New York MTA Forbade Employees from Protecting Themselves by Wearing Masks
Randal O'TooleLast week, I pointed out a recent report that blamed much of the spread of COVID-19 in New York City on the subway system. Recently, I ’ve collected a series of memos suggesting that New York ’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is specifically culpable in this spread.During the2012 influenza epidemic, the MTA issued a policy directive stating that the agency would keep a six ‐week supply of sanitizer wipes, sanitizer gel, and N95 respirators on hand for use by employees. The directive specifically stated that the masks would be available for bus drivers, ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 20, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Randal O ' Toole Source Type: blogs
Even Republicans Want to Outlaw Surprise Medical Billing
Conclusion
Surprise billing is generally not a problem with Medicare or Medicaid.
But for others under age 65, we need new regulations which must be non-negotiable. State health departments must be empowered to cancel overcharges, which will still occur despite regulations.
If we can establish reforms now, in a time of crisis, the new laws have a chance to be permanent when the crisis is over. For now, we must:
Immediately ban providers from sending balance bills for out-of-network health care services related to the coronavirus. Require insurers to make a payment for these services on a timely basis and limit...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 20, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy Bob Hertz Cost Sharing economic reform health economics surprise billing Source Type: blogs
There Will Be Consequences
By KIM BELLARD
Crises — like our
current COVID-19 pandemic — force people to come up with new solutions.
They slash red tape, they improvise, they innovate, they collaborate, they cut
corners. Some of these will prove inspired, others will only be temporary,
and a few will turn out to be misguided. We may not know which is which
except in hindsight.
I covered some of these
in a previous article, but let me highlight a few:
Hospitals: We’re building new hospitals, such as in convention centers, to address the expected shortage of beds. Hospitals are also coor...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 14, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Health Tech health innovation Kim Bellard Pandemic Source Type: blogs
Confronting Disability Discrimination During the Pandemic
As hospitals and public health authorities devise triage protocols to allocate scarce critical-care resources during the Covid-19 pandemic, people with disabilities are expressing alarm that these protocols devalue them and exacerbate long-entrenched ableism in health care. Lawsuits alleging disability discrimination in have been filed in Washington and Alabama. The U.S. Office for Civil Rights is investigating disability discrimination complaints in triage protocols. The challenge is to develop protocols that will minimize discrimination in the health care system.
The post Confronting Disability Discrimination During the...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - April 2, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Susan Gilbert Tags: Health Care ableism Chronic Conditions and End of Life Care COVID-19 crisis planning disability lawsuits syndicated Source Type: blogs
Finding Comfort in Predictions
On March 11 I wrote the following notes in my personal journal:
The coronavirus is currently in outbreak mode around the world. There are 125,865 known infections worldwide, with almost 81K in China. In the USA there are already 1281 infections, 7 of them in Nevada. But that’s largely due to severe under-testing.I think the USA is in for a big reckoning, especially with Donald Trump being a complete idiot in his response to this, clearly caring more about the economy and his own self-interests than about people’s lives.The death rate of this virus seems to be about 3-4%, a lot deadlier than the flu. There’s a good...
Source: Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog - March 24, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Steve Pavlina Tags: Emotions Health Source Type: blogs
A Full-Scale Assault on Medical Debt, Part 2
By BOB HERTZ
The first section of this article stated that many forms of medical debt can be reduced or cancelled by stronger enforcement of consumer protection laws. These debts are not inevitable and are not due to poverty. It would not require trillions of federal dollars to cancel them, either – just the willingness to go against lobbyists.
Therefore
I advocate the following attacks on medical debt:
Phase One
We must
cancel balance bills and surprise bills if there was no prior disclosure.
In most cases,
providers will not have the right to collect anything more than what the insurers pay them.
...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 9, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Economics The Business of Health Care balance bills Bob Hertz health economics medical debt surprise billing Source Type: blogs
A Full-Scale Assault on Medical Debt, Part 1
By BOB HERTZ
The recent
proposal by Sen. Bernie Sanders to cancel $81 billion of medical debt is a very
good start—but it is only a start.
The RIP Medical
Debt group—which buys old medical debts, and then forgives them—is absolutely
in the right spirit. Its founders Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton deserve great
credit for keeping the issue of forgiveness alive.
Unfortunately,
over $88 billion in new medical debt is created each year; most of it still
held by providers, or sold to collectors, or embedded in credit card balances.
Tragically, none of this has to happen! In France, a visit to the doctor typical...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 6, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Economics The Business of Health Care Bernie Sanders health economics medical cost medical debt Source Type: blogs
Alabama Prison Officials Issuing DNR Orders without Patient Consent or Knowledge
The Alabama Department of Corrections has a documented history of issuing DNR orders to critically injured or ill prisoners without consulting with families.
Injustice-Watch summarizes a whole series of recent lawsuits challenging this practice with s... (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - March 5, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
Health Care in Prison: Legal vs. Ethical Obligations
In 1976, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled that jails and prisons must provide medical care to
incarcerated people on the grounds that “deliberate indifference to serious
medical needs” violates Eighth Amendment protections against cruel or unusual
punishments (Estelle v. Gamble, 429
U. S. 97). Prior to this, the only medical care
offered in 65% of U.S. jails was first aid (Steinwald et al. 1973, in Rold
2008). The case, Estelle v. Gamble, made incarcerated people the only
group of Americans other than Native Americans with a constitutionally
protected right to health care. However, because federal la...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - March 2, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Bioethics Today Tags: Health Care Author: Crane Inmate prison syndicated Source Type: blogs
Podcast: Keeping a Job With Mental Illness
Do you live in constant fear of losing your job because of your illness? What are your options? In this podcast, Jackie and Gabe tackle this complex topic with real answers. They discuss the exact actions you can take in various scenarios, including who to contact for help. They also share their own stories of being fired when their employers deemed them too sick to be productive.
When should you contact human resources? The ADA? A lawyer? If you struggle with mental illness and job insecurity, tune in for an informative discussion on the ins and outs of getting the complicated, and often unfair, American system to...
Source: World of Psychology - March 2, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Not Crazy Podcast Tags: General Health-related Industrial and Workplace Mental Health and Wellness Not Crazy Podcast Policy and Advocacy Professional Source Type: blogs
U.S. Government Accuses Yale of Discriminating Against Older Radiologists
Yale New Haven Hospital is under fire from federal prosecutors for allegations that the prestigious medical center ’sLate Career Practitioner Policy discriminates and humiliates older physicians. This month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit against the hospital accusing them of forcing radiologists to submit to neuropsychological and eye exams in order to keep their staff privileges. Physicians under 70 were not obligated to undergo these evaluations. The EEOC claimed that Yale ’s policy was enacted regardless of suspicions that doctors were experiencing neurological impairments. Off...
Source: radRounds - February 21, 2020 Category: Radiology Authors: Julie Morse Source Type: blogs
Out of Network? Cigna, RICO and where ’ s the line?
By MATTHEW HOLT
Sometimes you wonder where the line is in health care. And perhaps more importantly, whether anyone in the system cares.
The last few months have been dominated by the issue of costs in health care, particularly the costs paid by consumers who thought they had coverage. It turns out that “surprise billing” isn’t that much of a surprise. Over the past few years several large medical groups, notably Team Health owned by Blackstone, have been aggressively opting out of insurers networks. They’ve figured out, probably by reading Elizabeth Rosenthal’s great story about the 20...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 20, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Economics Finance Health Policy Matthew Holt Medicare Business of Health Care Cigna Health Care Costs out of network RICO surprise billing US Healthcare system Source Type: blogs
States Aren't Waiting for DC to Regulate Insulin Prices, They're Doing Themselves
Back in March 2018, I co-authored (along with Scott King, the former editor ofDiabetes Health magazine) an article (catch the article athttps://www.diabeteshealth.com/good-bad-diabetes-advocacy-world/ for reference) about some patient advocacy wins and challenges ahead. One of the challenges ahead was about runaway insulin prices.We started to see action on runaway insulin prices in state capitals happen a few years ago.Nevada got an early start in 2017, introducing a transparency bill that requires drugmakers who made insulin specifically to report pricing, costs, and rebates. It was signed into law by the state ' s Repub...
Source: Scott's Web Log - February 18, 2020 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2020 insulin insulin prices legislation state laws Source Type: blogs
States Aren't Waiting for DC to Regulate Insulin Prices, They're Doing It Themselves
Back in March 2018, I co-authored (along with Scott King, the former editor ofDiabetes Health magazine) an article (catch the article athttps://www.diabeteshealth.com/good-bad-diabetes-advocacy-world/ for reference) about some patient advocacy wins and challenges ahead. One of the challenges ahead was about runaway insulin prices.We started to see action on runaway insulin prices in state capitals happen a few years ago.Nevada got an early start in 2017, introducing a transparency bill that requires drugmakers who made insulin specifically to report pricing, costs, and rebates. It was signed into law by the state ' s Repub...
Source: Scott's Web Log - February 18, 2020 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2020 insulin insulin prices legislation state laws Source Type: blogs
