Network Archives

UK’s former top drug official: Coke-head bankers caused financial crisis

"The former top drugs adviser to Britain’s parliament told UK newspaper The Telegraph on Sunday that risk-taking behaviors behind the financial crisis of 2008 were driven by excessive cocaine consumption by the world’s banking elite. Nutt was fired from his post as Britain’s top drugs adviser in 2009, after he criticized the government’s drug policies for inhibiting research into Schedule I substances like psilocybin, which Nutt has studies for its potential to alleviate symptoms of depression. At the time he’d said that consuming the unadulterated, pure form of the drug ecstasy is safer than riding a horse. Nutt was ordered to apologize for his statement on ecstasy." Continue reading →

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Taxpayer Dollars Are Helping Monsanto Sell Seeds Abroad

"The US State Department has been essentially acting as a de facto global-marketing arm of the ag-biotech industry, complete with figures as high-ranking as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton mouthing industry talking points as if they were gospel. The FWW report is based on an analysis of diplomatic cables, written between 2005 and 2009 and released in the big Wikileaks document dump of 2010. FWW sums it up: 'a concerted strategy to promote agricultural biotechnology overseas, compel countries to import biotech crops and foods that they do not want, and lobby foreign governments—especially in the developing world—to adopt policies to pave the way to cultivate biotech crops.'" Continue reading →

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5 GMO Myths Busted

"Every year, a greater and greater percentage of our food supply sources back to genetically modified ingredients. Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, DuPont and the other biotech giants have made GMOs into a multi-billion dollar industry and unsurprisingly have launched one of the largest pr campaigns in the history of the food industry to convince the public that their products are safe, healthy and beneficial. Let's examine five of the main claims of this PR campaign and see how they stack up to reality." Continue reading →

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The Man Who Was Treated for $17,000 Less

"Most people are unaware that if they don't use insurance, they can negotiate upfront cash prices with hospitals and providers substantially below the 'list' price. Doctors are happy to do this. We get paid promptly, without paying office staff to wade through the insurance-payment morass. So we canceled the surgery and started the scheduling process all over again, this time classifying my patient as a 'self-pay' (or uninsured) patient. He underwent his operation the very next day, with a total bill of just a little over $3,000, including doctor and hospital fees. He ended up saving $17,000 by not using insurance." Continue reading →

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Gel used for buttocks enhancements blamed for 15 deaths in Venezuela

"A gel used in a popular form of plastic surgery in Venezuela has been blamed for at least 15 deaths in the past two years, Agence France-Presse reported on Monday. The procedure, which involves injecting the synthetic polymer beneath the skin, is intended to enhance the buttocks region by allowing the gel to spread through the tissue. Support groups said to AFP that more than 40,000 women have undergone the surgery, seemingly owing to what it called devotion to 'the cult of the body.' But, AFP reported, removing the gel is an experimental treatment that costs $6,000, compared to the $800 cost to get 500 milligrams of having it put in, despite the apparent health risks." Continue reading →

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E-ppointments

"Right after 8.30am is a busy time for the ill in Britain. People must call up in the morning to book an appointment later in the afternoon. Come opening time, the phone lines are jammed with hacking, spluttering sick people trying to beg an audience with their doctor. Being able to book appointments online and outside of office hours not only makes life easier for patients, but gives them more choice. Zesty, a start-up based in London, has signed up 200 dental practices across ten London boroughs since launching at the end of April. Investors including Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, have put $95m into ZocDoc, an American health tech company, since its launch in 2007." Continue reading →

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ObamaCare Pushes Big Medical Practice Changes

"More than half the doctors are now working for hospitals and other institutions, rather than in private practice. Hospitals are using their new doctor employees to get more money out of Medicare. The other major unintended consequence is the boost to consumer-directed health care. The cheapest plans are going to have deductibles of $5,000 or more. Millions of patients are going to be buying care with their own money, rather than with a third-party payer’s money. Accenture predicts the number of walk-in clinics is going to double in the next few years. They are doing what the ACOs are unlikely to do: lowering costs, increasing quality, and improving access to care." Continue reading →

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Don’t Be Fooled, ObamaCare Will Drive Up Unemployment and Healthcare Costs

"To the extent that prices are prevented from rising, it will create enhanced rationing by waiting. And almost anything patients and doctors to do circumvent the cost of waiting will also add to the money cost of care. For example, an increasing number of primary care doctors are becoming concierge doctors. For a fee of about $2,000 a year, patients get same day or next day appointments, more time with the physician and someone who acts as their agent in dealing with other parts of a complex heath care system. Yet physicians who become concierge doctors typically replace a practice that sees about 2,500 patients with one that sees only about 500." Continue reading →

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2009 Promise of Cheaper Health Care Has Morphed Into 2013 Price Hikes

"Remember when President Obama promised back in 2009 that his health care reform plan would cut insurance premiums for the average family by $2,500? Four years later, those promised cuts have morphed into admissions of price hikes. According to a new study from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 70 percent of chief financial officers cite health costs as their top concern, up from 51 percent last year, mainly because of what they expect Obamacare to do to costs. Many smaller companies are contemplating dropping family coverage — and will instead offer benefits to workers only, thanks to the higher costs on the way because of Obamacare. Continue reading →

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Ex-Obama administration healthcare official joins lobby firm

"Yvette Fontenot will join Avenue Solutions as a partner. The firm is a boutique Democratic lobby shop with a specialty in healthcare, representing some of the country’s biggest insurers and healthcare providers. Fontenot recently left the Department of Health and Human Services, where she was deputy director of the Office of Health Reform. She also worked as senior policy director in the White House Office of Health Reform, where she helped to implement the Affordable Care Act. Fontenot has also held several positions on Capitol Hill, including as a professional staff member for the Senate Finance Committee where she helped develop the healthcare reform law." Continue reading →

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