Healthcare Expenses, Medical Debt, and Mifepristone
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Your comments, suggestions, and research topics are greatly appreciated via the comment button below. One reader has asked for an article on NARCAN and that is in the works.
Healthcare Spending - Up Up and Away
When we started lecturing on Universal Healthcare in about 2020 the US expenditures on healthcare were about $3.7 Trillion/year. Now in 2023 healthcare spending in the United States reached an historic high of $4.5 trillion in 2022, or $13,493 per person, according to a new report by the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The 4.1 percent increase was driven largely by spending on Medicaid and private insurance, as the rate of Americans with health coverage hit a record 92 percent. Federal officials estimate that there are roughly 26.6 million uninsured individuals nationwide.
Of Course, if we had Universal Healthcare, like the greatly improved Medicare for All Act, HR 3421 we could save over $600 billion each and every year. $200 billion on prescriptions and $400 billion on overhead according to the non partisan Congressional budget office.
EXTRA CREDIT ACTION
We can remind our Member of Congress and Senators that the healthcare spending is now almost $14,000 for every many woman and child in the US and over 8% of us have no health insurance.
The CBO says that HR 3421 will save about $600 billion/year for all of us and provide better care more widely in the US, especially in rural communities and medical deserts. Let them know you strongly support it and want them to as well. Their contact info is in the Resources section below.
Or use RESISTBOT and send the text message SIGN PYWYTN to 50409 to send the email below.
“I am your constituent and I want you to know that healthcare spending is now almost $14,000 for every many woman and child in the US and over 8% of us have no health insurance. According to the non-partisan Congressional budget office we the people could be saving $600 billion/year instead. $400 billion on wasted overhead and $200 billion on prescriptions if we had Universal Healthcare, like HR 3421. It will also provide better care more widely in the US, especially in rural communities and medical deserts. I strongly urge you to help ensure it passes and help this be the best country we can possibly be. Thank you.”
Government Recouping Prescription Overcharges to Seniors
I know we have described the Medicare Part D plan as a prescription drug plan for Medicare recipients. If you want it you have to buy it. There is a lot wrong with it and we will do that on another day. There are medications Medicare Part B (medical) covers. Flue shots, COVID shots and many others. You don’t have to buy a part D plan for those specific medications.
President Biden went to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center today to announce that dozens of pharmaceutical companies could be forced to pay rebates to Medicare for price hikes on prescription drugs, according to the White House.
For the last quarter of 2023, the prices of 48 Medicare Part B drugs rose faster than inflation, violating the terms of the Inflation Reduction Act, the administration said. The rebate payments are expected to save seniors who take the drugs between $1 and $2,786 per dose on their medication. :)
Medical Debt
I have written about medical debt and the burden it creates on families and society. Here is good news. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill making New York the second state to remove medical debt from consumer credit reports, as the Biden administration attempts to pursue a similar measure nationwide. :)
Abortion and Mifepristone
Mifepristone is a medication used for abortion healthcare in combination with misoprostol. 53% of all abortions use that combination. Mifepristone is safer than tylenol. Yet a biased anti abortion judge in Texas has ruled it illegal in the US. Judge Kaczmweryk ruled that the FDA did not exercise due diligence in approving the drug and so it should be removed. Note that the same anti-science crap can be used to declare vaccines illegal so watch out.
Anyway the case has made its way to the US Supreme Court. The Biden administration and the manufacturer of mifepristone have asked the justices to overturn a lower-court ruling that would make it more difficult to obtain the widely used medication. Oral arguments in the case will probably be scheduled for the spring, with a decision by the end of June — further elevating the issue of abortion during the 2024 campaign season.
The justices will review a ruling from the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that said the Food and Drug Administration failed to follow proper procedures when it began loosening some regulations for the pill, like allowing it to be mailed directly to patients. In April, the high court put that decision on hold, allowing existing rules for prescribing and distributing mifepristone to remain in place nationwide while the litigation continues.
The panel won’t consider a separate challenge to the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone in 2000. That means that whatever the Supreme Court decides will not remove the medication from the market but could make it harder to access.
RESOURCES
Healthcare Advocacy (Us)
Website
Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare
Healthcare Advocacy Reading List
Find My Elected Officials
Contact the White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Contact State and Federal Representatives
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: democracy.io
Important Healthcare Resources
League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit
Organizations to Contact
National Nurses United Medicare4All
Physicians for a National Health Program
One Payer States
Healthcare Now
Reproductive Health
NARAL - Pro Choice America
Charley. chatbot abortion resource - make sure to use a secure incognito browser if you live in a state that has banned abortion
Planned Parenthood
Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.
United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.
Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.
If you need financial help with an abortion try abortionfunds.org
Claims Denials and Appeals & What to Do
Appeal a Healthcare Decision
Appeal/Negotiate a Hospital Bill
Disinformation Management
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency
Save Democracy
Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Cravens
RESISTBOT
Link to the RESISTBOT site to learn more
Link to Chop Wood, Carry Water RESISTBOT write up
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This one’s about medication shortages. I found myself facing down one of those for more than a week, and for the first medication in my life that I can’t do without. And this medication has been around since the 1990’s.
Dofetilide is an anti-arrhythmic medication to treat atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter. Over the last 3 months I’ve had 3 Emergency Department visits and a hospital stay when a first-line treatment didn’t work. This medication is holding me stable and is keeping me away from the Emergency room or worse. It’s supposed to succeed in about 70% of patients with my condition.
When the time came for a refill, I was told by my pharmacy it was on backorder. Three pharmacy phone calls later and after almost a week’s delay from the original promised date, they were willing to order it from another supplier. But then they filled the 30 day prescription instead of the 90 day one. Since this is in short supply, I had to have my MediCare Advantage plan call the pharmacy to have them unwind the first order and provide the remaining 60 day supply.
After a sigh of relief, I just got a text message. The medication is on backorder and delivery time has slipped 2 days since my phone call this afternoon. I called and spoke to a pharmacist who told me that even though I found several manufacturers who have it in stock, they must go through one of two intermediate suppliers to get it from a different manufacturer. Pharmacy benefit managers? They said they will follow up on Monday to get it ordered.
Many cardiac patients depend on this drug. Going off of it for an alternative is risky and would require another hospitalization. Surely my MediCare Advantage program would be on top of this to prevent that extra expense. Or would they? And how many other essential medications are handled in this hit or miss fashion? What happens to people who are less able to follow up than I can? And, who can fix this?
I’ve contacted my cardiologist, my Congresswoman and the White House. Is the active ingredient made overseas? Is there conflict between manufacturers with some holding the power of first supply?
This is America, isn’t it? We’re not a third world country, or are we?
Jersey shore in Neptune, NJ and Community Medical Center in Toms River.
He was not incontinent and could feed himself, cut his own meat, order his food, and get in and out of bed. They refused him all of those things, including giving him a recliner. Community medicine wouldn’t feed him for four days. 99 1/2!! Now he is unable to do any of those things himself. Hospital staff need to treat patients as individuals, not as invalids. Assisted living facilities need to stop sending 99 year olds to hospitals for falls when the person is unhurt, throws up from a weak stomach after giving medicine and no food, or faulty oxygen meters. Hospitals need to stop heparin and bloodwork when a 99 year old sleeps 18 hours a day with no blood clots, bloodwork numbers remain the same after 3 analyses and there is no medicine changes designated. This is patient abuse and Medicare abuse causing taxpayers millions. Catheters create incontinence… deregulation and retraining is needed. Now a healthy 99 has lost 20 pounds, is weak and refuses to eat!