The Biden Administration has further expanded a special sign-up season for health insurance plans offered on Obamacare exchanges, giving consumers until Aug. 15 to enroll in coverage that also may be much cheaper. The newly confirmed Health and Human Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement: “Every American deserves access to quality, affordable health care….
Continue ReadingArchives for March 2021
USC to pay $1.1 billion to settle gynecologist’s hundreds of sex abuse cases
The University of Southern California apparently has set a record — one which parents should pray no college has reason to challenge and for which the educators and leaders at the Los Angeles campus should be sorry and ashamed. The Trojans have announced they will pay $1.1 billion to settle lawsuits over the tawdry actions….
Continue ReadingThe data could not be clearer: Stubborn pandemic demands caution still
In 25 states, including in Virginia and Maryland, data show coronavirus cases are running higher than U.S. averages and staying high. In seven states, notably Michigan, new virus-related deaths are increasing. A half dozen states have recorded hundreds of confirmed cases involving corona virus infections with a variant known as B 117 that was first….
Continue ReadingWith kids’ return to sports, a reminder about serious risks of head trauma
With coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths falling from scary winter highs, the easing of public health measures may see young athletes returning fast to what are supposed to be the fun and educational benefits of organized sports. But will players, and more importantly grownups, ensure that appropriate practices are followed to ensure kids not only….
Continue ReadingPlutocratic clan offers $1 billion more in bankruptcy bid to end opioid suits
Members of the plutocratic Sackler clan have upped the ante yet again in a bankruptcy court bid to settle thousands of lawsuits targeting Purdue Pharmaceutical, the company long in the family’s grip and blamed for untold misery in the now-resurgent opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis. The latest, and perhaps final plan submitted to the….
Continue ReadingCancer experts seeing advanced cases with care delayed by pandemic fears
One consequence of the coronavirus pandemic may be showing up in tragic fashion: Cancer specialists say they are treating a wave of advanced cases in which patients might have benefited from earlier care had fear of Covid-19 infection not kept them away from doctors’ offices and hospitals. The information about the harms of missed appointments,….
Continue ReadingBattle to quell coronavirus pandemic opens up yet more troubling divides
The battle to quell the coronavirus pandemic has opened new divides among us — splitting those willing and not to get vaccinated against the disease, those who will adjust easily or not to life when the illness is a less dominant factor, and those who do not recover easily or quickly and struggle long after….
Continue ReadingMizzou pays $16.2 million to 22 over knee surgeries involving veterinarian
It’s long been routine, if often controversial, for operating rooms to welcome medical device sales people and surgical trainees to watch the work of surgeons and nurses. But now the University of Missouri health system may have reset the bar with its $16.2 million settlement with almost two dozen patients over questionable knee surgeries. The….
Continue ReadingU.S. nursing-home rating system ‘broken’ by gamed data and poor oversight
Federal regulators, by allowing owners and operators to self-report quality and safety data and failing to audit vital information with diligence, have “broken” the national nursing-home rating system — what was supposed to be an invaluable tool for consumers to make life-and-death decisions about where to place vulnerable loved ones needing round-the-clock care. Instead, the….
Continue Reading$1.9-trillion Biden law takes major steps to reshape U.S. health and health care
The Biden Administration’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus pandemic relief law, called the American Rescue Plan, tackles one of the leading concerns expressed by American voters in repeated recent political campaigns: our health and health care. Foes have denounced it as wasteful and unfocused. But it arguably offers common sense federal responses to the worst public health catastrophe in a….
Continue Reading