Hors d'oeuvres Suitable for the Super Bowl
I ' ve never been a big sports fan, in part, because the ticket prices to attend virtually any professional sporting event is beyond ridiculous. & nbsp;I remember attending my first professional baseball game with my Dad at Fenway Park when I was a kid. & nbsp;That event remains one of the most memorable events I spent with my father when I was growing up. & nbsp;But the prices to attend games like that are now simply out-of-reach for many families, and a lot has to do with the salaries for players, although the leagues can afford that with the costly TV broadcasting rights deals they sign for the games. & nbsp;Its little ...
Source: Scott's Web Log - January 31, 2014 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2014 Appetizers Crudite Hors d ' oeuvres Super Bowl Source Type: blogs
Hors d'oeuvres Suitable for the Super Bowl
I've never been a big sports fan, in part, because the ticket prices to attend virtually any professional sporting event is beyond ridiculous. I remember attending my first professional baseball game with my Dad at Fenway Park when I was a kid. That event remains one of the most memorable events I spent with my father when I was growing up. But the prices to attend games like that are now simply out-of-reach for many families, and a lot has to do with the salaries for players, although the leagues can afford that with the costly TV broadcasting rights deals they sign for the games. Its little wonder...
Source: Scott's Web Log - January 31, 2014 Category: Diabetes Tags: 2014 Appetizers Crudite Hors d ' oeuvres Super Bowl Source Type: blogs
Recent FDA Moves Suggests Agency Is Again Taking Its Role of " Protecting Public Health " Seriously
As a patient with type 1 diabetes, I have found myself at odds with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a number of things the agency has done in recent years (actually since the 1980s), and perhaps even more so in recent years. & nbsp;In fact, I once joked (only halfheartedly) that the acronym " FDA " stood for Fatal Drug Administration. & nbsp;Indeed, for a number of years (under the leadership of chief Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach especially, he pushed for FDA to serve what he called its " clients " , meaning the companies that the FDA regulates, rather than protecting public safety). & nbsp;Staff in areas for ...
Source: Scott's Web Log - January 28, 2014 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2014 Antibiotics Crisco FDA Trans Fats Source Type: blogs
Recent FDA Moves Suggests Agency Is Again Taking Its Role of "Protecting Public Health" Seriously
As a patient with type 1 diabetes, I have found myself at odds with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a number of things the agency has done in recent years (actually since the 1980s), and perhaps even more so in recent years. In fact, I once joked (only halfheartedly) that the acronym "FDA" stood for Fatal Drug Administration. Indeed, for a number of years (under the leadership of chief Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach especially, he pushed for FDA to serve what he called its "clients", meaning the companies that the FDA regulates, rather than protecting public safety). Staff in areas for brand new...
Source: Scott's Web Log - January 28, 2014 Category: Diabetes Tags: 2014 Antibiotics Crisco FDA Trans Fats Source Type: blogs
Little-Noticed Diabetes Care Developments of 2013
As we approach the new year (2014!), although I haven't blogged as much as I did a number of years ago, there were a few things which, in my opinion, deserve acknowledgement as they relate to diabetes care. One of the biggest (perhaps), yet less acknowledged, developments was mergers and acquisitions in the diabetes care space. Although I follow this stuff, sometimes even I lose track of who acquired who and what their new names are (when they change the name of the company).Bristol Myers Squibb: In Again, Out Again (... Of Diabetes Care, That Is). Novo's Danish Delusions.My readers may recall that last y...
Source: Scott's Web Log - January 1, 2014 Category: Diabetes Tags: 2013 2014 Annual Review AstraZeneca Bristol Myers Squibb CanAm FDA JDRF Lilly Medtronic NIDDK NIH Nipro Novo Nordisk Teva Wal-Mart Source Type: blogs
On World Diabetes Day, A Tribute to Mary Hunt
The diabetes community lost another member recently. I knew her as Mary Hunt, and she died at age 66. She had been hospitalized for illness recently, so her passing was not a complete surprise to her family, but its always sad when we lose someone of any age. Her husband Dave shared the news via email the other day. In many ways, Mary was one of the developers of today's Diabetes Online Community. She helped start the Diabetics International Foundation [http://members.tripod.com/diabetics_world/], which worked tirelessly for the many patients who suffered hypoglycemia unawareness attributed to...
Source: Scott's Web Log - November 14, 2013 Category: Diabetes Tags: 2013 Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust Mary Hunt Mary Sebastian-Hunt Source Type: blogs
On World Diabetes, A Tribute to Mary Hunt
The diabetes community lost another member recently. I knew her as Mary Hunt, and she died at age 66. She had been hospitalized for illness recently, so her passing was not a complete surprise to her family, but its always sad when we lose someone of any age. Her husband Dave shared the news via email the other day. In many ways, Mary was one of the developers of today's Diabetes Online Community. She helped start the Diabetics International Foundation [http://members.tripod.com/diabetics_world/], which worked tirelessly for the many patients who suffered hypoglycemia unawareness attributed to...
Source: Scott's Web Log - November 14, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott S Source Type: blogs
Should Have Known Better ...
One would think I should have learned my lessons over the years in maneuvering through the byzantine world of American healthcare delivery (trust me, its not a SYSTEM, folks, but a world where every party involved tries to skip a little extra profit off the ridiculously high premiums Americans already pay), but I routinely find out that's not the case.Over the years, I have shared stories of how I had like 4 different healthcare plans over the past six years yet have been with my employer for the past fifteen, and it wasn't because I switched plans in open enrollment because the only choice I had was to be covered or not. ...
Source: Scott's Web Log - November 8, 2013 Category: Diabetes Tags: 2013 co-pays Dexcom Lisinopril OptumRx United Healthcare Source Type: blogs
Americans and The Affordable Care Act
Discussions about the cost have generally ignored this not so little fact; many people can now buy insurance who were discriminated against in the past, a major, major factor in the reasons why rates for many were so low in the past. Now, if you have diabetes, you CAN buy healthcare insurance, whereas in the past, you were out of luck. Is that how free markets are supposed to work?Indeed, several states including California, Colorado and Connecticut which are running their own exchanges have reported significant interest. Connecticut, for example, reported that the number of of people looking into healthc...
Source: Scott's Web Log - October 7, 2013 Category: Diabetes Tags: healthcare plans healthcare reform universal healthcare 2013 Obamacare Source Type: blogs
No D-Day Blog Post 2013
My friend George Simmons (a.k.a. Ninjabetic) created No D-Day a while back and I've done most if not all of them, plus its probably one of my favorite meme-themed posts because its supposed to have nothing to do with diabetes, even though I probably have plenty to discuss on that today, too (for example, I've been a Dexcom user since early this year, but I'm not allowed to talk about that in today's post, so I'll zip it on that topic for now).My friends who know me know that in a addition to being a retro pop culture junkie (hence my other blog, hgm.sstrumello.com, I'm something of a culture vulture, too. I go to the...
Source: Scott's Web Log - October 2, 2013 Category: Diabetes Tags: No D-Blog Day 2013 Source Type: blogs
No D-Day Blog Post 3013
My friend George Simmons (a.k.a. Ninjabetic) created No D-Day a while back and I've done most if not all of them, plus its probably one of my favorite meme-themed posts because its supposed to have nothing to do with diabetes, even though I probably have plenty to discuss on that today, too (for example, I've been a Dexcom user since early this year, but I'm not allowed to talk about that in today's post, so I'll zip it on that topic for now).My friends who know me know that in a addition to being a retro pop culture junkie (hence my other blog, hgm.sstrumello.com, I'm something of a culture vulture, too. I go to the...
Source: Scott's Web Log - October 1, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott S Source Type: blogs
Stripping Safely and What Medicare Has to Do With It
At this point, I won't try to repeat what others in the community have already said about the "Strip Safely" [http://www.stripsafely.com/] campaign other than to reiterate some of what I think are their key points, as I have a few points I think are worth noting. The folks at diaTribe have a very well-written summary of what's at stake (see HERE). Also, my friend Riva Greenberg discussed the recent move by Medicare in her Huffington Post column (see http://huff.to/13avkif for details).Let me take a step back and give you some relevant background which is important for my readers to understand the issues.Back in...
Source: Scott's Web Log - August 21, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott S Source Type: blogs
On RSS Readers, Divorce and Marriage
In just a few days, Google Reader will be history. I've used it to create over 18,000 Tweets, so yes, I will miss Google Reader. The end has pushed me into a divorce (or maybe it's just a separation?!) — from Google. I describe my Google divorce as kind of like when a married couple with children decide to separate … they still have to see their exes for the sake of the kids (and I still have my blogs with Google's Blogger, for now anyway), and it may be a cordial, but not quite blissful separation, but is still necessary.A number of my fellow diabetes blogging peers have already migrated from Google'...
Source: Scott's Web Log - June 28, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott S Source Type: blogs
Coming Soon: Ever-More-Concentrated Varieties of Insulin. Buyers Beware!
Recently, Lilly held what it called its second diabetes social media summit, although in truth, the company did not fly anyone into Indianapolis for the first summit, so in reality, this was the company's first. I was not invited, which frankly doesn't surprise me, because I've been critical of the company and I honestly think they're terrified of me - seriously, they were looking for people who wouldn't challenge them on much (like their decision to outsource some insulin manufacturing away from its own plant in Indianapolis to Hospira in McPherson, Kansas only to bring it back in-house this year), and that's probab...
Source: Scott's Web Log - June 24, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott S Source Type: blogs
ALL People With Diabetes Should Write to Their Senators About Signing the Casey-Burr Letter Today!
Today, I got an email from JDRF about asking me to contact my Senators to sign onto the so-called Casey-Burr letter to maintain a strong commitment to medical research funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Richard Burr (R-NC), who, incidentally, happen to be working on a nice, bi-partisan initiative (something we don't see very much of these days in U.S. Congress) asking fellow Senators to sign their letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee supporting funding for NIH in fiscal year (FY) 2013. The letter requests that the Senate Appropriations Committee maintain a...
Source: Scott's Web Log - April 19, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott S Source Type: blogs
