“On Monday, the chief called the investigation into the shooting “unprecedented.” He said the gun was taken from the child’s home. The boy’s mother had legally purchased the gun, Drew said.”
Medicynical Note: Is it any wonder that our conservative dominated Supreme Court, the facilitators of our gun culture, is fearful of people…….. with…….. guns.
We’ve become the America no one could have possibly anticipated or hoped for, except maybe gun manufacturers. We lead the industrialized world in guns/capita, gun homicides, gun suicides, mass shootings, school shootings, accidental gun deaths, police shootings (both of policemen and of citizens).
Understanding health care coverage and costs requires a PhD. The folks in today’s health care fiasco bought coverage from a company that for two years doesn’t cover “pre-existing” problems…. and got burned.
‘The plans are often faith-based, whatever that means, and have surged in popularity in recent years because they can be cheaper than traditional insurance — the Kings said their plan cost $534 a month, plus an additional $118 a month to join a direct primary care medical practice.”
“But the sharing plans offer fewer protections than insurance and come with provisos. The Kings said their plan did not fully cover preexisting conditions like Jeff’s heart condition for the first two years of coverage — and he needed the surgery after 16 months.”
In this case the couple found they were liable were for the entire $160,000 billing.
Medicynical Note: Healthcare has become worse than buying a used car, in part because the car purchase is discretionary while in health care one’s very existence may be involved……..and, in part because the amount of money involved in healthcare is so much more.
The article notes: “Hospital charges are generally understood by health economists to bear little resemblance to the actual prices that are typically paid. Instead, they are more of an opening salvo in the high-stakes negotiations between hospitals trying to get as much money as they can for providing care and insurance companies trying to pay as little as possible.”
In this case after billing $160,000 the hospital knocked off $107,000 from their original pricing. This for a non-surgical Cath-lab procedure that probably required only an overnight stay. And FYI the hospital involved had a net revenue of over 800 million dollars and net income (2020) of over 57 million dollars. Not bad for a “non-profit.”
It’s sadly true in America that in America healthcare companies are more interested in income than outcomes.
“We did not have a situation where someone was going around the school shooting,” Newport News police chief Drew told reporters. “We have a situation in one particular location where a gunshot was fired.”
“He added that the shooting was not an accident.” (Emphasis Medicynic)
“The student has since been taken into custody, and the teacher, a woman in her 30s, was taken to a local hospital to be treated for injuries that were “believed to be life-threatening”, according to the police department. Drew told reporters the teacher’s condition had improved somewhat by late afternoon.”
Medicynical Note: This really happened…..in…..America. WTF happened to us?
Ironically, the people who made the killings possible and common, the people who gave us the “freedom” to kill, our conservative Supreme Court members, say that are “afraid” of people carrying guns near their homes.
And our brave police who should be leading the fight against gun violence, continue as a group to support deregulating gun ownership. They do this to the point of often refusing to enforce gun laws (Connecticut is just one example).
And we all live in fear. Welcome to Americain 2023.
In case you wondered, continued adoration of the confederacy puts in the spotlight America’s racist culture and it’s roots: the establishment of a country with an economy dependent on slavery. (See the 1619 Project)
Medicynical Note: Racism, yes it’s here and integrated (sic) into America’s DNA and it’s laws and justice system.
Since the mid 20th century we’ve attempted to deal with our sordid history. And yes there was progress but as libertarians emerged and during Trump’s term in office a large segment of our population denied and continues to deny it’s reality.
But it’s in the little things that we reveal ourselves such as …..removing statues that venerate the protectors of slavery….a skewed justice system…….a Supreme Court in denial of voter suppression….the violent reaction in some quarters to President Obama…..the suppression of the 1619 project…..etc,etc,etc.
The Supreme Court that has supported guns everywhere for everyone is afraid……..of guns. “The law requires every judge to swear an oath to perform his or her work without fear or favor, but we must support judges by ensuring their safety,” Roberts wrote in his nine-page report. “A judicial system cannot and should not live in fear. The events of Little Rock teach about the importance of rule by law instead of by mob.”
Medicynical Note: Mass shootings in America almost daily. School shootings several times a year. And the judges who made it all possible are……… scared. What about the rest of us?
“Arizona’s water is running worryingly low. Amid the worst drought in more than a millennium, which has left communities across the state with barren wells, the state is depleting what remains of its precious groundwater. Much of it goes to private companies nearly free, including Saudi Arabia’s largest dairy company.”
Medicynical Note: Over the years a segment of our country influenced by greed and a form of I’ll-conceived idealism became convinced that privatization would lead to efficiency and cost savings. After all, in capitalism, competition forces all players to compete and be ruthlessly efficient.
As we’ve watched this fantasy play out over the last 40 years (since Reagan) it’s fallacies have become obvious. We forgot that unstated goal of capitalists is not competition but monopoly. When services are privatized and unregulated, profits become more important than services. Short term revenue generation to stockholders takes precedence over the quality of outcomes, sustainability, or the well being of a local population or individual.
This thinking has led us to become an armed camp influenced by the NRA and gun manufacturers; a country in which health care is unaffordable and whose prices increase yearly by multiples of the inflation; a country in which resources are sold off to the highest bidder; and a country in which our legislators and judges are legally influenced by payments (made legal by those same judges).
Below are ads for the anti-allergy antihistamine and sleep aid diphenhydramine, perhaps better known as Benadryl, from the internet on Dec. 22, 2022. This allergy medication has been on the market for over 50 years. It’s been available as a generic for almost all that time and yet it’s still marketed under it’s brand name, Benadryl. It’s priced from around a penny (Costco in-store price under $5.00) or two (Walmart) / pill for the generic diphenhydramine versus ten cents to 20 or 30 cents/pill for the branded Benadryl pills. And everyone selling the medication makes a substantial profit. That the magic of capitalism.
Medicynic Note: The actual cost for the diphenhydramine must be a fraction of a penny/pill— Neither Costco nor Walmart sell this drug at a loss.
However the brand name version still outsells the generic, so it’s no wonder that drug and pharmacy companies still sell the brand name version but at 10-20 times their actual cost for the medication.
CVS and Rite-aid also show the brand name with their own CVS/Rite-aid label generic version…..usually at 50-75% of the branded prices above.
Guns and fear of guns affect every aspect of our society. Cops run scared; Some become victims; Some make others victims; Mass shooting occur daily; Kids live in fear; Even the perpetrators, the Supreme Court, live in fear. Is this the civil society we want?
America has a system of revenue generation that it calls healthcare. Many of it’s “healthcare” corporations work more diligently to improve revenue and income than on improving patient access, affordability and outcomes. That’s American private healthcare even if the company involved is supposedly “non-profit.” This article documents some of the actions of a large non-profit church run hospital system. In reality it is a cash cow that launders hospital income into huge privately held investments.
As noted in the article “But The Times this year has documented how large chains of nonprofit hospitals have moved away from their charitable missions.”
“Some have skimped on free care for the poor, illegally saddling tens of thousands of patients with debts. Others have plowed resources into affluent suburbs while siphoning money from poorer areas.’
And: “Today, Ascension operates in 19 states, mostly in the South and the Midwest. It serves about six million patients.”
“By many measures, Ascension is rich.”
“In addition to its billions in cash, it runs an investment company that manages more than $41 billion. Last year it paid its chief executive, Joseph Impicciche, $13 million.”
“Because of its nonprofit status, Ascension avoids more than $1 billion a year in federal, state and local taxes, according to the Lown Institute, a health care think tank.”
Medicynical Note: In large areas of the country, because of the tax advantage from their non-profit and church related status, hospitals like Ascensions’ have become the only provider of health care, dominating both inpatient and outpatient services. Besides scrimping on staffing and services to maximize return they also enforce health care religious proscriptions on their non-practicing patients and staff.
In the end America has a revenue generating rather than a health generating system of care. It’s interest is more in income than outcomes. Sad but true.
Medicynic 