"Healthcare" in the US

[8ball]

View attachment 334836

Sometimes someone says something very succinct that nails it so hard.

 

[MickiQ]

Early release post-delivery isn't unique to the US. A friend of our daughter's arrived to show her the new baby five hours after it had been born.

How many had she had by then? When Mrs Q had Eldest she was in for 3 days, but came home the next day after Son and Middle, They kept her for 2 days after Youngest made her grand appearance even though it was a normal birth presumably on the grounds of her age since she was three months shy of 40 when Youngest came along. When my sister had her third and last at home she didn't go to the hospital.

 

[petee]

links within to more detailed material on this and similar cases.

Reflections on My Mom’s Eviction

A case study in how senior care facilities are kicking out elderly people, and getting away with it.

www.thebulwark.com

Nicole Shannon, a frontline attorney for the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative, told me how this sometimes works: “The nursing home will say, ‘Well, it sure seems like you need a psychiatric consult, we’re gonna send you to the hospital.’ The hospital turns around and says, ‘You know, this person does not require psychiatric care. You can go back to your nursing home now,’ and the nursing home says ‘Nope, no thanks, you’re no longer welcome here.’”

 

[teqniq]

Jesus. H. Christ:

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Jesus. H. Christ:

Appalling. This is how they treated a friend of mine who had insurance. He had a stroke and a broken ankle too:

"Healthcare" in the US

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/30/politics/canada-trump-prescription-drug-imports/index.html Canadian health minister Patty Hajdu on Friday announced new measures to protect the country's drug supply from bulk importations that could worsen drug shortages. It bars the distribution of certain drugs...

www.urban75.net

They cleared and discharged him after wrapping up his foot. If we hadn't been there, I don't know what would have happened. They'd probably would have called the cops too.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Jesus. H. Christ:

Tell me again about 'The greatest country on earth and leader of the free world'?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Tell me again about 'The greatest country on earth and leader of the free world'?

I think a lot of this is down to understaffing by for-profit hospitals.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Americans close to the border come here to buy their insulin.

Trump changed the law to make it legal.
That was his way of reducing the cost of prescription drugs - buy them in Canada.

So Trump did one useful thing then?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

So Trump did one useful thing then?

We have a saying in archery--"Even a blind squirrel gets a nut now and then." While letting Americans buy prescription drugs in Canada might be helpful, it would be much more helpful if they lowered the costs overall. A lot of people don't have the physical or the financial ability to travel to Canada several times a year. Its barely a patch on a deliberately broken, costly system.

 

[Sasaferrato]

We have a saying in archery--"Even a blind squirrel gets a nut now and then." While letting Americans buy prescription drugs in Canada might be helpful, it would be much more helpful if they lowered the costs overall. A lot of people don't have the physical or the financial ability to travel to Canada several times a year. Its barely a patch on a deliberately broken, costly system.

I absolutely agree that the healthcare system in the US is obscene.

I suppose I'm one of few on here that have actually worked in it, and been appalled at how it worked.

Not in the US per se, but in an American hospital in Windsor. I did weekend nights moonlighting, I was in the army at the time, and got paid a fortune. I left after a few months because I was absolutely fed up with the paperwork. Every single item had a sticker on it, use a needle and the sticker went on the patient's notes. At midnight, you had to sit and tot up the patients' bills for the day. Horrendous.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Americans close to the border come here to buy their insulin.

Trump changed the law to make it legal.
That was his way of reducing the cost of prescription drugs - buy them in Canada.

This kind of thing brings home to me that for all the different ways ours has been vandalised, an NHS is still the right way to do things. We take it for granted that a diabetic gets insulin for no charge.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Tell me again about 'The greatest country on earth and leader of the free world'?

This is what your tory chums have had planned for us for decades.

 

[SpookyFrank]

This kind of thing brings home to me that for all the different ways ours has been vandalised, an NHS is still the right way to do things. We take it for granted that a diabetic gets insulin for no charge.

As a science teacher I get asked fairly often whether I'm gonna do a Walter White and start cooking meth in my prep room. I always give the same answer; no because if I get cancer I can just go to hospital and get it treated for free.

 

[Sasaferrato]

This is what your tory chums have had planned for us for decades.

Source please? Anyone can make an assertion, but it is utter bollocks without a source.

You wouldn't make an assertion like that without a source? Or would you, purely from political bias?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

As a science teacher I get asked fairly often whether I'm gonna do a Walter White and start cooking meth in my prep room. I always give the same answer; no because if I get cancer I can just go to hospital and get it treated for free.

Meth is kinda "meh" anyway. It's all about tranq now.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Source please? Anyone can make an assertion, but it is utter bollocks without a source.

You wouldn't make an assertion like that without a source? Or would you, purely from political bias?

You need to scrape the shit out of your eyes man, seriously.

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

so Lilly is capping the price of insulin in the US, hopefully others follow suit

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

so Lilly is capping the price of insulin in the US, hopefully others follow suit

This news made me irrationally angry. So many people have died who couldn't pay for their insulin. The original patent cost all of $1, because the inventor wanted to make sure insulin was available to all. Now, when it's become a huge issue, they want to cut the price? They could have done this years ago and didn't. They're only doing this to forestall real drug price reform. Fuck 'em... and any other company like them.

 

[Dogsauce]

It’s a token gesture to try and gain kudos before the pitchfork-wielding mob shows up at the door.

I note it also says ‘freezing’ the price, not reducing it to a reasonable amount.

 

[8ball]

It’s a token gesture to try and gain kudos before the pitchfork-wielding mob shows up at the door.

I note it also says ‘freezing’ the price, not reducing it to a reasonable amount.

It’s still a small victory.
Now just need to remember not to be appeased by this, and go after the rest of them.

 

[petee]

a blog i read views the price cut from a monopolistic angle

Did Lina Khan Just Slash Insulin Prices?

Eli Lilly just announced price cuts of insulin list prices by 70%. Did government just help people? Yes, yes, it did.

mattstoller.substack.com

But the most interesting policy action to cut insulin prices happened last June, at the Federal Trade Commission, in a bipartisan policy statement around the distribution of the drug. “The Commission,” it said, “has received complaints about rebates and fees paid by drug manufacturers to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and other intermediaries to favor high-cost drugs.” Such an arrangement could, according to the FTC, violate a number of laws, the Clayton Act, the Robinson-Patman Act, or the Sherman Antitrust Act, all of which prohibit forms of corporate bribery.

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

This news made me irrationally angry. So many people have died who couldn't pay for their insulin. The original patent cost all of $1, because the inventor wanted to make sure insulin was available to all. Now, when it's become a huge issue, they want to cut the price? They could have done this years ago and didn't. They're only doing this to forestall real drug price reform. Fuck 'em... and any other company like them.

just so it's clear:
I wasn't bigging up the company, just hoping that it means a way to the end of overpriced insulin for diabetics in the USA.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

just so it's clear:
I wasn't bigging up the company, just hoping that it means a way to the end of overpriced insulin for diabetics in the USA.

I didn't think you were. Any progress on making it more affordable is still progress.

 

[Sasaferrato]

You need to scrape the shit out of your eyes man, seriously.

No, you need to stop reading and believing conspiracy theories. #naivefrank

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I can't believe that this is allowed:



It looks all the world like some of the moves made by drug dealers to launder money and its killing people.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Was just reading this about hospices Pluralistic: Private equity finally delivered Sarah Palin’s death panels (26 Apr 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Medicare pays private hospices $203-$1,462 per day to take care of dying old people – seniors that a doctor has certified to have less than six months left. That comes to $22.4b/year in public transfers to private hospices. If hospices charge that $1,462 day-rate, they have lots of duties, like providing eight hours' worth of home care. But if the hospice is content to take the $203/day rate, they are not required to do anything. Literally. It's just free money for whatever the operator feels like doing for a dying elderly person, including doing nothing at all.

...

In California, it's very, very easy to set up a hospice. Pay $3,000, fill in some paperwork (or don't – no one checks it, ever), and you're ready to start caring for beloved parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles as they depart this world. You do get a site inspection, but don't worry – you aren't required to bring your site up to code until after you're licensed, and again, they never check – not even if there are multiple complaints. After all, no one at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has the job of tracking complaints.

This is absolute catnip for private equity – free government money, no obligations, no enforcement, and the people you harm are literally dying and can't complain. What's not to like? No wonder PE companies have spent billions "rolling up" hospices across the country.

 

[spring-peeper]

 

[petee]

A ProPublica investigation earlier this year revealed how Liberty HealthShare — the Christian nonprofit the family controlled and marketed as a cheap way to circumvent Obamacare requirements — paid at least $140 million to vendors owned by members and friends of the Beers family. Those family members and friends then funneled the money through a network of shell companies to purchase scores of businesses. As the family amassed wealth, Liberty’s finances were depleted and thousands of members’ medical bills went unpaid.

The Shadowy Financial Empire Built Around Liberty HealthShare Is Showing Signs of Strain

Beers family members built a “conglomerate” by selling a Christian alternative to traditional health insurance. They’re now scrambling for cash, even though they received millions in PPP loans that were later forgiven.

www.propublica.org

it's always a rightwing grift

 

[yield]

How Gilead Profited by Slow-Walking a Promising H.I.V. Therapy
nytimes 23/07/2023 https://archive.li/I3VJi

Gilead, one of the world’s largest drugmakers, appeared to be embracing a well-worn industry tactic: gaming the U.S. patent system to protect lucrative monopolies on best-selling drugs.

At the time, Gilead already had a pair of blockbuster H.I.V. treatments, both of which were underpinned by a version of a drug called tenofovir. The first of those treatments was set to lose patent protection in 2017, at which point competitors would be free to introduce cheaper alternatives.

The promising drug, then in the early stages of testing, was an updated version of tenofovir. Gilead executives knew it had the potential to be less toxic to patients’ kidneys and bones than the earlier iteration, according to internal memos unearthed by lawyers who are suing Gilead on behalf of patients.

Despite those possible benefits, executives concluded that the new version risked competing with the company’s existing, patent-protected formulation. If they delayed the new product’s release until shortly before the existing patents expired, the company could substantially increase the period of time in which at least one of its H.I.V. treatments remained protected by patents.

...

Christopher Morten, an expert in pharmaceutical patent law at Columbia University, said the Gilead case shows how the U.S. patent system creates incentives for companies to decelerate innovation.

Because profits.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I don't know why I was surprised. This kind of stuff comes right out of the days of the horror mental institutions of the past and we all know that Arkansas is living in the past:

William VanWhy says he was feeling emotionally overwhelmed when he checked himself into the mental health unit at Northwest Medical Center in Arkansas last year. Four days later, he was still in the locked unit but desperate to leave.

“I was not receiving any medical care at all,” VanWhy, 32, said.

Mental health patients in Arkansas can be held against their will for 72 hours if they are deemed a danger to themselves or to others. But to keep them any longer than that, a medical provider must file a court petition and get the consent of a judge.

No petition was filed in VanWhy’s case, and his partner, with the help of a lawyer, ultimately succeeded in getting a court order for his release.

A few hours later, a sheriff’s deputy walked into the hospital with the order in his hand and VanWhy’s husband at his side. In the elevator, they bumped into a nurse from his unit.

“I’m glad he’s getting out,” the nurse said, according to body camera footage obtained by NBC News. “Don’t repeat that.”

VanWhy was released about 20 minutes later. “Oh my gosh. You saved my life,” he told the deputy, the bodycam footage shows.

William VanWhy says he was feeling emotionally overwhelmed when he checked himself into the mental health unit at Northwest Medical Center in Arkansas last year. Four days later, he was still in the locked unit but desperate to leave.

“I was not receiving any medical care at all,” VanWhy, 32, said.

Mental health patients in Arkansas can be held against their will for 72 hours if they are deemed a danger to themselves or to others. But to keep them any longer than that, a medical provider must file a court petition and get the consent of a judge.

No petition was filed in VanWhy’s case, and his partner, with the help of a lawyer, ultimately succeeded in getting a court order for his release.

A few hours later, a sheriff’s deputy walked into the hospital with the order in his hand and VanWhy’s husband at his side. In the elevator, they bumped into a nurse from his unit.

“I’m glad he’s getting out,” the nurse said, according to body camera footage obtained by NBC News. “Don’t repeat that.”

VanWhy was released about 20 minutes later. “Oh my gosh. You saved my life,” he told the deputy, the bodycam footage shows.

The man who led the unit at the time, Dr. Brian Hyatt, was one of the most prominent psychiatrists in Arkansas and the chairman of the board that disciplines physicians. But he’s now under investigation by state and federal authorities who are probing allegations ranging from Medicaid fraud to false imprisonment.

VanWhy’s release marked the second time in two months that a patient was released from Hyatt’s unit only after a sheriff’s deputy showed up with a court order, according to court records.

“I think that they were running a scheme to hold people as long as possible, to bill their insurance as long as possible before kicking them out the door, and then filling the bed with someone else,” said Aaron Cash, a lawyer who represents VanWhy.

VanWhy and at least 25 other former patients have sued Hyatt, alleging that they were held against their will in his unit for days and sometimes weeks. And Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office has accused Hyatt of running an insurance scam, claiming to treat patients he rarely saw and then billing Medicaid at “the highest severity code on every patient,” according to a search warrant affidavit.

Top Arkansas psychiatrist accused of falsely imprisoning patients and Medicaid fraud

At least 26 former patients have sued Dr. Brian Hyatt, alleging that they were held against their will in his unit for days and sometimes weeks.

news.yahoo.com

Most of these he never examined or even visited, yet they were held days or weeks with Medicaid billed for the highest amounts possible. What's bizarre is that he's more likely to go to prison for Medicaid fraud than his is for basically kidnapping people and holding them for weeks. Further proof that the US only cares about money and not people.