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Home→Author polarbear4

Author Archives: polarbear4

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Ukraine/Russia Context

The Progressive Wing Posted on May 21, 2022 by polarbear4May 21, 2022

Hi Birdies, I’ve been researching for a long time and I finally found this article by Jacques Baud. I picked it because it is the least biased, most fact-based, most conservative article I could find. It’s dense but readable with links to everything. I have not exhausted mining the article by following the links. Baud has worked with the UN and NATO and worked on disarmament, iirc, in Ukraine. I will leave any comments alone, because I am not advocating anything, just presenting a good background of the lead up to war, and partly because I really am exhausted. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized

UN Chief: Only Urgent Diplomacy Can Prevent ‘Disastrous’ War Over Ukraine and OT 2/16 & 17

The Progressive Wing Posted on February 15, 2022 by polarbear4February 15, 2022

UN pleads for peace. “Abandoning diplomacy for confrontation is not a step over a line, it is a dive over a cliff,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. “Do not fail the cause of peace.” JAKE JOHNSON February 15, 2022 The head of the United Nations on Monday implored Western powers, Russia, and Ukraine to urgently ramp up diplomatic negotiations amid heightened fears of a military conflict and loudening drumbeats of war amplified by U.S. corporate media outlets. “We simply cannot accept even the possibility of such a disastrous confrontation,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters during a press conference. “My … Continue reading →

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The US Is Reaping What It Sowed in Ukraine and OT 01/31-02/01

The Progressive Wing Posted on January 31, 2022 by polarbear4January 31, 2022

This one is chock full of information, so I copied the whole thing. Will the prospect of a 21st-Century version of the Cuban Missile Crisis be enough to bring America’s irresponsible leaders to their senses and start unwinding the suicidal mess they have blundered into? MEDEA BENJAMIN, NICOLAS J.S. DAVIES January 31, 2022 So what are Americans to believe about the rising tensions over Ukraine? The United States and Russia both claim their escalations are defensive, responding to threats and escalations by the other side, but the resulting spiral of escalation can only make war more likely. Ukrainian President Zelensky … Continue reading →

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Bernie Fights Yuge Medicare Increase and OT 01/12&13/22

The Progressive Wing Posted on January 12, 2022 by polarbear4January 12, 2022

Sanders Demands Refunds for Seniors Hit by Medicare Premium Hike

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday demanded refunds for seniors who have been hit by the 2022 Medicare premium hike after federal health officials recommended limiting the program’s coverage of Aduhelm, the unproven and expensive Alzheimer’s drug responsible for a large chunk of the premium increase.

In a statement, Sanders said CMS officials’ preliminary decision Tuesday to restrict coverage of Biogen’s Aduhelm to patients taking part in approved clinical trials was “an important step forward.” CMS’ final decision on the drug is expected by April.

“I urge the administration to immediately lower Medicare premiums by at least $11.50 a month and to provide a refund to 57 million senior citizens for the premium increases that have already gone into effect this month,” Sanders continued. “I would also urge the president to reinstate and expand the reasonable pricing clause that requires drug makers who have benefited from taxpayer-funded research to charge reasonable prices for drugs and treatments.”

“Americans should not have to pay an outrageous price for a drug that their tax dollars helped develop,” he added.

CMS’ announcement Tuesday came just 24 hours after Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra instructed federal officials to “reassess” the increase in monthly Medicare Part B premiums to $170.10 in 2022, up from the previous year’s level of $148.50—one of the largest premium hikes in the program’s history.

Becerra did not provide a specific timeline for action.

The Washington Post’s Amy Goldstein noted Monday that “beginning with this month’s checks, which start to be issued this week, Social Security has a 5.9% cost-of-living increase for 2022, but many people on Medicare may first notice that the relatively large premium increase for their health insurance is cutting into the size of their checks.”

CMS has attributed roughly half of the 2022 Medicare premium increase to “additional contingency reserves” needed for the program’s potential coverage of Aduhelm, which the Food and Drug Administration approved in June despite experts’ vocal warnings that the drug had not been shown to be effective at slowing Alzheimer’s-induced cognitive decline.

In his statement Tuesday, Sanders pointed to the fact that Aduhelm—now priced at $28,000 annually—”was rejected for coverage by the Veterans Health Administration and at least a half a dozen private health insurance companies in the United States, while 10 out of the 11 experts on the Food and Drug Administration’s advisory council voted against approval of the treatment.”

“Biogen’s outrageous original price for Aduhelm, $56,000 per year, is the poster child for how dysfunctional our drug pricing system has become and it is the perfect example of why Medicare should be negotiating drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry,” said Sanders. “If the administration takes no action, Medicare recipients will continue to see their biggest premium increase in history, all because of Biogen’s greed. That cannot be allowed to happen.”

Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, also applauded CMS for proposing to limit Medicare’s coverage of Aduhelm, the accelerated approval of which led several FDA advisers to resign in protest.

“Implementation of this proposed decision would significantly mitigate the damage done by the Food and Drug Administration’s reckless decision last year to approve [Aduhelm] despite the lack of scientific evidence that the drug provides any clinically meaningful benefit to Alzheimer’s patients with respect to cognitive function outcomes and clear evidence that it can cause serious brain injury,” said Carome.

“Unlike the FDA,” he added, “CMS wisely chose to follow the scientific evidence.”

Welcome to Wednesday!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2022 elections, Bernie Sanders, Medicare

Bernie Blasts Biden on Medicare Hike and OT 12/6-7

The Progressive Wing Posted on December 6, 2021 by polarbear4December 6, 2021

Sanders Calls on Biden to Slash ‘Outrageous’ Medicare Premium Hike

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday implored President Joe Biden to step in and prevent a looming Medicare premium hike stemming from the Food and Drug Administration’s widely condemned approval of an expensive—and possibly ineffective—Alzheimer’s drug.

In a letter to the president, Sanders (I-Vt.) noted that the pharmaceutical company Biogen has placed a $56,000-per-year price tag on Adulhelm, a treatment that the FDA approved in June despite experts’ concerns about the dearth of evidence showing it actually works to slow Alzheimer’s-induced cognitive decline.

“With Democrats in control of the White House, the House, and the Senate, we cannot let that happen.”

“Incredibly and immorally, Biogen… has set the price of this Alzheimer’s drug at $56,000 even though the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, an independent non-profit organization, has estimated that the maximum price of this drug should be no higher than $3,000-$8,400,” the Vermont senator wrote. “This is a perfect example of why Medicare should be negotiating drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry.”

Last month, as Common Dreams reported, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that monthly Medicare Part B premiums would be increased to $170.10 in 2022, up from the current level of $148.50.

CMS officials attributed around half of the planned hike—which would be one of the largest in Medicare’s history—to “additional contingency reserves due to the uncertainty regarding the potential use of the Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm™, by people with Medicare.”

Without the Aduhelm-related increase—which Sanders is pushing Biden to block—the monthly Medicare premium for 2022 would be around $159.

Medicare officials are still in the process of deciding whether the program will cover the exorbitantly priced drug, which the Department of Veterans Affairs decided not to include on its national formulary, citing “lack of evidence of a robust and meaningful clinical benefit.”

Sanders called the planned premium increase “outrageous” and argued that “it would be absolutely unacceptable to force 57 million senior citizens to pay $11.50 more a month in Medicare premiums due to Biogen’s greed and thirst for massive profits for a drug that has not been proven to be effective by the scientific community.”

“The notion that one pharmaceutical company can raise the price of one drug so much that it could negatively impact 57 million senior citizens and the future of Medicare is beyond absurd,” he continued. “With Democrats in control of the White House, the House, and the Senate, we cannot let that happen.”

Specifically, Sanders called on Biden to direct the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to “immediately prevent the $11.50 a month increase in Medicare Part B premiums associated with Aduhelm from going into effect next year.”

The senator also urged Biden to instruct CMS to delay its approval of Aduhelm and “take executive action to reinstate and expand the reasonable pricing clause that was established in 1989 by the National Institutes of Health requiring drug makers to charge reasonable prices for prescription drugs and treatments that receive federal funding.”

Public health campaigners have been warning for months that the FDA’s approval of Adulhelm—which led several agency advisers to resign in protest—could spell disaster for Medicare.

Dr. Michael Carome, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, said in a November statement that “all Part B Medicare beneficiaries soon will be forced to bear significant financial burden as a direct result of the FDA’s reckless decision to approve [Aduhelm], a drug that has not been proven to provide any clinically meaningful benefit to Alzheimer’s.”

“To protect the many Medicare beneficiaries who cannot afford the unacceptable 15% jump in Part B premiums,” Carome added, “CMS must promptly announce that it will exclude [Aduhelm] from coverage under the Medicare program until there is definitive evidence that the drug provides substantial… cognitive benefit to Alzheimer’s disease patients.”

it feels like Bernie is being brave here. He may have asked Biden to do this already and Biden refused. And if Biden does not come around to do this very simple, almost symbolic thing, it will reflect on how little power Bernie may have for the rest of the term. Makes my stomach drop a little just to say that.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BBB, Bernie Sanders, Medicare

Wasted Opportunities and OT 11/24

The Progressive Wing Posted on November 24, 2021 by polarbear4November 24, 2021

How Europe and the US Wasted the Opportunity Presented by the Covid and Climate Crises The silver lining in the gloomy cloud of the pandemic was the opportunity it gave the West to mend its ways. During 2020, rays of light shone through. The European Union was forced to contemplate a fiscal union. Then, it helped remove Donald Trump from the White House. And a global Green New Deal suddenly appeared less far-fetched. Then 2021 came along and drew the blackout curtains. Last week, in its financial stability review, the European Central Bank issued an angst-ridden warning: Europe is facing … Continue reading →

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Thor and OT 11/15

The Progressive Wing Posted on November 14, 2021 by polarbear4November 14, 2021

‘Thor’ pic.twitter.com/v7bQeeCR4V — Ryan Newburn (@SHBackpacker) November 14, 2021 Fell in love with this and figured I’d get an early start on Monday. Photo taken by the tweeter. woo hoo! Have a magnificent week!

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Posted in Uncategorized

Good Guys, Bad Guys? and OT 11/12-13

The Progressive Wing Posted on November 12, 2021 by polarbear4November 12, 2021

Thought provoking shortish article on the contrast between more ancient folk stories and literature and the more modern changes, making characters more rigid and the whole dilemma more black and white. The whole article is worth a read if this sort of thing interests you. Here’s a bit from the end: Stories about good guys and bad guys that are implicitly moral – in the sense that they invest an individual’s entire social identity in him not changing his mind about a moral issue – perversely end up discouraging any moral deliberation. Instead of anguishing over multidimensional characters in conflict … Continue reading →

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