Healthcare Thread (really "Sickcare" in America)

[elliseamos]

Who else watched HBO's Crime of the Century and just felt sick and mad and completely disenfranchised the whole time?

[BurtReynolds]

What a weird...whatever this is.

[simple schoolboy]

What a weird...whatever this is.

We simultaneously threw a whole bunch of people out of meaningful work and then denied them their Soma. Weird that those in or adjacent to that group would notice and question how our economy is organized.

[elliseamos]

Projections from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc) published this month predict that in 2025, for the first time, more than 100,000 Americans will die from a drug overdose, bringing the total to more than 1m since 1999. At current rates, by the time of the next presidential election in 2028, more Americans will have died in the 21st century of drug overdoses than died in all of America’s wars over its entire history.

The money pharma pulls in from these things and stuffs in everyone's pocket (and I mean everyone) is atrocious.

[Bi_3]

Walmart unveils low-price insulin as more patients with diabetes struggle to pay for drug

I’d wager this will do more to help black lives than all the protests last year did

pfft. Walmart caused the food deserts that make people sick to begin with.

Possible your worst take, friend. The costs of treating diabetes to the US government rivals nearly any other budget item. The following are for insulin, and do not include dialysis and other derived treatments:







And here diabetes as a whole:




Getting the cost under $100/month would probably save thousands of lives per year as fewer people have to choose between food and medicine. Because I know the baseline response is "but muh socialized medicine", don't bother because we can start saving thousands of lives right now by getting this cost down while the larger problem is still being debated.

[Bi_3]

What a weird...whatever this is.

"What is... a reprinted tumblr post from my Sociology TA"

[B]

Walmart unveils low-price insulin as more patients with diabetes struggle to pay for drug

I’d wager this will do more to help black lives than all the protests last year did

pfft. Walmart caused the food deserts that make people sick to begin with.

Possible your worst take, friend.

It's cynical, but it's not wrong.

I also forwarded that link to my dad.

[elliseamos]

Walmart unveils low-price insulin as more patients with diabetes struggle to pay for drug

I’d wager this will do more to help black lives than all the protests last year did

pfft. Walmart caused the food deserts that make people sick to begin with.

Possible your worst take, friend.

It's cynical, but it's not wrong.

I also forwarded that link to my dad.

Let me rephrase that:

Helping with insulin costs is great.

Now stop selling shit food and we'll really see costs come down!

[Green Habit]

Walmart's food is chock full of nutrition compared to your typical convenience store.

[Peeps]

i will proudly die on the hill that walmarts marketplace pizzas for $6 is the best bargain for your buck and they actually taste pretty good

[Rob]

I agree with Ellis, he isn’t making some crazy argument. I don’t know what the numbers are these days, but historically Walmart has paid its employees low enough wages that they still qualify for assistance. In other words, they’re working but still poor. Poor people tend to live in poor neighborhoods which aren’t exactly known for affordable quality food (they become the food deserts Ellis mentions), which leads to poor eating and diseases like diabetes.

And of course BI is right too, it’s ridiculous that a relatively cheap, life saving drug is so expensive. Getting that cost down absolutely saves lives and would have a much more immediate impact.

[Stickman]

"The Tennessee Department of Health will halt all adolescent vaccine outreach – not just for coronavirus, but all diseases – amid pressure from Republican state lawmakers, according to an internal report and agency emails obtained by the Tennessean. If the health department must issue any information about vaccines, staff are instructed to strip the agency logo off the documents.
The health department will also stop all COVID-19 vaccine events on school property, despite holding at least one such event this month. The decisions to end vaccine outreach and school events come directly from Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey, the internal report states.
Additionally, the health department will take steps to ensure it no longer sends postcards or other notices reminding teenagers to get their second dose of the coronavirus vaccines. Postcards will still be sent to adults, but teens will be excluded from the mailing list so the postcards are not “potentially interpreted as solicitation to minors,” the report states.
[...]
After the health department's internal COVID-19 report was circulated on Friday, the rollback of vaccine outreach was further detailed in a Monday email from agency Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tim Jones.
Jones told staff they should conduct "no proactive outreach regarding routine vaccines" and "no outreach whatsoever regarding the HPV vaccine."
Staff were also told not to do any "pre-planning" for flu shots events at schools. Any information released about back-to-school vaccinations should come from the Tennessee Department of Education, not the Tennessee Department of Health, Jones wrote."

[B]

All that is preposterous, but postcards violate HIPAA. They never should have been used, and never should have been addressed to the child.

[simple schoolboy]

All that is preposterous, but postcards violate HIPAA. They never should have been used, and never should have been addressed to the child.

If we are relying on children to ask their parents to get vaccinated, we've got issues. Kind of weird to target kids and not their parents with this messaging.

[elliseamos]

Apparently mailing direct to the adolescents was used in other instances and deemed legal.

Oh well.

[wease]

All that is preposterous, but postcards violate HIPAA. They never should have been used, and never should have been addressed to the child.

IIRC. when we signed stuff for the first dose, we gave permission for the post cards and waived HIPPA in this instance.

[wease]

"The Tennessee Department of Health will halt all adolescent vaccine outreach – not just for coronavirus, but all diseases – amid pressure from Republican state lawmakers, according to an internal report and agency emails obtained by the Tennessean. If the health department must issue any information about vaccines, staff are instructed to strip the agency logo off the documents.
The health department will also stop all COVID-19 vaccine events on school property, despite holding at least one such event this month. The decisions to end vaccine outreach and school events come directly from Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey, the internal report states.
Additionally, the health department will take steps to ensure it no longer sends postcards or other notices reminding teenagers to get their second dose of the coronavirus vaccines. Postcards will still be sent to adults, but teens will be excluded from the mailing list so the postcards are not “potentially interpreted as solicitation to minors,” the report states.
[...]
After the health department's internal COVID-19 report was circulated on Friday, the rollback of vaccine outreach was further detailed in a Monday email from agency Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tim Jones.
Jones told staff they should conduct "no proactive outreach regarding routine vaccines" and "no outreach whatsoever regarding the HPV vaccine."
Staff were also told not to do any "pre-planning" for flu shots events at schools. Any information released about back-to-school vaccinations should come from the Tennessee Department of Education, not the Tennessee Department of Health, Jones wrote."

Welcome to Tennessee. The 44th highest vaccination rate in the US!

[B]

All that is preposterous, but postcards violate HIPAA. They never should have been used, and never should have been addressed to the child.

IIRC. when we signed stuff for the first dose, we gave permission for the post cards and waived HIPPA in this instance.

Huh.

[wease]

All that is preposterous, but postcards violate HIPAA. They never should have been used, and never should have been addressed to the child.

IIRC. when we signed stuff for the first dose, we gave permission for the post cards and waived HIPPA in this instance.

Huh.

It may not have specifically mentioned post cards, but it was for getting back in touch for reminders and waiving HIPPA.

[Bi_3]

If there is one thing we do help health care this year, let's fix insulin costs: