WSJ via MSN: “…Insurer-driven diagnoses by UnitedHealth for diseases that no doctor treated generated $8.7 billion in 2021 payments to the company, the Journal’s analysis showed. UnitedHealth’s net income that year was about $17 billion. UnitedHealth’s Wiggin said the Journal’s calculations appear accurate. He said the added payments are “not simply earnings for the company,”… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Medicine
No surprises act
ProPublica: “In 2020, Congress passed the No Surprises Act to protect patients from exorbitant medical bills that had burdened Americans with tens of thousands of dollars in debt. The law was designed to decrease the charges for patients treated by an out-of-network doctor during medical emergencies. Such ER visits often left people vulnerable to so-called… Continue Reading
Here’s how machine learning can violate your privacy
Via LLRX – Here’s how machine learning can violate your privacy – Jordan Awan, Assistant Professor of Statistics, Purdue University explains how machine learning has pushed the boundaries in several fields, including personalized medicine, self-driving cars and customized advertisements. Research has shown, however, that these systems memorize aspects of the data they were trained with in order… Continue Reading
Project 2025, Election 2024, and America’s Future
TIME: “…Project 2025 led by the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 is a presidential transition operation—basically a government-in-waiting if former President Donald Trump returns to office on Jan. 20, 2025. The $22 million effort does not say it is specifically intended for Trump, but that it wants a conservative as the next… Continue Reading
How do we know how many people died of Covid-19?
YouTube: “After four years and dozens of studies, we know everything we’re going to know about the death toll of the Covid pandemic. After four years and dozens of studies, we know everything we’re going to know about the death toll of the Covid pandemic. WELCOME TO HOWTOWN! Our small but mighty team of two… Continue Reading
The Opaque Industry Secretly Inflating Prices for Prescription Drugs
The New York Times [unpaywalled] – Pharmacy benefit managers are driving up drug costs for millions of people, employers and the government. “Americans are paying too much for prescription drugs. It is a common, longstanding complaint. And the culprits seem obvious: Drug companies. Insurers. A dysfunctional federal government. But there is another collection of powerful… Continue Reading
If Opiates Are Killing Americans, Why Won’t the FDA Let Us Try an Alternative?
Reason: “For more than a decade, patients who’ve needed certain controlled medications have suffered from ill-advised, untenable policies the U.S. government has instituted, allegedly to mitigate the ever-surging numbers of drug overdose deaths. These policies have been a dismal failure on multiple fronts: Not only have deaths continued to surge, but the terrifying intrusion of… Continue Reading
COVID Data Report is a daily resource to stay safe and informed
BoingBoing: “COVID-19 is definitely on the rise again across the United States. Dr. Michael Hoerger, who tracks COVID-19 data, shared yesterday that currently: about 1.2% of the U.S. population is actively infectious, which is quite high for the summer, when COVID is not consciously in everyone’s thoughts. We’re talking about 4 million U.S. infections per week,… Continue Reading
‘Off the charts’: the key breakthroughs giving new hope in treating cancer
The Guardian: ‘Off the charts’: the key breakthroughs giving new hope in treating cancer. World’s largest cancer conference in Chicago shares ‘impressive’ findings in vaccines, drug trials and AI. At the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, the world’s largest cancer conference, doctors, scientists and researchers shared new findings on ways to tackle… Continue Reading
So What Is Going On With the Supreme Court in 2024?
Slate [read 5 articles free before paywalled] – “If you’re interested in understanding more about what the high court is, how it functions, and why it seems to have recently lurched to the right, start here…The 5 Circuit Court of Appeals covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Trump appointed six judges to this bench, some of… Continue Reading
What Animal Studies Are Revealing About Their Minds and Ours
TIME – “…The last few months alone have been something of a boom time for research into the intelligence and behavior of animals. German researchers discovered a sort of pre-verbal stage in finches—similar to the babbling stage in humans—that leads to their becoming fluent in song. Studies in Sweden and Vienna explored the role of… Continue Reading
US Postpartum Mortality Rate 395 Percent Higher Than Other Wealthy Countries
TruthOut: “A new report from The Commonwealth Fund shows that, despite better outcomes since the pandemic, the United States “continues to have the highest rate of maternal deaths of any high-income nation” in the world. Around four out of five of these deaths “are likely preventable,” the report states, suggesting that the U.S. could save… Continue Reading
