugh last year. When casting her vote Collins justified her decision by reassuring everyone she was sure Kavanaugh would not overturn Roe v Wade, because he had an unmatched reverence for precedent.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Noted activist dies after being denied coverage for an antibiotic:

Yesterday, February 24th, the disability rights advocate community lost one of its mightiest members, Carrie Ann Lucas. Lucas was a nationally known disability rights attorney and a mother of four children, each of whom are adopted and living with disabilities. She was only 47 years old.

Her death was announced by family and friends on her Facebook page: “[Lucas] died after an arbitrary denial from an insurance company caused a plethora of health problems, exacerbating her disabilities and eventually leading to her premature death.” ....

According to the Facebook post, Lucas’ death was ultimately a result of her insurance company, UnitedHealthCare, refusing to pay for one specific inhaled antibiotic. She caught a bad case of the cold in January of 2018 but was denied access to proper treatment. As a result, she had to take a less effective drug, and she had a set of adverse reactions to this drug. This led to spiraling health issues, including the loss of speech, and she had numerous stays in the intensive care unit during the past year. The healthcare company refused to pay for the needed drug allegedly to save $2,000. UnitedHealthCare has not respond to a request for a comment.

Carrie Ann Lucas Dies At Age 47. You Probably Haven't Heard Of Her And That's A Problem

I've had that health insurance company. Every single claim I had was denied. To get them to pay for anything, I had to write them a letter each time, telling them why the insurance should cover it. Then, they'd pay it.

 

[yield]

Noted activist dies after being denied coverage for an antibiotic:

I've had that health insurance company. Every single claim I had was denied. To get them to pay for anything, I had to write them a letter each time, telling them why the insurance should cover it. Then, they'd pay it.

If she'd had access to proper care she'd still be alive. How is that not neglect?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

If she'd had access to proper care she'd still be alive. How is that not neglect?

Neglect? I'm wondering why its not homicide.

 

[yield]

Neglect? I'm wondering why its not homicide.

True. ffs

 

[likesfish]

wakefield Andrew Wakefield Helps Elect Anti-Vaccine Politicians in Texas
is hiding out in florida while screwing a supermodel
hopefully a gator or serial killer eats him

 

[CRI]

wakefield Andrew Wakefield Helps Elect Anti-Vaccine Politicians in Texas
is hiding out in florida while screwing a supermodel
hopefully a gator or serial killer eats him

Aligators don't deserve to be poisoned like that though.

 

[likesfish]

serial killer then nobody cares about them and florida is full of them