Tag: Healthcare

Hospitals Are Getting Away with Ignoring Price Transparency Rules, Experts Say

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Many hospitals are not complying with laws requiring them to make their healthcare prices publicly available, according to multiple reports, and the Biden administration has so far refrained from issuing penalties.

The Hospital Price Transparency rule, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2021, is designed to promote competition in healthcare markets by requiring hospitals to post their prices, so that consumers can compare and shop between hospitals. The law mandates hospitals to post their pricing data “as a comprehensive machine-readable file with all items and services” as well as “in a display of shoppable services in a consumer-friendly format.”

However, according to recent reports, many hospitals have yet to comply with the rules a year after they have been in effect. An investigation by The Wall Street Journal last week found that many of the nation’s largest hospital chains were not complying with the new rules.

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Doctor Says Minnesota Medical Board Seeks Records of Patients Given Ivermectin

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Dr. Scott Jensen, a veteran Minnesota family physician locked in a protracted dispute with state regulators over COVID-19, is raising alarm that the state medical board is now seeking the records of his patients who were prescribed Ivermectin.

Jensen, who has faced five licensing investigations in 17 months, told Just the News the latest request is “crossing a line” and invades the medical privacy of patients.

“If the Board of Medical Practice gets documentation for me … I think there’s a lot of folks out there that are concerned that their health privacy would not have been protected, and that indeed they can be identified,” he said in an interview.

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Veterans Group Says Biden Administration Undermining Trump-era ‘Mission Act,’ Hurting Veterans in Arizona

Rachel Alexander
Man in uniform saluting

Under the Trump administration, the VA Mission Act (VAMA) was enacted in 2018 to provide veterans access to healthcare outside of the Veterans Administration healthcare system in order to provide more options and speed up accessibility to medical care. Unfortunately, veterans are reporting that the VA under the Biden administration has cut back on that expansion.

VAMA allowed veterans who could not get a medical appointment within 20 days or who had to drive more than 30 minutes to a VA facility to use alternate private healthcare providers instead. This was crucial, because veterans were dying while stuck on waiting lists for medical treatment, Josh Stanwitz of Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) told The Arizona Sun Times.

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Tennessee Rheumatology Society Calls on Congress to Focus on Access to Precision Medicine

Bradley Vasoli
Doctor with arms folded, holding stethescope

In a recent letter, the Tennessee Rheumatology Society and similar organizations from elsewhere in the U.S. have urged members of Congress to prioritize the development of predictive drug-response testing and other elements of precision medicine.

The model of precision medicine, also referred to as personalized care, calls for collecting and assessing information specific to a patient’s condition, including genetics, health history and living environment. Treatments and preventive measures prescribed after such analysis can then be better suited toward each individual. Heretofore, healthcare prescription has usually followed a one-size-fits-all paradigm that doesn’t work best for every patient.

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Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Maine Healthcare Workers Challenging Vaccine Mandate

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Healthcare workers

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal from Maine healthcare workers attempting to block the state’s vaccine mandate.

The group of unvaccinated workers argued that the law violated their First Amendment rights because the law doesn’t have a religious exemption.

According to the Associated Press, Maine is one of three states including New York and Rhode Island that have vaccine mandates that lack religious exemptions for healthcare workers.

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Roughly 40 Percent of Americans Say They Recently Suffered Financial Difficulties, Study Shows

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Soldiers assigned the Ohio National Guard’s HHC 1-148th Infantry Regiment – 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and the Ohio Military Reserve, give the thumbs-up for troopers assigned to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, to send more vehicles through the line at a drive through food distribution event at the Toledo Northwestern Ohio Food Bank, May 9, 2020. The food bank teamed up with the Ohio National Guard and the Highway Patrol to conduct the first-ever drive through event at the food bank. More than 700 Ohio National Guard and Ohio Military Reserve members were activated to provide humanitarian missions in support of Operation Steady Resolve COVID-19 relief efforts, continuing The Ohio National Guard’s long history of supporting humanitarian efforts throughout Ohio and the nation. To date, the Ohio National Guard has assisted in the distribution of more than 9.9 million pounds of food and pantry items to Ohioans in need. (Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Beth Holliker)

Over 40% of U.S. households said they experienced severe financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic, citing difficulties paying bills, credit cards and draining their savings, according to a Harvard University report.

The survey conducted by the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the National Public Radio asked roughly 3,600 participants between July and August about problems they faced during the pandemic and how it affected their lives in recent months. Respondents were asked about financial, healthcare, education and personal safety concerns.

Roughly 30% of adults interviewed said they used up all or most of their savings during the pandemic, while 10% reported they had no savings before the pandemic began, according to the report.  About one in five households had difficulties paying credit cards, loans, and other debts as well as utilities.

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Wisconsin Democrats Renew Efforts to Rollback Act 10

The Center Square
Chris Larson

Ten years after Act 10 became law and changed what Wisconsin school teachers can include in their school contracts, Democratic lawmakers in the state continue to try and roll it back.

Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, and a handful of Democrats this week introduce what they are calling the Collective Bargaining for Public Education Act.

“Wisconsin’s public education sector has a unique and critical role to play in our state. To ensure the effectiveness of these institutions, we rely on highly qualified individuals and their talents to move our state forward,” Larson said in a statement. “The legislation we have introduced establishes the right of employees of school districts, CESAs, technical college districts, and the UW System to collectively bargain over wages, hours, and conditions of employment.”

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Commentary: BidenCare Blows ObamaCare Costs Out of the Water

RealClearWire

PolitiFact’s 2013 “Lie of the Year” came from former President Barack Obama selling ObamaCare, his massive government takeover of healthcare. “If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it,” Obama said. That was a lie. Now President Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) want to expand that lie through their $3.5 trillion federal spending blowout pending in Congress. 

Obama also said we could keep our doctors under ObamaCare. Obama lied to me and millions of other people. When I left a full-time job in 2013 for contract work, I switched to an ObamaCare exchange plan. And no, I didn’t get to keep my doctor on that new plan. I also saw the cost of my ObamaCare plan increase by double digit rates for 2014.

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Ohio Health Care Group Fears Vaccine Mandate Could Be Devastating

The Center Square

President Joe Biden’s plan to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for nursing home employees could damage further an industry struggling in Ohio, the executive director of the Ohio Health Care Association said.

Pete Van Runkle said the group is pro-vaccine but a federal mandate negatively could affect services to some of the most needy people in the state and be damaging to skilled nursing facilities.

“We believe the Biden Administration’s plan, at least articulated in the press conference, would be devastating to Ohio SNFs and to their staff and residents,” Van Runkle said. “While we support vaccination and recognize that it is the most effective defense against COVID-19, the proposed mandate does not account for staffing that is already stretched beyond the breaking point.”

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Tennessee Special Sessions Cost More Than $30K Per Day

The Center Square

If Gov. Bill Lee calls for a special session of the Tennessee Legislature, it will cost state taxpayers more than $30,000 per day.

Each day the House and Senate meet costs $30,750 in per diem for lawmakers, while each round trip for all lawmakers costs taxpayers $15,474 in mileage, according to Connie Ridley, the director of Tennessee’s Office of Legislative Administration.

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Commentary: Instead of Tightening Government’s Grip on Healthcare, Give Americans a Personal Option

RealClearWire
Healthcare workers

As America begins to put the COVID-19 pandemic in the rearview, the lesson from this once-in-a-generation crisis couldn’t be clearer: We need less, not more, central planning in our lives.

For example, a study earlier this year by health economist Casey Mulligan revealed that economic lockdowns mandated by government were counterproductive, given the significant steps workplaces took to prevent the virus from spreading.

The same is true with health care. By now, most folks know the story of how Operation Warp Speed — the previous administration’s unprecedented plan to trim bureaucracy from the vaccine development process — resulted in the creation of multiple safe and effective vaccines in record time. But an equally important storyline is how states took a sledgehammer to their own bureaucracies to expand access to care for those in need.

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Florida Medicaid Enrollment Tops 4.8 Million, Surpassing Forecasted Growth

The Center Square
Florida State Capitol

Florida’s Medicaid enrollment increased by 1% in June with 48,468 low-income residents qualifying for subsidized health care, according to the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).

As of June 30, there were 4,846,412 low-income, elderly and disabled Floridians enrolled in Medicaid, an increase of more than 730,000 since June 2020, AHCA documents in its June enrollment report.

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Dr. Manny Sethi Resumes Role at Healthcare Non-Profit

Cooper Moran

Dr. Manny Sethi, after taking time off to focus on his campaign for U.S. Senate, will resume his role as President and CEO of Healthy Tennessee, the non-profit he started with his wife Maya. 

The non-profit’s goal is to combat growing healthcare challenges facing Tennesseans across the state. To complete its goal, Healthy Tennessee offers free services to encourage preventative health measures. Since its founding, it has provided free health fairs, educational opportunities, and symposiums to thousands of Tennesseans in dozens of locations over the last decade

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DeSantis Seeks Approval of Importation of Canadian Prescription Drugs

Peter D'Abrosca

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is asking the Biden administration to approve a plan that would allow for the importation of FDA-approved Canadian drugs to the Sunshine State, which would lower costs, according to the governor. 

“Today, Governor Ron DeSantis called on the Biden Administration and leadership at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to approve Florida’s Section 804 Importation Proposal (SIP) for Florida’s Canadian Prescription Drug Importation Program,” a Friday press release said

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‘I Still Felt Incomplete’: Detransitioned Men, Women Describe How Frighteningly Easy it Was to Get Trans Surgeries, Hormones

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Doctors room with surgeons

Multiple men and women who have detransitioned described how easy it was for them to get transgender surgeries and hormones in a new CBS segment — and how the surgeries or treatment negatively impacted them.

As lawmakers across the country introduce and pass bills focused on gender transitions, Lesley Stahl interviewed multiple medical experts and former or current transgender people who expressed fear that transgender surgeries and hormone treatments, often irreversible, are too easily attainable.

The CBS host said that the program “interviewed more than 30 detransitioners, who say they also had experienced regret, including these four, who hadn’t met before now.”

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Tennessee Becomes Second State to Ban Trans Hormone Treatments Before Puberty

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child running with trans flag

Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation Tuesday that bans hormone treatment for prepubescent minors.

SB0126 goes into effect immediately, making Tennessee the second state to ban trans procedures for minors, NBC reported. The Arkansas state legislature overrode Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of a bill banning transgender surgeries and procedures for minors in April.

Arkansas’ “Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act,” otherwise known as the SAFE Act, prohibits physicians from performing gender transition procedures, such as puberty blockers or “top” and “bottom” surgeries, on minors before puberty. Transgender surgeries include vaginoplasty, phalloplasty, breast implants, and facial surgeries.

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Healthcare Industry Exempt from Vaccine Passport Ban

Grant Holcomb

On May 3, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 2006 into law banning vaccine passports in Florida, with the lone exception being health care providers and facilities within the healthcare industry.  

DeSantis has been critical of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines (CDC) and vaccine passports being endorsed by states and governors across the country. He has said, long before he signed the legislation, vaccine passports being required for citizens to participate in society will not happen in Florida.

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Biden Administration Facing Media Scrutiny for Not Allowing Press Access to Child Migrant Detention Facilities

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Reporters in the White House Press Briefing Room expressed frustration on Wednesday with the Biden Administration for failing to provide proper information or press access regarding the increasingly overflowing migrant detention facilities on the southern border, as reported by Breitbart.

One reporter grilled White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on this issue, asking “It’s now been three weeks since….you were first asked about getting us some press access” to these facilities, which have been filling up with child migrants in particular. “Why have we still not seen any images inside these facilities?”

Psaki dodged the question, and instead tried to claim that Biden himself is receiving such information in briefings, saying that “he talks to plenty of officials.” Psaki also continued blaming other factors for the lack of information, including various restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the privacy of children who occupy these facilities.

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Teachers Union Boss who Fought to Keep Schools Closed Caught Dropping Kid off at in-Person Preschool

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Remember the Chicago teachers union bigwig who defended school closures while wearing a bathing suit in Baja? We’ve got another one.

In Northern California, the same guy who has been claiming schools are too unsafe to reopen apparently doesn’t practice what he preaches.

A video posted by a Twitter account called “guerillaMomz” shows the president of the Berkeley teachers union dropping his daughter off at in-person preschool.

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Commentary: Vice President Biden, Don’t Take Away Our Healthcare Choice

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President Donald Trump recently painted a picture for the American people of what healthcare reform would look if given a second term in office. 

Trump made a passionate argument for a framework anchored in choice and transparency, elements that stand in stark contrast to Obamacare—which used the power of the federal government to force people to purchase something simply for being alive: government-sanctioned health insurance.   

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Healthcare Activist Says Patients Aren’t Being Allowed Crucial Visitors

Ben Kolodny

A nurse turned medical activist is accusing an Ohio Healthcare Provider of refusing to help her husband after she complained about the Hospital’s visitor policies.

Michelle Estel, says that she received a letter from Fairfield Medical Center (FMC), where her husband was receiving chemotherapy for his lymphoma stating that the hospital could no longer provide care to him since the relationship between he and the hospital was “no longer effective.” 

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Rep. Ilhan Omar, Sen. Bernie Sanders Push Bill Taxing Billionaires 60 Percent to Fund One Year of Healthcare for All

Corinne Murdock

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) and Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) introduced a bill Friday to tax billionaires sixty percent of their pandemic-earned assets. The proposed bill, “Make Billionaires Pay Act,” would use the tax money to cover individual healthcare expenses for one year.

In a tweeted video, Sanders argued billionaires have profited off the coronavirus pandemic while the rest of the country has suffered.

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Former Nashville Healthcare Executive Pleads Guilty to Embezzling More Than $700,000

Anthony Gockowski

The former president of Nashville-based Omnis Health pleaded guilty last week to embezzling $763,887 from the company and evading taxes.

U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee said 50-year-old Robert Burton was charged in February with wire fraud and tax evasion related to his embezzlement scheme. Burton was the president of Omnis Health, which sells diabetic testing kits, from July 2013 to May 2017.

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Commentary: Billionaire Know-It-Alls Side with Insurance Companies on Surprise Medical Billing

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You may have never heard of them, but there is a new, young billionaire couple determined to leave their mark on society. John and Laura Arnold are not interested in the type of philanthropy that builds libraries and college buildings or feeds, clothes, shelters, and educates the poor. No, like George Soros, the Arnolds are on a mission to “change the country,” whether we like it or not. When these arrogant elitists are not busy trying to erode our gun rights, promoting abortion, funding spying on citizens, or trying to upend our electoral system, they are busy trying to cut medical professionals pay. Specifically, the liberal power couple wants to address the issue of surprise medical billing by reducing the amount of money that medical professionals are paid for providing out-of-network care to patients.

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Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Trump’s Health Care Rule For Immigrants

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A federal judge has, at least temporarily, blocked the Trump administration from implementing a rule that would require immigrants prove that they have health insurance or can afford to pay for it.

Judge Michael Simon of the federal district court in Portland, Oregon, issued a nationwide temporary restraining order Saturday, barring President Donald Trump from implementing his health care requirement for foreign nationals applying for legal permanent status.

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Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles Describes the Conditions of Spring Hill Strike After General Motors CEO Abruptly Cuts Off Employees Healthcare Without Notice

Julie Carr

On Thursday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy welcomed Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles to the show to speak on the recent UAW strike at General Motors in Spring Hill, Tennessee. GM CEO, Mary Barra abruptly cut healthcare benefits to their employees sparking an emotional demonstration that required local law enforcement to make arrests.

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Commentary: Congress Must Pass a True Conservative Solution for Surprise Billing

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Congress is poised to address surprise medical billing, an issue that has hurt too many patients in Tennessee and throughout the nation—that is, if they can muster the fortitude to pass a commonsense proposal that upholds the free market ideals conservatives should embrace. However, some of the so-called solutions that have been put forward betray these values and would result in greater government interference into our health care system, which is the last thing we need.

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Poll: 59% of Americans Oppose Government-Provided Health Insurance for Illegal Migrants

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by Chuck Ross   Nearly 60% of Americans oppose making government-provided health insurance available to illegal immigrants, according to a CNN poll released Monday. “Do you think health insurance coverage provided by the government should or should not be available to undocumented immigrants living in the United States?” reads a question in the poll, which was conducted by the polling firm SRSS on behalf of CNN between June 28 and June 30. Of the 1,613 respondents, 59% said they oppose making government health insurance programs available to illegal immigrants. Thirty-eight percent supported it, while 3% expressed no opinion. The question matches one asked in Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate. All 10 Democrats raised their hands when asked whether they support making government-directed health insurance available to illegal immigrants. “A lot of you have been talking about government health care plans you proposed in one form or another. This is a show of hands question and hold them up so people can see. Raise your hand if your government plan would provide coverage for undocumented immigrants,” debate moderator Savannah Guthrie said. Candidates like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders would include illegal immigrants in a Medicare for All plan, which would replace private health insurance with a single-payer…

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