Late last year, the Senate approved $1 billion of taxpayer money for “opioid prevention and treatment programs” as part of the 21st Century Cures Act. Yes, taxpayers are stuck paying for the opioid crisis which Big Pharma created for no other reason than to make more money. Continue reading
Healthcare in America is the world’s best—based on the ability to pay. Continue reading
Long before the Internet and direct-to-consumer advertising, the medical profession tried to reassure people about their health concerns. Remember “take two aspirins and call me in the morning”? Continue reading
Members of the House GOP were in a hurry on May 4 to pass their bill to gut Obamacare. They rushed it through before anyone even had a chance to check its cost or calculate its impact on people’s access to insurance. Continue reading
President Donald Trump spent part of his first Monday in office following in the footsteps of other Republican presidents by reinstating the Global Gag Rule, officially known as the Mexico City Policy. Continue reading
US cattlemen and agriculture professionals are ecstatic over China’s willingness to accept US beef imports for the first time in 13 years. Yet few reports articulate why the beef ban occurred in the first place. Continue reading
Shame on every one of the 217 Republicans who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, and substitute basically nothing. Continue reading
Obamacare was bad enough—a deplorable rationing scheme to enrich insurers, drug companies and large hospital chains. Continue reading
This just in: Health care is not a game. It’s a matter life or death for millions and millions of Americans. But you sure wouldn’t know it from watching Donald Trump and House Republicans celebrate their narrow victory on Thursday. Continue reading
As President Donald Trump and the GOP attempt once again to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a much crueler bill, House Democrats are pushing in the total opposite direction: as of Thursday, a record 104 have signed on to co-sponsor a Medicare-for-All bill. Continue reading
It is estimated that up to 66 percent of U.S. women and 45 percent of U.S. men live with chronic pain from spinal disorders like disc disease, pinched nerves and neck pain, to complex regional pain syndromes, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and headaches. Low back pain alone affects eight out of 10 people worldwide and is the fifth most common reason people visit a doctor. Continue reading
More than a decade ago, the job of pharmaceutical rep was enviable. Direct-to-consumer advertising pre-sold many drugs so doctors already knew about them. Medical offices welcomed the reps who were usually physically attractive and brought lunch. In fact, reps sometimes had their own reception rooms in medical offices and seemed to see doctors before waiting patients. Continue reading
Displaying deal-making skills that employ vulnerable citizens as bargaining chips, President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to cut off subsidies that help poor people afford health coverage in order to get Democrats to the negotiating table on repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Continue reading
I recently interviewed Lawrence Golbom, author of ‘Not Safe As Prescribed.’ Continue reading
Once again, bird flu is back in the U.S. From 2014 through mid-2015, 48 million chickens and turkeys were killed in the U.S. to prevent the disease’s spread and protect farmers’ profits. Continue reading
Sen. Bernie Sanders has announced to constituents at a town hall meeting this past Saturday that he’ll introduce a single-payer health care bill in Congress “within a couple of weeks.” Continue reading
The day after Republicans pulled the plug on Trumpcare (or was it Ryancare?), the front-page headline of the tabloid New York Post asked: “Is There a Doctor in the House?” Continue reading
Republicans demand a healthcare bill (or medical system) that will simultaneously (and without sacrificing quality of healthcare) reduce their total expenses on medical care—including their insurance premiums and their out-of-pocket costs—and that will also be more free-market (with less government involvement and regulations) than in existing U.S. healthcare policy (both before and after Obamacare began); they want more free-market, and less cost, and also no sacrifice on quality. Continue reading
House Speaker Paul Ryan, in his press conference following the demise of his bill to replace Obamacare, blamed Republicans who had failed to grasp that the GOP was now a “governing party.” Continue reading
On Friday, one of Trump’s signature domestic programs was defeated, at least for now. Continue reading
The new American Health Care Act has been unveiled, and it has been pronounced an even greater disaster than Obamacare. Dubbed “Ryancare” or “Trumpcare” (over the objection of White House staff), the Republican health care bill is under attack from all sides, with even conservative leaders calling it “Obamacare Lite,” “bad policy,” a “warmed-over substitute,” and “dead on arrival.” Continue reading
The Republican House proposed healthcare legislation is a substantially more free-market approach to health care than exists in any industrialized nation. It would greatly reduce regulation of health care in America, and also considerably increase the choices that consumers would have in their health care. Another way of putting this is: it would considerably decrease the requirements that are placed upon health care insurers and providers. It would be as close to extreme free-market health care as can be achieved except for a system in which anyone can legally sell anything and call it “health insurance” or call it “medical care.” In other words, it would be more like anarchy in these fields. Continue reading
Healthcare in America costs double what consumers in other developed countries pay. Proper coverage is increasingly unaffordable for millions. Continue reading
The AP headlined on March 9, “GOP health bill would cut CDC’s $1B disease fighting fund” and reported that this “pillar of funding for the nation’s lead public health agency,” which provides “public health programs designed to prevent illness and, therefore, reduce health care costs,” is targeted for “elimination,” by the Republican Paul Ryan-introduced healthcare bill—i.e., by the proposed legislation that President Donald Trump now says he is “proud to support.” Continue reading
Proposed Trumpcare is a boon to America’s privileged and sickness industry, a bane for most others—leaving millions more uninsured than under Obamacare. Continue reading
It happens with regularity during citizen open-mike sessions at FDA drug advisory committee hearings. A queue of “patients” materializes out of nowhere to testify, often in tears, about the crucial need for a new drug or new use approval. Some are flown in by Pharma. Continue reading
Addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference last Thursday, Vice President Pence said, “America’s Obamacare nightmare is about to end.” Continue reading
Cut the bureaucratic mess. Continue reading
Just as Big Pork has gotten people hooked on bacon as an added ingredient everywhere—even in gum, candy and ice cream—a shortage has been announced. USDA reported that stored pork bellies fell to 17.7 million pounds last month, the lowest December inventory since records began in 1957. Continue reading
There is a reason drug safety experts recommend waiting five years before taking a new prescription drug. Before new drugs are released to the public, they are tested on a shockingly small group of people for a shockingly short period of time. Risks and safety problems, therefore, often don’t emerge until millions try the drug as we saw with the withdrawn drugs Vioxx, Bextra, Baycol, Trovan, Meridia, Seldane, Hismanal, Darvon, Raxar, Redux and at least 11 others. Continue reading
Last week, President Trump’s doctor disclosed that the president takes finasteride, a drug marketed as Propecia, to treat male pattern baldness. While it is tempting to make jokes about Trump’s hair, and even the sexual side effects that accompany the drug, it also has many disturbing side effects that neither the president—nor any other man—should risk. Continue reading
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GOP wants Medicaid abolished
Posted on June 22, 2017 by Stephen Lendman
Republicans want Medicare and Medicaid eliminated, marketplace medicine replacing both programs—obtaining healthcare based on the ability to pay. Continue reading →