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Tag Archives: health care

9/9 News Roundup & OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on September 9, 2021 by BennySeptember 9, 2021

Good morning birdies!

We’ll open the nest with a tweet by Dave Dayen, who mentions a recent HHS report that could have political muscle…but doesn’t.

On march-in rights (seizing patents of unaffordable drugs and giving them to generic rivals), the report says only "HHS will continue to give such petitions due consideration." It's an afterthought, rather than a way to get the political system moving.

— David Dayen (@ddayen) September 9, 2021

More news, tweets, perspectives in comments. Bernie’s 80th party is still going on in this thread.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged health care, open threads

5/11 News Roundup & OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on May 11, 2021 by BennyMay 11, 2021

Bonjour! Let’s star the thread with an op-ed by Pramila Jayapal and Bernie Sanders Concerning Medicare
We must fix the gaping holes in Medicare

More than 55 years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare — one of the most popular and successful government programs in our nation’s history — into law. Before the enactment of Medicare, about half of our senior citizens were uninsured and roughly 35 percent lived in poverty. Today, everyone in America aged 65 or older is guaranteed health-care benefits through Medicare regardless of income or medical condition, while the official poverty rate for seniors is now less than 9 percent.

That is the good news. The bad news is that, since its inception in 1965, Medicare has not covered such basic health-care needs as hearing, dental care and vision. The result: Millions of senior citizens have teeth rotting in their mouths, are unable to hear what their children and grandchildren say or can’t read a newspaper because of failing eyesight. It is a cruel irony that older Americans do not have coverage for these benefits at the time when they need it the most.

The lack of benefits for hearing, dental and vision has severe consequences for worsening a whole host of other medical conditions. Researchers at Johns Hopkins found that mild hearing loss doubled dementia risk. Moderate loss tripled risk, and people with a severe hearing impairment were five times more likely to develop dementia. Aging affects teeth as well, as gum tissue naturally recedes exposing roots to decay and infection. Poor oral health and untreated gum disease leads to increased serious risk of heart attacks, strokes, rheumatoid arthritis and worsened diabetes. Aging also takes a toll on vision, leading to injury, cognitive impairment and depression.

And yet, in the richest country in the world, the outrageous reality is that 75 percent of senior citizens who suffer from hearing loss do not have a hearing aid because of the prohibitive cost. Sixty-five percent of senior citizens have no dental insurance and no idea how they will be able to afford to go to a dentist. More than a quarter of senior citizens in this country are missing all of their natural teeth, with many unable to properly digest the food that they eat. Over 70 percent of Americans 65 and older have untreated gum disease. We simply cannot tolerate this any longer.

The original vision of Medicare was to provide quality health-care coverage to our nation’s seniors. Today, it’s past time to fix the gaping holes that are the lack of coverage for dental, vision and hearing, which are so critical, especially as we age. We must do what the overwhelming majority of Americans want us to do: expand Medicare to cover hearing aids, dental care and eyeglasses.

But expanding benefits is not the only thing we need to do. Too many older workers are uninsured or underinsured, which is why we must lower the eligibility age for Medicare to at least 60. Doing so would give 23 million older workers the security of knowing they can finally address illness and injury and not worry about how they will pay for a doctor. This is not only the right thing to do from a public policy perspective; it is also what the overwhelming majority of Americans support. That’s why we are joined by over 100 colleagues in the House and the Senate — including those in some of the most vulnerable districts in the country — who last month asked President Biden to include these critical proposals in his American Families Plan.

Expanding Medicare and lowering the eligibility age will cost money. So, how are we going to pay for it? There is an easy, popular and necessary answer: by taking on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and demanding that it stops ripping off U.S. taxpayers by charging us the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Medicare and the rest of the federal government should do what Veterans Affairs already does, and what every major country on Earth does: negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower the outrageously high price of prescription drugs. It is a travesty that in the United States, one vial of insulin has gone from costing $21 in 1999 to $332 in 2019, reflecting a price increase of more than 1,000 percent.

By setting drug prices at the median price of other major countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, the Congressional Budget Office estimates we’ll save taxpayers at least $500 billion over a 10-year period. Additional cost-saving measures can raise the total saved to at least $650 billion. With those savings, we can finally make drug prices affordable for all Americans, give Americans over 60 the security of having Medicare, and expand the benefits that Medicare provides to include dental, vision and hearing. Let’s do what is wildly popular with the American people and get this done.

More perspectives, news, tweets, videos, etc in the comments.

Posted in Bernie Sanders, News, Open Thread | Tagged health care, Medicare, Pramila Jayapal

1/28 Not Me. Us. Why It Resonates & Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on January 28, 2020 by BennyJanuary 28, 2020

Last night I mentioned there would be some new videos coming out. Sanders Campaign announced there would be some new ad buys too.

Here’s the newest one, released a couple of hours ago:

When I see the surprise health care bills, I remember e-mailing the scheduling coordinator to put me in touch with someone to give me financial figures for what my insurance covered vs what I had to pay out of pocket for my total knee joint replacement. No one could give me a straight answer. Finally, I figured out on my own what extra co-pays were, and all of the incidentals, such as:

  • a better water therapy system to ice my leg ($200)
  • cleansing sheets to prep for surgery
  • a cane ($12)
  • co-pays for allergy tests to ensure I wouldn’t have any issues with the implants $120.00)
  • co-pays for home health care by a nurse and physical therapy (PT), both at home and 2x weekly outpatient PT ($320)
  • a walker ($10, but the hospital billed the insurance company $195 for a $10 item)/li>
  • a plastic leg sleeve to wear over my knee wound while showering
  • prescriptions ($90)

Other incidentals not paid by insurance include my med CBD card (and caregiver’s card), CBD related medications, doctor’s visit to qualify for medical CBD, and other supplements.

The bill was $83,000, and it looks to be aligned with what Medicare pays for reimbursement to most hospitals. I paid $350 for my hospital stay that took care of most of that. So except for more PT, my insurance isn’t much better than Medicare, and we still have to go through so many hoops to get approval for the number of sessions, etc. I just get bumped in the line a little sooner.

First hand, I saw what happened to a 93-year-old woman who broke her leg. Other than giving her low dose meds, there was not a surgeon available until midday the next day. When Sanders says he wants to see improvements as well as an expansion of Medicare, I see the two must go hand in hand. She was in pain all night, but didn’t complain very much. Someone had given me a rose while in the hospital, and I left it for that older woman to foster her continued courage.

Exercise and nutrition are a big part of the process. I dropped 38 lbs before surgery and lost another 16 since then. It costs more to eat less because healthy food and supplements are more expensive than processed food. I also joined Weight Watchers for Free, but pay for digital membership for keeping track of my food. In addition, the Bennys have a couples’ membership to a community recreational center, and I tried Curves for a while (which is very good for those of us who wear Silver Sneakers; I just wished my organization offered wellness plans such as Silver Sneakers). I was able to plan ahead 3 months.

I banked up nearly 3 months of sick leave and used about 2 months of it. Could I’ve returned to work after a month? Yes, if I had to. Would I have been sufficiently ready for all-day pain still at 5 weeks PO? For me, absolutely not.

When Bernie had his heart attack, he was fighting for us. And I have verbalized more than once to my primary care physician that some of the rules for the healthcare system seemed laborious for both doctors and patients.

That’s part of my Bernie story.

What other news or thoughts for today? Consider this an open thread.

Holy… https://t.co/K9PQUTtinP

— Brent Welder (@BrentWelder) January 28, 2020

Posted in 2020 Elections, grassroots | Tagged Bernie Sanders, health care, NotMeUs

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