Medical Patents Under the Microscope
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A Good Day To Advocate for Better Healthcare
If there are subjects you’d like to see or improvements made, please let me know using the comment button below. I received a note from a professor friend of mine this morning, Angela, who asked that we cover insurance denials. I will begin working on that shortly.
Videos of these newsletters appear on Youtube on this channel. They are on hold until early June.
PNHP Report on Corporate Insurers
PNHP published an important new report, “Taking Advantage: How Corporate Health Insurers Harm America’s Seniors.” Not only did they analyze dozens of previous studies documenting harm to patients in the so-called “Medicare Advantage” program, they also spoke with frustrated beneficiaries, family members, physicians, and even a hospital administrator.
Their personal stories demonstrate that behind every statistic are real people being put through intense hardship—all so insurance corporations can pad their quarterly profits. They bring to light how insurers:
Restrict access to medical providers through limited networks
Deny life-saving treatment that patients and physicians agree is necessary
Demand “prior authorization” for care that is routine under Traditional Medicare
Require high out-of-pocket spending, resulting in unexpected medical bills at the worst possible time
These are all the same techniques used by commercial insurers in all healthcare policies.
P.S. I was just informed that a neighbor, a seamstress, with arthritis in her shoulders went through 8 months of prior authorization denials. Her doctor wanted her to have injections to the shoulders to increase the viscosity of the fluid so she could move her arms and go back to work. 8 months, 3 denials and when a lawyer called the insurance company they decided to approve. Single Payer - that’s the answer.
PNHP Webinar with Senator Elizabeth Warren June 3rd
On Monday, June 3 at 8:00 p.m. EDT, Physicians for a National Health Program will host a webinar, “Taking Advantage: How corporate health insurers harm America’s seniors” featuring a special guest appearance from U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren.
ACTION
While we are thinking of it let’s remind Congress about how commercial insurers treat us and remind them that a designed from the ground up national single payer system is the solution. Their contact info is here, https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials.
Or Use RESISTBOT, by texting SIGN PGDHCC to 50409 to send this message.
“I am your constituent and I want to remind you that commercial health insurance companies:
Restrict access to medical providers through limited networks
Deny life-saving treatment that patients and physicians agree is necessary
Demand “prior authorization” for care that is routine
Require high out-of-pocket spending, resulting in unexpected medical bills at the worst possible time
There is a solution. It is a national single payer healthcare system such as HR 3421. I want you to read it, cosponsor it (if you have thank you) and see that it moves forward. This is a kitchen table issue for me.”
Medical Patents
And speaking of Senator Warren, she and another Democratic lawmaker said they had sent a letter urging the Department of Commerce to finalize its policy on when the government can seize patents on drugs and other products whose research it funded.
The Biden administration in December announced it was setting a new policy that would allow it to seize patents for technologies developed with government funding if it believed their prices were too high. Nearly every drug that has come to market in the past decade was funded with public research money.
The government will decide whether to employ march-in rights (which they have), which have never been used before, to allow the government to grant additional licenses to third parties for products developed using federal funds if the original patent holder does not make them available to the public on reasonable terms.
Senators Warren and Bernie Sanders sent a letter to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce earlier this month criticizing its efforts to derail the policy. The chamber has spent 7 figures to stop the government from exercising its rights and protecting the public from price gouging. (Reuters)
United Health Cyber Attack Update
Sen. Ron Wyden is urging regulators to investigate UnitedHealth Group for what he termed "negligent" security practices, which he believes contributed to the February cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare.
On May 30, Mr. Wyden wrote a letter to the FTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission asking the agencies to probe UnitedHealth Group for "negligent cybersecurity practices."
"UHG has publicly confirmed that the hackers gained their initial foothold by logging into a remote access server that was not protected with multi-factor authentication (MFA)," Mr. Wyden wrote. "MFA is an industry-standard cyber defense that protects against hackers who have guessed or stolen a valid username and password for a system."
Mr. Wyden also argued that the attack could have been averted if the company had adhered to industry best practices.
"UHG's failure to follow those best practices, and the harm that resulted, is the responsibility of the company's senior officials including UHG's CEO and board of directors," he wrote. "Accordingly, I urge the FTC and SEC to investigate UHG's numerous cybersecurity and technology failures, to determine if any federal laws under your jurisdiction were broken, and, as appropriate, hold these senior officials accountable."
On May 1, UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty testified before the Senate Finance Committee, disclosing that MFA was not implemented at the time of the Change hack.
Since the hack, Mr. Witty said all of the company's external-facing systems have multifactor authentication enabled.
On a personal note - I have been using multi-factor authentication on important accounts for more than 5 years.
Most places to which you have to log in have it available. If it’s an app - check for it in settings. Text/email back is one way - having a separate authenticator app is far better since the T-Mobile attack a few years ago. Google has an authenticator app and so do many others. If you need more details send me a note and I will provide them.
Resources
Find My Elected Officials
Contact State and Federal Representatives - phone and email
Healthcare Advocacy (Us) Website
Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare - Healthcare Advocacy Reading List
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
Learn About Healthcare Policy
The Kaiser Family Foundation has put together an online course about healthcare policy. It is called Health Policy 101. It is free and here is the link to their course page. I will keep this note here for a few days.
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