How the Sackler family, private owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, became America’s BIGGEST drug pushers.

NPR, along with a few other news reporting agencies, has today published a story detailing how the Sackler family – with an estimated net worth of $13 Billion and listed by Forbes as the 19th wealthiest family in the United States – whose privately-held Purdue Pharma falsified, neglected, and purposely withheld information, and aggressively peddled their habit-forming narcotic medication branded as “OxyContin” to physicians, hospitals, and medical colleges as an acceptable, even benign medication for pain relief, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Purdue Pharma President Richard Sackler, and wife Beverly are the biggest narco-traffickers in the United States.

In a 274 page filing, the Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey, carefully detailed how the Sackler family carefully and deliberately manipulated, and crafted opportunities with Massachusetts’ legislators, regulators, and others, to sell increasing volumes of the narcotic medicine.

The documents state that in a 2-15-2011 email, after one week of prescriptions doubled the company’s profit forecasts, Richard Sackler wrote to the sales staff that “I had hoped for better results.”

Massachussetts Attorney General’s Office pre-hearing memo & exhibits

https://d279m997dpfwgl.cloudfront.net/wp/2019/01/Mass_AGO_Pre-Hearing_Memo_and_Exhibits.pdf

But here’s where an otherwise LEGAL pharmaceutical firm became complicit with international narco-traffickers and street-level drug pushers, rapidly escalated America’s Opioid Crisis, and in the process became equals with terrorists like al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The Massachusetts Attorney General Pre-Hearing memorandum cited a

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Can I ask you a question?

Here’s but one story from my storied career.

—//—

Once, upon a time, I worked in a CVICU (CardioVascular Intensive Care Unit) in Greenville, MS – a predominately Black populated area, with high poverty, and all the problems that come along for that ride.

A patient came to us from a SNF (Skilled Nursing Facility, i.e., Nursing Home), and was refusing to communicate/talk with staff. I became his Nurse. He was a Black gent, and I cared for him just like I would for anyone else – with dignity, and empowering them to make decisions regarding their care.

I was working

A Guide To Increasing Company Value

Almost everyone who has worked in sales has heard the mantras “the customer is always right,” and “the customer is your most important person.”

And as anyone who has worked in healthcare can attest, neither of those statements are true.

For example, consider the patient who, arriving at the ED (Emergency Department) said to the physician, “My doc says my sugar is high so he gave me this medicine for diabetes.”

Naturally, the physician asked, “Do you take it?”

The patient replied saying, “No, ’cause I don’t have diabetes, just high sugar.”

And then, another Physician who explained to the patient’s mother her child’s diagnosis and therapeutic interventions saying, “She has a concussion, she needs to rest in bed in a quiet dark room until she is better.”

The mother then asked, “Can she go to the fair?”

Conventional wisdom often monikered as “common sense,” sometimes follows the pithy axiom that “common sense isn’t so common anymore.”

For years, I’ve maintained that the customer is NOT “always right,” nor are they the “most important person” in any business.

Instead, the most important person in any business are the employees.

Some CEOs have gotten a bad rap, often justifiably, because while seeking to return corporate profit and shareholder return, they’ve cut resources and employees. Like the abusive Pharaoh of the Exodus account in the Old Testament, they demand to “make more bricks with less hay.” Of course, we know how that story ended – not well.

So naturally, it delighted me to read some time ago that Sir Richard Branson, a renown entrepreneur and philanthropist, has similarly long held that thought and said, “Put your staff first, customers second, and shareholders third.”

In a 2014 interview with Inc. magazine, Sir Richard said,

I’m Thinking About Suicide

Ever thought about suicide?

Many have.

And not all of them are depressed.

Some are epidemiologists – folks whose business it is to think about the source, causes, and prevention of disease. And then, other health professionals such as physicians, Nurses, psychologists, social workers, and others think about suicide – again, not as means to end their own lives, but for the sake of others. And yet Nurses and physicians also personally think about suicide, and often at rates greater than the average population.

I’ve thought about suicide.

I’ve thought about suicide many times.

In fact, I’m thinking about suicide as I write this entry.

But I’m not thinking about suicide as a means to end my own life.

I’m thinking about suicide because…

Apple Appeals to the “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” Crowd

With it’s new Watch Series 4, Apple Computer of Cupertino, CA has signaled its intent to capitalize upon integrating electronics, health informatics, and aging.

With one fell swoop, Apple has exemplified and cemented the “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” era.

Long thought of as a popular cultural icon, the phrase “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” entered American vernacular in 1989 and quickly became a comedic touchstone which endures to this day.

The LifeCall company advertised their medical alarm product on television, which was shown being worn as a pendant or brooch (primarily marketed toward women), and which could be activated by pushing a single button on the device which in turn, called the firm’s 24-7/365 operators in the event of the wearer’s immobility… presuming, of course, that they were fully alert, and capable of pressing a button.

By October 1990, LifeCall had patented the phrase “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” and with various minor modifications, as time progressed, by 2007, the phrase had become their legally official trademark.

Falls, of course, result many causes, not the least of which may be

Why does America need a Single Payer Healthcare option?

America and American industry, its entrepreneurship and ingenuity, needs a Single Payer Healthcare option for the same reason America’s military service members -and- their families have 100% all-expenses paid healthcare.

Why is that?

Because a sick military service member can neither train, nor fight, nor perform their mission (work/do their job), neither can they work/train if they’re worrying about their family – who’ll care for them, how they’ll get well, if they can pay for the care/treatment, etc.

Furthermore, it’s also a matter of National Security to provide 100% of all healthcare services at no cost to them because if they’re wondering how they’ll pay for healthcare, they might think of looking elsewhere for money, and thereby could become tempted to compromise security by divulging secrets, or working for an enemy.

Already, America is NOT the “healthiest” nation in the world, neither do we have the best healthcare nor healthcare system in the world. In fact, the overall performance or level of Americans’ national level of health, according to the latest research published in

Trump: Who Voted For, And Supports Him?

Formerly titled, “With Trump WYSIWYG: Who Voted For, And Supports Him?”

African leopard, Panthera pardus pardus, near Lake Panic, Kruger National Park, South Africa, 31 December 2013
Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0), Derek Keats, https://www.flickr.com/photos/93242958@N00/19448654130M

One either loves, or loathes, Donald Trump.

One does not simply “tolerate” him.

He is a divisive political figure.

He is starkly contrasted to former POTUS George W. Bush, who in a May 6, 1999 interview with David Horowitz of Salon magazine, famously said, “I’m a uniter, not a divider.”

Trump is a divider, not a uniter.

For Trump, e pluribus unum means nothing, even though we are the United States of America.

And for those who voted for him thinking he’d change, that he was merely spouting hollow campaign rhetoric, they might as well have asked a leopard to change it’s spots.

With Trump, WYSIWYG.

Specifically, I mean to refer to him in his executive Presidential capacity.

And yet, strangely enough, he has coalesced support from diverse, divergent sub-groups within, and without the GOP. The importance of that feat cannot, and should not be underestimated, glossed over, or minimized, because understanding it is key to political success, especially for

11 Year Study Finds Opioid Deaths Down In Medical #Marijuana States

In an article entitled “Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Analgesic Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1999-2010” published August 25, 2014 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researcher and primary author, Dr. Marcus A. Bachhuber, MD, with the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 423 Guardian Dr, 1303-A Blockley Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (marcus.bachhuber@gmail.com), and others concluded that, “The present study provides evidence that medical cannabis laws are associated with

#ALpolitics could STILL $ave money if they were to #ExpandMedicaid

Alabama, among other states, should have expanded Medicaid when they had the opportunity to do so, and with SIGNIFICANT REWARD! In other words, at the very first. Now, if any state decides to expand Medicaid, there’s little, if any, incentive, except that there will be some savings to the state, and benefit to their citizens, by having access to healthcare.

A sick workforce can’t survive.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continually tell America that the sickest, the fattest, the most diabetic, the most smokers, and cancer-ridden, are in the Southeast… which largely voted for Trump, and has been predominately GOP-voting for at least the past 25+/- years. And I write of Alabama in particular.

In a November 2012 brief entitled “An Economic Evaluation of Medicaid Expansion In Alabama under the Affordable Care Act” by Professors Drs. David J.Becker, Ph.D.and Michael A. Morrisey, Ph.D of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, Lister Hill Center for Health Policy, they presented the case for the numerous potential benefits of expanding Medicaid in Alabama, which was not merely an improvement in the overall quality of life for Alabamians, but significant economic benefit to the entire state.

Drs. Morrisey and Becker are Professor and Director, and Assistant Professor, respectively, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, Lister Hill Center for Health Policy, and have researched and written extensively the subject. The University of Alabama at Birmingham is one of three independent, autonomous universities in the UofA System.

Then-Governor Dr. Robert Bentley, MD, a Republican, was forced to resign in shame in the midst of his second term after pleading guilty to charges of corruption and ethics violations, and refused to expand Medicaid in “Sweet Home.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has most recently shown that employment in the Healthcare sector is thriving nationwide. The figures below are from the BLS’ most recent report “THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — MARCH 2018,” and is expressed in thousands. The columns in order, are: Not Seasonally Adjusted, March 2017, January, February, March 2018, and Seasonally Adjusted for the same times, respectively. (ESTABLISHMENT DATA Table B-1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail)

Drs. Morrisey and Becker identified that had then-Governor Bentley expanded Medicaid, a Federal/State program that pays healthcare costs for the impoverished, the state could have not merely eked it’s way out of recession, but it would have propelled itself in rocket-like fashion, to a position of economic strength and stamina.

They cited a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) which provided incentive to states to expand Medicaid by offering a one-time bonus of paying for 100% of all costs in 2014, followed by nominal reductions each year thereafter. And if states chose to expand Medicaid, they would have paid LESS (a smaller percentage) even after all incentives expired. Medicaid is a Federal-State sharing program in which the states bear a certain portion, while the Federal Government picks up the remaining share.

They wrote in part, that “Under the ACA, Alabama would receive a significantly higher Federal Matching Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for the expansion population than the 68.5% it currently receives for the non ‐ expansion population. The ACA provides for a uniform FMAP to all states of 100% in 2014 ‐ 2016, 95% in 2017, 94% in 2018, 93% in 2019 and 90% in all years thereafter.”

Presently, because Alabama has chosen to NOT expand Medicaid under the provisions of the ACA, they are STILL paying MORE for Medicaid than if they would have expanded it… even now, in 2018. That’s because the OLD law, under which the state labors, requires Alabama (and other states that did not expand Medicaid) to pay 31.5%. If Alabama would EXPAND Medicaid even now, in 2018, they would pay only 10%.

Governess Kay Ivey, also a Republican, who as Lt. Gov. assumed office following Bentley’s resignation after pleading guilty to corruption and ethics violation charges, has similarly expressed her reticence to expand Medicaid.

In 2016, Alabama spent $5,461,151,125 for Medicaid.

Noting that their “analysis does not consider potential savings from reduced spending on uncompensated care, mental health care and other services currently provided to the expansion population,” assuming the state expanded Medicaid and would pay “6.2% of program costs through 2020,” Drs. Morrisey and Becker projected three scenarios of a high, moderate, and low “take-up,” meaning enrollment into the program, and wrote that, “we estimate that the state of Alabama would be responsible for $771 million (6.2%) of the estimated $12.5 billion in new Medicaid program costs over the 2014 ‐ 2020 period,” and noted specifically, that “If more previously uninsured or privately insured individuals elect to enroll in Medicaid costs to the state and Federal government would rise. If take ‐ up were lower, the costs to the state and Federal government would fall.”

If Alabama had chosen to expand Medicaid in 2016 – the last year the Federal Government paid 100% of ALL COSTS of expansion – the state would have SAVED $5,461,151,125… the TOTAL cost of Medicaid. If Alabama were to expand Medicaid in 2018 (this year), they would pay only 6.2% of the costs, while the Federal Government would pay 93.8%. Using a high “take-up” scenario for 2018, Drs. Morrisey and Becker projected the state would pay $243,000,000… about 77.5% LESS than what it paid in 2016. A low “take-up” scenario for 2018 would be 46.48% lowered costs to the state.

The state has a peculiar and non-standard practice of having TWO budgets, the Education Trust Fund and General Fund budgets. Medicaid is paid from the General Fund budget, which is the smaller of the two, and receives “Taxes from over 40 sources are deposited into the GF, with the largest sources being the insurance company premium tax, interest on the Alabama Trust Fund and state deposits, oil and gas lease and production tax, cigarette tax, ad valorem tax, and Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board profits,” and pays for and “supports state programs such as child development and protection, criminal justice, conservation efforts, economic development, public health and safety, mental health, Medicaid, legislative activities, and the court system.”

The much larger Education Trust Fund, receives revenue from “Ten tax sources are allocated to the ETF, the largest of which are the individual and corporate income tax, sales tax, utility tax, and use tax.” Revenues from the Education Trust Fund “support, maintenance and development of public education in Alabama, debt service and capital improvements relating to educational facilities, and other functions related to educating the state’s citizens. Programs and agencies supported by the ETF include K-12 education, public library services, performing and fine arts, various scholarship programs, the state’s education regulatory departments, and two- and four-year colleges and universities. Funding from the ETF is also provided to non-state agencies that provide educational services to the people of Alabama, including the arts, disease counseling and education, and youth development.”

Medicaid requires states to cover:
• Pregnant women up to at least 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) ($16,643 for an individual, $33,948 for a family of four in 2017)

• Preschool-age children up to at least 138% of the FPL ($16,643 for an individual, $33,948 for a family of four in 2017)

• School-age children up to at least 100% of the FPL ($12,060 for an individual, $24,600 for a family of four in 2017)

• Elderly and disabled individuals up to at least 75% of the FPL ($9,045 for an individual, $18,450 for a family of four in 2017)

• Working parents up to at least 28% of the FPL ($3,376 for an individual, $6,888 for a family of four in 2017)

Moreover, however, Alabama could have improved its economy by expanding Medicaid. In that same report, Drs. Morrisey and Becker considered three possible scenarios also based upon a high, moderate, and low “take-up” rate which showed that Alabama could have benefited between $2.331 billion and $33.529 billion in additional value added to the state’s economy from 2014-2020 (Low-to-High, inclusively and respectively).

They concluded that, using the intermediate, or moderate “take-up” scenario, “we project that a coverage expansion would reduce the state’s uninsured population by approximately 232,000 individuals while generating $20 billion in new economic activity and a $935 million increase in net state tax revenues.”

Again, that does NOT include the savings from eliminating uncompensated care.

Bottom line?

It would STILL be exceedingly wise for Alabama to expand Medicaid.

Why I Advocate 100% Marijuana Legalization

Let there be NO MISTAKE: Based upon a preponderance of scientific evidence, logic, reason, and numerous substantiating rationales, I openly advocate for, and am a proponent of the 100% full and total legalization of marijuana (aka cannabis) for adult recreational, and medical use.

And as a triple-degree, BSN-prepared Registered Nurse, Nationally Certified EMT, State Certified Volunteer Firefighter, and First Responder, I am a long-time Licensed Healthcare Professional, and presently possess, and have possessed unblemished active licenses to practice in numerous states, and internationally.

While I have “worn other hats” in Nursing, the bulk of my professional healthcare career has been in Critical Care. Working in Critical Care is the type of stressful job in which one keeps the Grim Reaper at bay by the hour. And I have been fortunate to have worked at some of the nation’s, and world’s premiere, and leading healthcare research institutions. It is research that drives much of such care, to ensure the best possible outcomes for the individuals for whom we care. Thus, keeping abreast of current research findings on many topics within, and without Critical Care, healthcare, and public policy related to healthcare in general, is a special interest and forté of mine.

As well, I am also a United States

National Academies #Marijuana Findings @theNASEM

Many have heard or read about United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ ignorant remark about marijuana, and many of us have heard or read numerous claims about cannabis, ranging from “it cures cancer” to “it makes you hungry,” and almost everything between. But if you want to make an effective argument for or against anything, you need facts. And the following information from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is THE MOST authoritative, up-to-date volume on the subject of cannabis. You would be wise to cite this research when you lobby your local, state or national legislator to legalize (or not) marijuana. (I am a legalization proponent & advocate for the 100% legalization, regulation, and taxation of adult recreational & prescriptive medical use of marijuana.)

Now, with the 2017 release of “The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research” by the Committee on the Health Effects of Marijuana: An Evidence Review and Research Agenda, Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice Health and Medicine Division, A Report of the National Academies of Science, we have one of THE MOST to-date conclusive pieces of EVIDENCE for/against cannabis consumption, either medically, and/or recreationally. It is AUTHORITATIVE, and unbiased. Bear in mind, this is findings of SCIENTIFIC MEDICAL RESEARCH.

An independent examination of the report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and all review comments were carefully considered. A committee of experts was convened to conduct a comprehensive review of the literature regarding the health effects of using cannabis and/or its constituents that had appeared since the publication of the 1999 IOM (Institute of Medicine) report.

From their review, the committee arrived at nearly 100 different research conclusions related to cannabis or cannabinoid use and health.

Committee members formulated four recommendations to address research gaps, improve research quality, improve surveillance capacity, and address research barriers.

Categories, including subtopics, are as follows:

Therapeutic effects
• Chronic pain; cancer, chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting; anorexia and weight loss; irritable bowel syndrome; epilepsy; spasticity related to multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury; Tourette syndrome; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Huntington’s disease; Parkinson’s disease; dystonia; dementia; glaucoma; traumatic brain injury; addiction; anxiety; depression; sleep disorders; post-traumatic stress disorder; schizophrenia and other psychoses

Cancer
• Lung cancer; head and neck cancer; testicular cancer; esophageal cancer; other cancer

Cardiometabolic risk
• Acute myocardial infarction; stroke; metabolic dysregulation, metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, and diabetes mellitus

Respiratory disease
• Pulmonary function; chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder; respiratory symptoms (including chronic bronchitis); asthma

Immunity
• Immune function; infectious disease

Injury and death
• All-cause mortality; occupational injury; motor vehicle crash; overdose injury and death

Prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal exposure to cannabis
• Pregnancy complications for the mother; fetal growth and development; neonatal conditions; later outcomes for the infant

Psychosocial
• Cognition (learning, memory, attention, intelligence); academic achievement and educational outcomes; employment and income; social relation- ships and other social roles

Mental health
• Schizophrenia and other psychoses; bipolar disorders, depression; suicide; anxiety; post-traumatic stress disorder

Problem cannabis use
• Cannabis use disorder

Cannabis use and abuse of other substances
• Abuse of other substances

Weight Of Evidence Categories for Conclusions are ranked High-to-Low-and-None as Substantial, Moderate, Limited Evidence, and No or Insufficient Evidence to Support the Association for therapeutic effects, and other health effects.

Here are: 
Conclusions—Therapeutic Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids

There is conclusive or substantial evidence that cannabis or cannabinoids are effective:
• For

Members of Congress: Virtual American Royalty… At Taxpayer Expense

Members of Congress as virtual royalty,
have raised their pay 9 times over 9 years,
but raised Minimum Wage only 3 times in 18 years.
While Congress now pays themselves almost
3x the Median Household Income,
since 2000,
Inflation has totaled 37.4%.
And with 72% subsidies, Employer Contributions,
and other
luxurious perks unavailable to the Average Citizen,
including full Retirement Vestment after 5 years,
and 72% subsidy for Healthcare Insurance in Retirement,
their Healthcare is practically free.
And you’re paying for it.
But yours is not.
And you’re paying for it, too!

Members first received $6 a day in 1789, today they get $174,000 annually, in addition to phenomenal perks, health insurance, and retirement… all at taxpayer expense.

Presently, Congress also gets:

Why All Christians Should Support Abortion Rights

I support abortion rights for women. Here’s why.

Freedom, Liberty, and Independence.

And, I’m Catholic.

I have a cousin who

Charles Manson And Mental Health

“The murders were probably the most bizarre in the recorded annals of American crime. I’ve often said that if these murders had never happened and someone had written a novel, with the same set of facts and circumstances, you’d probably put it down after a couple of pages. Because to be good fiction, as I understand it — unless it’s science fiction — it’s got to be somewhat believable, and this is just too far out.”

– Vincent Bugliosi (1934-2015), Los Angeles County District Attorney, Chief Prosecutor in the Charles Manson trial, to NPR in 2009

Some years ago, during Mental Health Clinical Rotations, I was impressed with the insidious nature of severe mental health problems, which often masquerade as mere quirks, eccentricities, or peculiarities of character. In that sense, I think Southerners are more adept at denial of mental health problems than others in regions throughout the United States. We often laugh and joke about “Old Spinster Miss So-And-So,” “the Crazy Cat Lady,” or “Old Man Mozz” who for years has lived by himself.

And yet sometimes, we’re shocked at what we do NOT see, which when given opportunities to see “behind the scenes,” observation provides confirmation and undeniable proof-positive of mental health problems.

I recall in particular some time ago in which a friend and his wife had

How To Resolve Gun Sickness & Disease

Firearm fascination has gotten to the point of ridiculousness, to the extent that it’s much like a paraphilia. It’s no longer merely “disturbing,” its downright dangerous, and blatantly irresponsible. As Healthcare professionals, we research & examine the scope, extent, and exact nature of the problem, then make a diagnosis, and formulate a plan of treatment to either ameliorate the symptoms, or cure the disease. It presumes, of course, that the patient will cooperate with the plan, and follow the course of treatment.

In this present “gun nut” scenario in which we find ourselves suffering, the NRA has bent over backwards to

Here’s Why, Despite Seeming Political Appearances, We Are Closer To Single Payer #Healthcare Than Many Imagine

In a recent exchange online dialogue with friends – some, whom to the casual observer would be diametrically opposed on many policy ideas – I was, once again, pleased to note that, despite the SEEMING APPEARANCE of differences, we share SIGNIFICANT common ground.

In fact, I have found that to be quite true with many, that when we move past the vitriolic venomous sport of castigating political candidates, and speak in respectful tones, patiently explaining the whys and wherefores of potential policy, we share many common bonds, and similar ideas.

For example, in response to a recent post of the story published by Pro Publica – Pressure Mounts on Insurance Companies to Consider Their Role in Opioid Epidemic – (https://www.propublica.org/article/pressure-mounts-on-insurance-companies-to-consider-their-role-in-opioid-epidemic) written by Charles Ornstein Oct. 19, 6:47 p.m. EDT – I enjoyed reading the following remarks, made toward the conclusion of the online dialogue:

Person A (Physician): “It is a shame our country can’t have

Helping Comes First

 When Saint Pius of Pietrelcina (1887-1968) — Padre Pio as he’s widely known — decided he wanted to build a free hospital for the poor up the road from his friary, he started with a piece of land and a few friends and supporters. Four years later, in 1956, he had one of the most modern hospitals in Europe. Since the padre’s death in 1968, the facility, which

Can American Health Insurance Be Repaired?

Naysayers to the “public option,” or “single payer” health insurance plan claim that it’s “socialized medicine.” You know… much like what Military Service Members  – and their families – in the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines have access to. And to be certain, the health insurance “money grab” came through Richard Nixon‘s signature on a bill written by  Massachusetts’ U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy… the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973.

Before that law was passed, it was ILLEGAL to profit from delivery of healthcare services. Now, we have avariciously rapacious Wall-Street masters slave driving the people for more and more and more and more profit. The greedy, never-ending quest for profits has quickly deteriorated the American healthcare delivery system, which was once a marvel of the world. Now, according to the World Health Organization 2000 report of its 191 member nations health systems, the United States ranked 37th in efficiency worldwide, while France, Italy, San Marino, Andorra, and Malta round out the top five most efficient nations for delivery of healthcare services. Japan ranks 10th, while the United Kingdom is 18th, and Canada is 30th. The United States is sandwiched in between Costa Rica, and Slovenia, respectively.

Truth be told – and it’s sad to say – there are probably as many corrupt Democrats as there are corrupt Republicans, neither of whom have the people’s best interests at heart, or in mind. Such ones’ solitary concern is with their own wallet, and how they can profit privately at taxpayer expense. That includes graft through directing contracts and business toward friends’ business interests.

Look at

Advice For Lovers Everywhere

Have you ever, in a passionate moment, had your ear gently kissed by the lips of your lover? The sensation of tenderly soft and warm skin brushed up against the lobe of your ear, or even a light flicker of the tip of the tongue anywhere on the ear is to many, sensuously delightful, and highly erotic.

For some, it’s enough to send shivers down your spine! Your entire body quivers with passionate delight!

Of course, such a moment is nothing like

A Common Calling To Care

St. Louis King of France with a Page, El Greco

 Two men quite unlike each other, both saints, and both revered for similar reasons: Their concrete love for the poor. In the mid-13th century, Saint Louis (1214–1270) embraced the way of Saint Francis of Assisi and cared for the poor even as King Louis IX of France. It is said that Louis had over 100 guests from among the poor to eat with him daily. He also established hospitals and houses of healing for lepers and the sick. Saint Joseph Calasanz (1557–1648) in the mid-16th century saw that the need to educate poor children was so important that he gave up a career in

Government–Mandated Waste Drives Up Prescription Drug Co$t$

 

Just Like Food “Expiration” Dates, Drug “Expiration” Dates Are Also Fake… And It’s Co$ting You BIGTIME

Hospitals and pharmacies are required to toss expired drugs, no matter how expensive or vital. Meanwhile the FDA has long known that many remain safe and potent for years longer.

The box of prescription drugs had been forgotten in a back closet of a retail pharmacy for so long that some of the pills predated the 1969 moon landing. Most were 30 to 40 years past their expiration dates – possibly toxic, probably worthless.
But to Lee Cantrell, who helps run the California Poison Control System, the cache was an opportunity to answer an enduring question about the actual shelf life of drugs: Could these drugs from the bell-bottom era still be potent?

Cantrell called Roy Gerona, a University of California, San Francisco, researcher who specializes in analyzing chemicals. Gerona had grown up in the Philippines, and had seen people recover from sickness by taking expired drugs with no apparent ill effects.

“This was very cool,” Gerona says. “Who gets the chance of analyzing drugs that have been in storage for more than 30 years?”

Pharmacist and Toxicologist Lee Cantrell tested medicines that had been “expired” for decades. Most of them were still potent enough to be on shelves today. (Lee Huffaker for ProPublica)

The age of the drugs might have been bizarre, but the question the researchers wanted to answer wasn’t.

Pharmacies across the country in major medical centers and in neighborhood strip malls routinely toss out tons of scarce and potentially valuable prescription drugs when they hit their expiration dates.

Gerona and Cantrell, a pharmacist and toxicologist, knew that the term “expiration date” was a misnomer. The dates on drug labels are simply

Your Child May Not Truly Be Allergic To Penicillin

Reported penicillin allergies in children usually inconsistent with true allergy

Jul 3, 2017

Clinical Essentials from Pediatrics

Takeaway
• Parent-reported penicillin allergy symptoms in children presenting to the emergency department (ED) are likely inconsistent with true, immunoglobulin E-mediated allergy when evaluated by the 3-tier penicillin allergy questionnaire.

• Data demonstrate that the true incidence of penicillin allergy is 0.004%-0.015%.

Why this matters
• Because of time constraints and invasiveness associated with standard allergy testing, an allergy pediatric questionnaire may optimize first-line penicillin use in children presenting with the ED with parent-reported penicillin allergies.

• Data suggest that the majority of reported pediatric penicillin allergy symptoms (eg, maculopapular rash, hives, vomiting, diarrhea) are actually low risk for true allergy.

Study design
• This study evaluated 597 children between the ages of

Mobile Alabama MD & Medical Practice Settle Medicare, Medicaid & TRICARE Fraud Claims

The Department of Justice, United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District, announced that Mobile, Alabama physician Dr. James Matthew Crumb, MD (AL license number MD.24535, AL Controlled Substances Certificate ACSC.245, National Provider Identifier: 1629079793 ) a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitative physician who currently practices as Mobility Metabolism and Wellness (MMW), and a local neurosurgeon group Coastal Neurological Institute, P.C. (CNI), 3280 Dauphin Street, Suite A, Mobile, AL 36606-4060, (NPI:1740212174), have collectively paid $1.4 million to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act (“FCA”) by engaging in fraudulent schemes to maximize payment from the Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE health care programs.

In late December 2015, the United States Attorney’s Office filed a civil lawsuit against Defendants CNI, Crumb, and MMW, on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense, alleging that the Defendants knowingly billed federal health care programs for

Does $2.9M Jury Verdict Put Western State Hospital, Lakewood, WA On The Ropes?

For those unaware, with well over 800 beds, Western State Hospital is the largest psychiatric hospital West of the Mississippi River. And unfortunately, it has a pockmarked history, and was in jeopardy of losing over $65M in Federal funding from CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) because of gross negligence at the hospital so severe that it was in jeopardy of losing ALL it’s CMS funding.

With well over 800 beds, Western State Hospital, Lakewood, WA is the largest psychiatric hospital West of the Mississippi River.

Chronic rampant abuse and neglect has ranged from staff sexual abuse of patients, patient-on-patient and patient-on-staff violence,  numerous escapes by criminally violent murderers – which caused the CEO to be fired by the Governor, and “wait-listing” dementia patients which may result in the new CEO’s incarceration. They no longer have national Joint Commission certification. The list of criminal wrong-doing at the facility is extensive, and violence alone has cost millions in hospital bills for staff and patients, including time lost from work, and lawsuits.

As the hospital faced inevitable death from loss of $65M in federal funds, a veritable federal hatchet, the state legislature made last-ditch efforts to salvage a rotten-to-the-core system by hiring hundreds of staff, and approved a TEMPORARY pay increase, with retention bonuses, and made other efforts to put lipstick on a dead pig.

According to one senior staff member

#Trump’s Billionaire Care

“We don’t have it; we can’t afford it, and we don’t make enough to be penalized at the end of the year so either which way it goes we don’t have the money to pay for it,” he said. 

Under the Affordable Care Act, millions more Americans now have insurance through online exchanges and Medicaid. But like the Wallaces, many still lack coverage, especially in states like Tennessee where elected leaders declined to expand Medicaid. 

The Wallaces were camped out on a blanket outside Red Bank High School in Chattanooga on a Friday afternoon, the day before the clinic was set to open Saturday morning.

They said they make too much money for Medicaid, and they looked into an Obamacare exchange plan but couldn’t afford the premiums. 

President Trump has promised to replace the ACA with something better. But the Congressional Budget Office estimates a plan passed by the House of Representatives would leave 23 million more Americans uninsured, and Senate Republicans have yet to reveal the details of their plan. 

Are you over 65 & taking statin meds? Know anyone who is? It may not be worth it.

If you’re a prescriber, consider this research. If you’re a patient, or know someone who is, consider this for your, or their well-being.

—//—

Statins Have No Primary CVD Prevention Benefit To Older Patients

Takeaway
Statins offer no benefit for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adult patients aged ≥65 y.

Why this matters
“[S]tatins may be producing untoward effects in the function or health of older adults that could offset any possible cardiovascular benefit,” say the study authors.

Study design
Researchers conducted post hoc secondary data analyses of patient data from a randomized, open-label clinical trial (N=2867; age, ≥65 y; 49.4% women; all without evidence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease); patients were assigned to either a treatment group receiving pravastatin sodium 40 mg/d or a usual care (UC) group.
Funding: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; AstraZeneca; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Pfizer; National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; The Stroke Foundation.

Key results
Hazard ratios for all-cause mortality in the treatment group vs the UC group were

How can you know if you’re in an Emotionally Abusive Relationship?

Just because there’s no physical violence, does that mean a relationship isn’t abusive?

No.

The adage, “can’t see the forest for the trees” is particularly true in emotionally abusive relationships, and it’s not uncommon for men and women in them to be unable to identify the relationship as being abusive.

Why is that?

It goes back to 1973 and an unsuccessful bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden in which two perpetrators – both repeat offender prisoners – took four hostages, three women and one man. Over the six days they were held, the hostages began to identify and sympathize with their captors.

Hostages in the Norrmalmstorg Kreditbanken bank vault, Stockholm, Sweden. The 1973 robbery gave rise to the term “Stockholm Syndrome” which characterized a scenario in which captives sympathized with their captors.

As the standoff was ending, police called for the hostages to come out first, but the four captives – who protected their abductors to the very end – refused. One female hostage, 23-year old Kristin Enmark, called out, “No, Jan and Clark go first—you’ll gun them down if we do! We want to leave with the robber!”

When police seized the gunmen, two female hostages cried sympathetically, “Don’t hurt them – they didn’t harm us!”

When interviewed by investigators and others following the crisis’ conclusion, the hostages reported fearing Law Enforcement Officers’ rescue effort attempts, and felt their captors were protecting them from harm. The bonds formed during that stand-off had become so strong that there were reports of one female hostage who had been engaged to be married to one of the kidnappers – which was later discovered to be false, though it is true that one hostage developed a Legal Defense Fund to help pay the perpetrators’ criminal defense costs.

Researcher Ian K.Mackenzie wrote
in “Journal For Police Crisis Negotiations”
that Stockholm Syndrome consisted of:
“strong emotional ties that develop between two persons
where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other.”

Psychological researchers utilizing the FBI’s Hostage Barricade Database System (HOBAS) – the only entity that compiles national statistics on crisis incidents (hostage, barricade, and/or suicide) which are used in research and decision making – found that

Remember American Nurses: 100 years ago WW I’s first casualties – Edith Ayers & Helen Woods

Mrs. Edith Ayres, Illinois Training School Nurse of the Class of 1913. Mrs. Ayres was the first American female casualty of WWI, and was buried with military honors at her home in Attica, Ohio.

Among the first casualties of World War I were two Army Nurses – US Army Nurse Corps Edith Ayers, of Attica, OH, and USANC Helen Burnett Woods, of Evanston, IL who were attached to Base Hospital 12 aboard the USS Mongolia – a passenger vessel which was converted into an armored troop carrier and hospital for the Army March 1917 – en route to France, and died 20 May 1917. Also wounded was Miss Emma Matzen, of the Illinois Training School, Class of 1913.

Miss Helen Burnett Wood was a Nurse graduate of the Evanston Hospital Training School, and was one of the was the first two casualties of WW I.

At that time, military Nurses held no rank.

Woods was attached to the U.S. Army Base Hospital, No. 12, also known as the Northwestern University Base Hospital, because a majority of its personnel came out of the university. In May 1917, she received her official orders to join the Base Hospital staff on its way to New York where the staff would embark for Europe.

The two women were on the Mongolia’s deck observing various weapons firing and were struck by fragments of the 6-inch gun’s propellant caps which had ricocheted off a stanchion.

Their deaths were so shocking to the nation, especially to their respective communities, that following their accidental, and untimely deaths, a Senate hearing – “Casualties Aboard Steamship “Monogolia”” before the Committee on Naval Affairs – was conducted. {Local file, PDF: Casualties Aboard Steamship Mongolia Hearings}

Mrs. Edith Ayres was a graduate of

Deceit And Treachery Continue In #ALpolitics

In case you’ve been under a rock for the past 4 years or more, Alabama’s two-term Republican Governor Dr. Dr. Robert Bentley, M.D. was forced to resign from office amidst ongoing impeachment proceedings resulting from a sex & corruption scandal in which he significantly abused the power of the office for personal gain, then under pressure, and facing possible felony charges, entered a plea agreement in which he pled guilty to two misdemeanor campaign finance violations, agreed to other court-ordered stipulations including never again to “seek or serve in any public office,” pay fines & court costs, surrender campaign funds, render Community Service as a physician, submitted his resignation, whereupon Republican Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey – formerly State Treasurer – took office as Governess.

It seemed most everybody was happy as a lark.

Until…

Until those damn pesky reporters started snooping around the back door.

Then, it turns out, they found evidence that strongly suggests she isn’t in good health, and so much so to the extent that her ability to govern and think clearly may be called into question.

According to an investigative report and story by Josh Moon, a Journalist with Alabama Political Reporter, “Gov. Kay Ivey’s office declined to confirm on Thursday that she had been admitted to a Colorado hospital for “stroke-like” issues in April 2015, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency all but did.

Which Are The Best & Worst States For Registered Nurses?

Like most segments of the economy, the nursing industry is in a state of significant transition under the weight of major socioeconomic dynamics — from the aging U.S. population to the student-loan crisis to concerns about the future of key entitlement programs. But such concerns are not unique among recent graduates, regardless of industry.

More specific to nursing professionals are the various day-to-day demands placed on them, such as mandatory overtime, overstaffing, unionization and allegations of systemic disrespect. Despite those challenges, however, aspiring nurses have much to look forward to upon certification. Nursing occupations are some of the most lucrative careers with the lowest unemployment rates in the U.S. In fact, the industry is expected to grow at more than double the rate of the average occupation through 2024.

With such bright projections, WalletHub’s analysts took stock of the nursing industry to help registered nurses, particularly the newly minted of the bunch, lay down roots in areas that are conducive to both personal and professional success. We did so by comparing the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 18 key metrics that collectively speak to the nursing-job opportunities in each market. Below, you can check out our findings, expert commentary on the state of the nursing industry as well as the methodology we used to conduct this report.

BIG INSURANCE Companies Fear Single Payer For ONE Reason

A friend had shared the opening paragraph, upon which I remarked.

My response follows.

“At the risk of stating the obvious, I feel compelled to note that insurance companies do not exist to provide health care. They exist to make money. Big money. Big money at your time of greatest vulnerability. This happens by raising income as much as possible and limiting “risk” as much as possible. Now go ponder the implications.”

—/—

And that is the single greatest reason why a

LET MY PEOPLE GO!

The Exodus

Frans Francken I. Hans skola: Den rike mannen och Lazarus. NM 429 (Frans Francken I, aka Frans Francken the Elder (1542-1616), His school: The rich man and Lazarus.)

I have seen your religion, and I hate it.
I have heard your doctrine, and I loathe it.
Take away your empty praise songs,
your vacuous worshiptainment.
Your mouth is full of religious words,
but your proverbs are salted manure.

“The sick deserve to be sick.
The poor deserve to be poor.
The rich deserve to be rich.
The imprisoned deserve to be imprisoned.”
Because you never saw him sick, or poor, or in prison.

“If he had followed police instructions,
if he had minded the company he keeps,
he would not have been killed,”
You say in the hearing
of a man hanging on a cross
between two thieves.

“People who live good lives
do not have pre-existing conditions,” you say,
carving these words over the hospital door:
“Who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?”

“It is the church’s job, not the government’s,”
say you fat sheep,
defending your fat shepherds,
shoving and butting with shoulders and horns,
while you foul the water,
grass,
and air,
and scatter the hungry sheep.

You watch the melting glaciers and say to the waves of the sea,
“this far shall you come, and no farther,”
as if your will could change the weather,

Money Trumps Life: GOP politicians are the Death Panelists about which Sarah Palin warned.

Calling out EVERY TRUMP VOTER!

Sarah Palin’s “Death Panels” are now Donald Trump & the GOP’s gift to you!

They WILL kill you & your grannies, grandpas, kids, wife, relatives, family, and YOU!

DO NOT BE DECEIVED!

In their world, Money Trumps Life!

—

By Yvonne Foster

“I have atrial fibrillation and arthritis, my husband is pre-diabetic and has had heart surgery, our daughter is asthmatic. None of this is through any fault of our own.

“I have shed tears today not only for my family but millions of others like us. What is going to happen to all these people? Healthcare should not be something available only to the rich.

“I have seen evil before, but I’ve never looked this kind of evil in the eye until I looked at Trump and

Can We #RepealAndReplace #ObamaCare?

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, aka ACA, or more often as “ObamaCare”) might be analogized to an onion, insofar as:
1.) It has many layers, and;
2.) Peeling back the layers may cause tears.

Enacted in 2010, it has been decried primarily by Republicans, none of whom voted for the bill’s passage, either in the House, which approved it 219-212 with 34 Democrats voting “NO” – or in the Senate, which approved it 60-39 along party lines, with 1 Republican (Jim Bunning, KY) “Not Voting.”

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act contains nine titles, each addressing an essential component of reform:
1.) Quality, Affordable Health Care For All Americans
2.) The Role Of Public Programs
3.) Improving The Quality And Efficiency Of Health Care

4.) Prevention Of Chronic Disease And Improving Public Health
5.) Health Care Workforce
6.) Transparency And Program Integrity

7.) Improving Access To Innovative Medical Therapies
8.) Community Living Assistance Services And Supports
9.) Revenue Provisions

Immediate improvements through reform included:
• Eliminate lifetime and unreasonable annual limits on benefits
• Prohibit rescissions of health insurance policies
• Provide assistance for those who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition

• Require coverage of preventive services and immunizations
• Extend dependent coverage up to age 26
• Develop uniform coverage documents so consumers can make apples to apples comparisons when shopping for health insurance

• Cap insurance company non-medical, administrative expenditures
• Ensure consumers have access to an effective appeals process and provide consumers a place to turn for assistance navigating the appeals process and accessing their coverage
• Create a temporary re-insurance program to support coverage for early retirees

• Establish an Internet portal to assist Americans in identifying coverage options
• Facilitate administrative simplification to lower health system costs

While no law is perfect – and the ACA is not perfect – there are provisions within it which many think worthy of keeping, notable among them, provisions for guaranteed coverage, prohibiting cancellation, extending dependent’s coverage, removing annual & lifetime limits,

Remembering Alabama OB-GYN Dr. Larry Stutts, MD, DVM

“Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.”

-Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Rambler #2 (March 24, 1750)

Dr. Larry Stutts, MD, DVM was elected as a Republican to Alabama State Senate District 6 in 2014 by a 70-vote margin. His 36-year-old patient Rose Church, RN died 10 days after giving birth in 1998 because he refused to order a $5 test, and sent her home from the hospital early.

After narrowly winning election in 2014 by 70 votes in Alabama State Senate District 6, Dr. Larry Stutts, MD, DVM, a Republican, immediately wrote a bill (SB289) to repeal Code of Alabama Title 27-48-2, commonly known as “Rose’s Law,” which unanimously passed the House & Senate and become law in 1999.

“Rose’s Law” was written in response to the death of Stutts’ patient, Rose Church, a 36-year-old Registered Nurse, who died of a heart attack 10 days after giving birth to a girl in 1998 at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield. A simple $5 test could have saved her life, but Stutts refused to order the test, and sent her home early.

“Roses Law” gave women in Alabama a legal right to remain in hospital for 48 hours after a normal live birth, 96 hours if the birth was Cesarean or presented a complication, and required health insurers in Alabama to pay for the stay.

Stutts’ bill (SB289) would have repealed “Rose’s Law,” and would have also repealed a State law requiring physicians to

Rethinking Addiction

Perhaps you’ve studied the 12-Step program, or perhaps you’ve practiced it. I have done both. Practicing it was not as a matter of addiction, or any such thing for myself, but instead, was a part of my personal spiritual growth and development.

Over the years, I’ve heard commentary, or news features which interviewed people with divergent perspectives on 12-Step programs, most notably which were skeptical of them, and were thoughtfully seeking answers themselves for the “whys and wherefores” of substance abuse, whether it’s long-term or temporary, and whether it is a genetic fault, or if it is a personality or character flaw in response to external or internal stressors. In other words, it’s the classic “Heredity vs Environment” argument.

As I have come to view it, there is validity for both sides, but I think the stronger case is made for a combination of environment and character flaw, instead of genetic defect.

—/—

“In his recent book, The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry, Lance Dodes, a retired psychiatry professor from Harvard Medical School, looked at Alcoholics Anonymous’s retention rates along with studies on sobriety and rates of active involvement (attending meetings regularly and working the program) among AA members. Based on these data, he put AA’s actual success rate somewhere between 5 and 8 percent. That is just a rough estimate, but it’s the most precise one I’ve been able to find.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/the-irrationality-of-alcoholics-anonymous/386255/

The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous
By Gabrielle Glaser, April 2015 Issue
Its faith-based 12-step program dominates treatment in the United States. But researchers have debunked central tenets of AA doctrine and found

#Suicide Surge Has Small Alabama Town And County Talking #ALpolitics

A surge in suicides in a small Alabama town and county has people talking.

With 7 suicides in less than two full months this year (2017), the rate is almost half what it was all last year (2016) – 15.

Unfortunately however, it seems for the greatest part, that’s all they’re doing… talking.

It’s the NIMBY problem in full bloom.

But as Christians, we are called to “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

When we not only pretend that these, or other human problems – including healthcare – don’t exist, or ignore any potential discussion or solution, we also deny Christ, who said

Late Term #Abortion Story

Should the government tell you what you can, and cannot do with your body?

We chose to have a funeral and now have a spot in a Blacksburg cemetery where we can visit her whenever we are near. Having a gravesite, I know, was a huge help in the grieving process for Matt.

Are you now government property?

Are you a slave?

Are you not entitled by law to FREEDOM to decide for yourself what is good, and best for yourself?

Or, are we in a “Nanny State” in which politicians and bureaucrats tell you what to do, when to eat, what to wear, where to live, who to love, and when to shower?

Lindsey Paradiso, and her husband Matt, had to make an untenable choice because their unborn infant daughter was diagnosed with a disease from which she would most likely not live… not even a few days.

And indeed, her heart stopped beating before she was at term.

I am so lucky to have such a strong and wonderful man to stand beside. We had just been admitted to the hospital for labor induction after having Omara’s heart stopped.

—/—

https://www.facebook.com/lindsey.shaffer/posts/10105763587970982

This ultrasound photo was the first time I really began to understand what was going on.

This is ending a wanted pregnancy.
This is late-term abortion.

It was

End ObamaCare’s Health Insurance Monopoly

Fact is, “ObamaCare” – which is properly known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or ACA for short – though it’s monikered with POTUS Obama’s name, was largely a Republican brainchild from the über-conservative Heritage Institution.

The cornerstone of the act is predicated upon two items which are the very heart of the act: 1.) Guaranteed Coverage, and; 2.) Community Rating.

In was, in essence

Yet Another Real Life Story And Reason Why #Abortion Should NOT Be…

A longtime, and dear friend recently chose to share her own very personal story.

I share it here with her permission.

Though I am certain she would not object, I have chosen to omit her name.

The reader should be aware that Ethan is her and her husband’s young boy, and firstborn.

Used With Permission

—/—

This is private, but I am going to put it out there to put a face on an issue for some of my friends.

On Tuesday, I lost two great sources of hope for the future. One was the election, but the other was more personal. Midday, before the polls ever closed, and right as I was returning one turf to Headquarters to pick up another, I got a phone call that brought me to my knees.

I was pregnant, ya’ll. I was 11 weeks on Election Day, and it had been a dicey start, but we thought we had made it. We were already discussing adorable ways to make it FB official. We anxiously awaited the results of this genetic test that would tell us the sex, so we could hopefully rest a bit easier if it was a girl (because of the pattern of kidney disease in my family).

The doc gently informed me that it was a little boy, and he had trisomy 18. Either I would naturally miscarry, or I would watch my baby die a slow and painful death over the course of a few days, months, or maybe a year. My worst nightmare was coming true, and I was terrified that I would

The @GOP’s Love/Hate Relationship With @realDonaldTrump Is Beginning To Show Hair

November 12, 2016
Day 4: The shit’s starting to hit the fam… er, fan

Donald Trump, the GOP Presidential nominee who appears to have won the 2016 General Election, has reportedly made remarks that he might not, after all, as he proclaimed in his “Contract with the American Voter” that he would “5.) Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines…”

Strike One:
According to his first post-election interview, which was exclusive to the Wall Street Journal, “President-elect Donald Trump said he would consider leaving in place certain parts of the Affordable Care Act,” and that “Mr. Trump said he favors keeping the prohibition against insurers denying coverage because of patients’ existing conditions, and a provision that allows parents to provide years of additional coverage for children [up to age 26] on their insurance policies.”

Regular readers will recall that yesterday I had made the same observation, that portions of the law are worth keeping.

President-elect Donald Trump leaves a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), at the U.S. Capitol November 10, 2016 in Washington, DC Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Strike Two:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY, R) has pointedly said he opposes and will refuse Trump’s first order of business in his Contract with the American Voter which is “Constitutional Amendment for Congressional Term Limits.” The Senator, who has been in office since 1984 (32 years), said, “I would say we have term limits now. They’re called elections. And it will not be on the agenda in the Senate.”

Strike Three:
Furthermore, McConnnell has also said that he’s opposed to

How And Why Insurance Companies Control Your Medical Care

Some have accurately, and justifiably observed that the Affordable Care Act, also colloquially known as “ObamaCare,” is a big fat, sloppy wet kiss to the Big Insurance industry and their for-profit, Wall $treet corporate masters, because their profits have continued to soar since it’s inception. Note that UnitedHealth Group reported a profit of $11 billion (on revenues of more than $157 billion) in 2015, up from $10.3 billion (on revenues of $131 billion) in 2014. Consider also how Anthem’s business changed in just one recent year. At the end of 2014, the majority of Anthem’s revenues still came from its Commercial Health Insurance customers. During 2015, however, revenues from their commercial operations actually declined 4.2%, to $37.6 billion, while revenues from their government operations skyrocketed 21%, to $40.1 billion. A significant reason why, is because of the big investments Insurance Companies continue to make in House and Senate campaigns. As a result, the Insurance Industry’s tentacles will likely only get deeper into both the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Medical equipment is pictured on the wall of an examination room inside a Kaiser Permanente health clinic located inside a Target retail department store in San Diego, California November 17, 2014. Four clinics are scheduled to open to provide pediatric and adolescent care, well-woman care, family planning, and management of chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure for Kaiser members and non-members. REUTERS/Mike Blake (UNITED STATES – Tags: HEALTH BUSINESS SOCIETY) Fair Use

by Christy Ford Chapin

It’s that time of year again. Insurance companies that participate in the Affordable Care Act’s state health exchanges are signaling that prices will rise dramatically this fall.

And if insurance costs aren’t enough of a crisis, researchers are highlighting deficiencies in health care quality, such as unnecessary tests and procedures that cause patient harm, medical errors bred by disjointed or fragmented care and disparities in service distribution.

While critics emphasize the ACA’s shortcomings, cost and quality issues have long plagued the U.S. health care system. As my research demonstrates, we have these problems because insurance companies are at the center of the system, where they both finance and manage medical care.

If this system is so flawed, how did we get stuck with it in the first place?

Answer: Organized physicians.

As I explain in my book, “Ensuring America’s Health: The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System,” from the 1930s through the 1960s, the American Medical Association, the foremost professional organization for physicians, played a leading role in implementing the insurance company model.

What existed before health insurance companies?

Between the 1900s and the 1940s, patients flocked to what were called “prepaid physician groups,” or “prepaid doctor groups.”

Prepaid groups offered inexpensive health care because

.@PastorAmyTRC: I Had A Late Term #Abortion and “I never had a second thought about the right thing to do.”

Church Pastor: The Truth About My Late-Term Abortion

by Amy Butler, October 26, 2016, 7:55PM EDT

“Trump’s words drove me to tears, and to write my painful story for the first time.”

Elections are supposed to be about real people — and not the ones whose names appear on the ballot. They are supposed to be about all of us, the policies that will impact our lives in tangible ways and the choices we make about the country we want to be.

The Rev. Dr. Amy Butler is the Senior Minister of The Riverside Church in New York City. Prior to this call, Pastor Amy served as Senior Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Pastor Amy holds degrees from Baylor University (BA ‘91, MA ‘96); The International Baptist Theological Seminary (BDiv ‘95); and Wesley Theological Seminary (DMin ‘09).

But this year, we have watched a major candidate for our country’s highest office demean and slander whole categories of American citizens. We have watched him make offensive, outrageous claims about real people and real decisions that everyday Americans face. People like me. Decisions like mine.

What sent me to my computer to write is late-term abortion. As I heard Donald Trump talk about babies being “ripped” from their mothers’ wombs, as if ending a pregnancy is a reckless, irresponsible afterthought, my outrage poured down my face in angry tears. In those moments, Trump, who has never been pregnant and presumably has navigated this far in his life without undertaking any difficult, gut-wrenching, gray-area decisions, used my own pain — deep, deep pain — to advance his political agenda.

But his words won’t tell my story, so I’ll tell it here. I don’t often speak about this experience. And I’ve never written about it until now.

The late-term abortion I chose was the end of a dream. The pain was so real and so consuming that navigating my way through the grief, I never thought that I would have the happy, healthy family that I do today. It was one of the most agonizing experiences of my life and

Should Government Force You To Abort? To Give Birth? To Get Pregnant? Where Does It Stop?

Some rightfully believe/feel/think that government should NOT be making decisions for them and ask, “Do we really want government making decisions about our health care?” They are steadfastly convinced that they should make such important decisions for themselves.

I agree.

People should be free to make their own decisions in such matters. I don’t want the government, or someone else making decisions for me when I’m fully capable of making them for myself. That’s one HUGE reason why I support

#Abortion Is A #Religious Matter

Your remark “in God we trust” has validated what I wrote, which is that “Abortion is a religious matter. It is NOT one for the government.”

On a strictly PERSONAL RELIGIOUS level, I oppose abortion. And yet, as a strictly legal, Constitutional matter, I acknowledge that our United States Supreme Court has decided that we the people have the FREEDOM to make deeply personal decisions for ourselves, WITHOUT governmental interference.

Imagine, if you can, if the government told you that you must have a tubal ligation, or that you must have a hysterectomy… or, for a man, that he must have a vasectomy, or an orchidectomy (surgical removal of the testicles) so that they could no longer reproduce. Would you like that? Would you think that would be good? What if your neighbor could

I had a Late Term #Abortion.

I HAD A LATE TERM ABORTION.
IT IS NOTHING LIKE DESCRIBED BY TRUMP.
PLEASE DON’T BASE YOUR VOTE ON THE FEAR MONGERING HE IS DOING.
PLEASE READ MY EXPERIENCE:

I had to have a late term abortion. It was the worst moment in my life. What made it even worse was the State of Utah had made it illegal. I had one dead twin. The other had severe Spina Bifida, and would only have lived with life support, in great pain, for a few days.

by Alyson Draper
October 19 at 8:46pm · Midway, UT
used with permission

I lay on the hospital floor, bawling hysterically, for twelve hours, waiting for an ethics committee of the health care corporation to

Late Term #Abortion #Politics On #DebateNight

A few thoughts on a Presidential Debate topic by Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News, with candidates Hillary Clinton (D) and Donald Trump (R) from the third, and final debate held last night at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Wednesday, 19 October 2016:

1.) Tweet from Dr. Jen Gunter, MD: “There is no such thing as a ninth month abortion – I’m a doctor who trained in late term abortions”
https://twitter.com/DrJenGunter/status/788912646330257408

2.) A portion of her blog entry (linked herein) on the topic from the Debate states: “Trump’s statement, as incorrect as it may be, supports the fallacy of the due-date abortion. It is a common anti-choice narrative that

UNC Chapel Hill Research: Medicaid Expansion Helps Rural Hospitals

As of the date of this posting – Monday, 19 September 2016 – there are 19 states which have NOT Expanded Medicaid, and Alabama is one of those 19.

In alphabetical order, they are:

Current Condition of Medicaid Expansion
Has YOUR state expanded Medicaid?
Orange=NO

1.) Alabama
2.) Florida
3.) Georgia
4.) Idaho
5.) Kansas
6.) Maine
7.) Mississippi
8.) Missouri
9.) Nebraska
10.) North Carolina
11.) Oklahoma
12.) South Carolina
13.) South Dakota
14.) Tennessee
15.) Texas
16.) Utah
17.) Virginia
18.) Wisconsin
19.) Wyoming

 

 

 

 

 

Lack Of Medicaid Expansion Hurts Rural Hospitals More Than Urban Facilities

By Shefali Luthra September 7, 2016

It isn’t news that in rural parts of the country, people have a harder time accessing good health care. But new evidence suggests opposition to a key part of the 2010 health overhaul could be adding to the gap.

The finding comes from a study published Wednesday in the journal Health Affairs, which analyzes how the states’ decisions on implementing the federal health law’s expansion of Medicaid, a federal-state insurance program for low-income people, may be influencing rural hospitals’ financial stability. Nineteen states opted not to join the expansion.

Rural hospitals have long argued they were hurt by the lack of Medicaid expansion, which leaves many of their patients without insurance coverage and strains the hospitals’ ability to better serve the public. The study suggests they have a point.

Specifically, the researchers, from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, found that

Medical, Scientific, and Economically Valid Reasons To Legalize #Marijuana In Sweet Home Alabama #ALpolitics

It’s no joke, Colorado is ROLLING (pun intended) in revenue from the taxes and licensing fees associated with legal cannabis sales.

From the Colorado Department of Revenue:
Colorado Marijuana Tax Data
“Total marijuana tax revenue includes the 2.9% retail and medical marijuana sales tax, 10% retail marijuana special sales tax, 15% marijuana excise tax, and retail/medical marijuana application and license fees.”

For the month of September 2015 (reported October 2015), Colorado had TOTAL (Total All Marijuana Taxes, Licenses) $11,656,736.

On an annualized basis, that’s at least $139,880,832.

The rhetorical question is:
What could Sweet Home do with even half the money like that?

Consider also this: That the legalization of cannabis also largely eliminates

Why #ALpolitics Should’ve Elected @RonSparks2010 – @GovernorBentley In His Own Words: “I had no clue.”

Having made no bones about it, I remain searingly and scathingly critical of Alabama Governor Robert Julian Bentley, a retired physician-turned-Republican legislator from Tuscaloosa, who is twice elected governor – in 2010, and in 2014.

While I wished him well after his initial victory in the governor’s race against his Democratic opponent then-Secretary of Agriculture and Industries, Ron Sparks, he has disappointed the state since Inauguration Day 2011 when he put his foot in his mouth at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, Montgomery, where on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 17, 2011 – mere hours after taking the oath of office and inauguration – he said in part, “There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit. But if you have been adopted in God’s family like I have, and like you have if you’re a Christian and if you’re saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister. Now I will have to say that, if we don’t have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.”

It was at that point that Rebekah Caldwell Mason became his Communication Director, and later, Senior Political Advisor-cum-paramour.

More to the point, however, I have maintained that among other things, as an elected official, he has been feckless, and clueless.

But, let’s let him speak for himself.

Here’s in part what Governor Bentley said in a speech to a statewide gathering of city officials in Montgomery, May 2013, “You know where I came up with that idea? Ron Sparks.