Coronavirus: Health experts join global anti-lockdown movement

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Pharmaciststeve

Coronavirus: Health experts join global anti-lockdown movement

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54442386

Thousands of scientists and health experts have joined a global movement warning of “grave concerns” about Covid-19 lockdown policies.

Nearly 6,000 experts, including dozens from the UK, say the approach is having a devastating impact on physical and mental health as well as society.

They are calling for protection to be focused on the vulnerable, while healthy people get on with their lives.

The declaration has prompted warnings by others in the scientific community.

Critics have pointed out:

  • a more targeted approach could make it difficult to protect vulnerable people entirely
  • the risk of long-term complications from coronavirus mean many others are also at risk

But the movement – known as the Great Barrington Declaration – mirrors some of the warnings in a letter signed by a group of GPs in the UK.

Sixty-six GPs, including TV doctors Dr Phil Hammond and Dr Rosemary Leonard and a number of medics who have held senior roles at the British Medical Association, have written to the health secretary, saying there is insufficient emphasis on “non-Covid harms” in the decision-making.

What is the Great Barrington Declaration?

The movement started in the US.

And the declaration has now been signed by nearly 6,000 scientists and medical experts across the globe as well as 50,000 members of the public.

The UK-based experts who have signed it include:

  • Dr Sunetra Gupta, an epidemiologist at Oxford University
  • Nottingham University self-harm expert Prof Ellen Townsend
  • Edinburgh University disease modeller Dr Paul McKeigue

They say keeping the lockdown policies in place until a vaccine is available would cause “irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed”.

The health harms cited include:

  • lower childhood vaccination rates
  • worsening care for heart disease and cancer patients

And they point out the risk from coronavirus is 1,000 times greater for the old and infirm, with children more at risk from flu than Covid-19.

As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls, they say.

And this would be a much more “compassionate” approach.

The declaration recommends a number of measures to protect the vulnerable, including regular testing of care-home workers, with a move as far as possible towards using staff who have acquired immunity.

Retired people living at home should have groceries and other essentials delivered, it says.

And when possible, they should meet family members outside rather than inside.

Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick, should be practised by everyone.

But:

  • young low-risk individuals should be allowed to work normally
  • schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching
  • sports and cultural activities could resume and restaurants reopen

What do other experts say?

While clearly “well intentioned”, the declaration has profound ethical, logistical and scientific flaws, University of Leeds school of medicine associate professor Dr Stephen Griffin says.

The vulnerable come from all walks of life and deserve to be “treated equally”.

And “long Covid” is reported to have left even people mild infections with problems such as fatigue and joint pain for months.

University of Reading cellular biology expert Dr Simon Clarke, meanwhile, says whether herd immunity is even achievable remains unclear.

“Natural, lasting, protective immunity to the disease would be needed,” he says.

“And we don’t know how effective or long-lasting people’s post-infection immunity will be.”

Some say the most likely scenario is immunity is not long-term but future reinfections then become milder.

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Local officials seeing increase in fentanyl-related crimes, deaths

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Pharmaciststeve

obviously this reporter and/or the person she is talking to… seems to believe that there is only ONE FENTANYL but according to Wikipedia… there is some 1400 different analogs of Fentanyl and one analog Fentanyl Citrate is a C-II med approved for human use.  All other analogs are ILLEGAL OPIATES.

This article bounces back and forth between legal and illegal fentanyl analogs… as if there is only ONE FENTANYL ANALOG

Too bad that truth is not a ideal that many in public office and many reporters

 

 

 

Local officials seeing increase in fentanyl-related crimes, deaths

https://www.owensborotimes.com/news/2020/10/local-officials-seeing-increase-in-fentanyl-related-crimes-deaths/

Local law enforcement officials said they have seen more fentanyl across Owensboro and Daviess County in recent months, while the Daviess County Coroner’s Office said fentanyl-related deaths have also increased in 2020.

Officials said fentanyl — a substance used to treat severe pain — is being cut into fake prescription opioid pills, causing those who ingest them to overdose and in severe cases die.

According to National Institutes of Health Order Publications, fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid analgesic that is similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potent. It is a Schedule II prescription drug.

County Coroner Jeff Jones said his office has seen a definite uptick in fentanyl-related deaths this year.

“We’ve had 3-4 cases this past year that have been fentanyl-related,” Jones said. “Compared to previous years, that’s an increase.”

Meanwhile, Owensboro Police Department Public Information Officer Andrew Boggess said OPD has been seeing an increase of fentanyl use and possession for five months straight.

Daviess County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Major Barry Smith said his department saw a small increase of fentanyl — mainly due to a methamphetamine supply decrease stemming from COVID-19 and travel restrictions — earlier in the year.

“The danger continues of counterfeit pain medicine that could contain fentanyl and fentanyl-laced illicit drugs,” he said.

Unlike other drugs, fentanyl isn’t normally taken by itself. Instead, other drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine are often laced with trace amounts of it. According to Foundation for a Drug-Free World, a dose of fentanyl is considered to be lethal at 3 milligrams, compared to 30 milligrams of heroin.

Now, pills are being altered with the deadly substance, Boggess said. When OPD first noticed the increase of fentanyl and other similar drugs in the area, a press release was sent out to local news outlets warning the community about the issue.

“We have multiple cases open and ongoing pertaining to overdoses,” Boggess said. “There are a lot of investigations going on right now with overdoses where a person may have taken pills and not known what they were made of. It’s concerning because these overdoses can be fatal.”

Jones said the vast majority of toxicology reports pertaining to those who’ve died of a fentanyl overdose have contained multiple drugs.

“It’s hard to know if they’re laced with fentanyl, if it’s a combination of drugs,” he said. “Fentanyl is the primary cause of death in all of these cases.”

Boggess said OPD officers have begun carrying naloxone nasal spray, or Narcan, and it has prevented a number of overdoses from turning deadly.

“With overdoses, timing is extremely crucial,” he said.

Boggess also said OPD isn’t sure at this time where the fentanyl-laced pills are coming from. In Owensboro and Daviess County, methamphetamine laced with fentanyl has been believed to have been primarily manufactured by the Mexican cartel.

Though OPD has not seen a significant decrease in fentanyl-laced meth, the primary concern this time around is the frequency in which fentanyl has been discovered across the community.

“An important distinction here is, these pills are being purchased on the street level, not at the pharmacy,” Boggess said. “You don’t ever know what you’re really getting. It’s extremely potent in small quantities.”

 

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Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak After Nasal Swab Testing for Coronavirus Disease 2019

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Pharmaciststeve

Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak After Nasal Swab Testing for Coronavirus Disease 2019

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaotolaryngology/fullarticle/2771362

In March 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged as a global pandemic. Testing for presence of active severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is 1 pillar of the global response.1 In particular, nasopharyngeal, anterior nasal, and midturbinate swabs are 3 of the 5 methods for initial diagnostic specimen collection recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).2 However, complications associated with nasal swab testing are not well characterized. We describe the first case of a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak after nasal testing for COVID-19, to our knowledge.

Report of a Case

A woman in her 40s presented with unilateral rhinorrhea, metallic taste, headache, neck stiffness, and photophobia. The patient had recently completed nasal COVID-19 testing for an elective hernia repair. Shortly after, she developed unilateral rhinorrhea, headache, and vomiting. The patient’s medical history was notable for idiopathic intracranial hypertension and removal of nasal polyps over 20 years before presentation. Physical examination revealed clear rhinorrhea from the right side. Flexible nasopharyngoscopy revealed a mass in the right anterior middle meatus, but did not identify the source of the fluid. The nasal drainage tested positive for β2-transferrin. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) identified a 1.8-cm encephalocele extending through the right ethmoid fovea into the middle meatus and a right sphenoid wing pseudomeningocele. Comparing these images to findings on CT performed in 2017 revealed that the encephalocele dated at least to that time (Figure 1). The 2017 CT diagnosis was paranasal sinus disease but not an encephalocele. The patient was admitted to the hospital for endoscopic surgical repair. At the beginning of the procedure, intrathecal fluorescein was infused through a lumbar drain. An encephalocele was identified in the right anterior ethmoid cavity (Figure 2). After reduction of the encephalocele, a skull base defect in the fovea ethmoidalis was repaired with a combination of acellular human dermal matrix and a poly(D,L-lactic) acid. The patient was admitted postoperatively for neurological monitoring and lumbar drain management.

Figure 1.  Imaging Prior to Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Leak

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Imaging Prior to Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Leak

A, Brain computed tomographic image from 2017 in the coronal and sagittal planes demonstrating encephalocele situated over the fovea ethmoidalis prior to nasopharyngeal testing for COVID-19. The arrowhead demonstrates skull base defect. B and C, High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (T2 sequence) in the sagittal plane during hospital admission in July 2020 after development of iatrogenic CSF leak. The yellow arrowheads indicate the encephalocele.

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CVS: The pharmacy was 1,200 scripts behind and eight days behind in prescription refills

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Pharmaciststeve

CVS Apologizes For Prescription Delays At Cape Stores

https://patch.com/massachusetts/falmouth/cape-residents-angry-cvs-falling-behind-prescriptions

FALMOUTH, MA — Cape Cod residents reported there have been delays refilling prescriptions at CVS Pharmacy locations in East Falmouth and Mashpee.

According to the Cape Cod Times, several residents complained that both pharmacies were behind on filling new prescriptions and refilling existing ones. Mashpee resident Lorri Landers told the Times a pharmacist told her the pharmacy was 1,200 scripts behind and eight days behind in prescription refills. She also accused the Mashpee CVS of violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, alleging the pharmacists called out her prescriptions by name in front of eight people.

Matt Blanchette, a CVS spokesperson, apologized for the delays and said they were isolated to those two Cape Cod pharmacies. Blancette also said privacy with patient information is part of the company’s policies, so any potential HIPAA violation will be investigated.

“We had experienced prior temporary delays at these locations but have added additional resources and are accepting new prescription(s) in both locations,” Blanchette told the Cape Cod Times. “We plan to avoid any future disruption, and apologize for any delay.”

RUMOR ON THE STREET

Silver Scripts Part D is going to drop independent pharmacies from their preferred network beginning with next year’s program.

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Community pharmacy group says CVS, other bigs are unfairly steering patients

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Pharmaciststeve

Community pharmacy group says CVS, other bigs are unfairly steering patients

https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2020/09/22/community-pharmacy-group-says-cvs-other-bigs-are-unfairly-steering-patients/

A huge majority of community pharmacists have lost patients in the last six months due to unfair practices by much larger competitors, an industry group that represents small pharmacists said last week.

They accuse CVS Health — which operates as an insurer, claims administrator and pharmacy retailer — as being the company responsible for the most abuses. CVS denies the claim.

The National Community Pharmacy Association (NCPA) said that between Sept. 8-11, it collected 412 responses to a survey about a practice known as “patient steering.” 

In addition to being the nation’s largest pharmacy retailer, CVS is now also the largest pharmacy benefit manager, which charges insurers, pays pharmacists, decides which drugs get favorable treatment and collects rebates from manufacturers. The company has said it maintains a strict firewall between the businesses, but critics have accused the company of using one business to advantage the others.

For example, in the fall of 2017, Ohio community pharmacists complained Medicaid reimbursements from CVS’s pharmacy benefit manager, CVS Caremark, had dropped so low that they were having a hard time staying in business. At the same time the pharmacists they were receiving letters from from another arm of CVS acknowledging that reimbursements were low and that CVS was willing to buy out the community pharmacists.

That made pharmacists suspicious that the part of the corporation that acquires pharmacies was using CVS Caremark’s reimbursement data to determine which independent pharmacies were most likely to be struggling and vulnerable to a buyout offer. CVS denied that.

Some observers feared such concerns would only get worse when a federal judge last year allowed CVS to merge with Aetna, the country’s third-largest health insurer.

Now the NCPA, the group representing small pharmacists, says things are getting worse.

One method of patient steering is to transfer their prescriptions to another pharmacy without their knowledge, much less their consent. 

According to the NCPA survey, 79% of community pharmacists said that had happened with one or more of their patients in the past six months. Almost 78% of respondents said some of the patients thus steered saw their prescriptions moved to CVS.

“That’s a big red flag,” NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey said in a statement. “The pharmacy sector is very competitive, and most big chains have aggressive marketing schemes aimed at taking patients from rivals. CVS Health not only owns brick-and-mortar stores, but it also owns its own insurance companies, Aetna and Caremark. That information allows it to eavesdrop on when and where patients are getting their prescriptions and, as the survey reported, coerce unknowing patients into CVS stores.”

In an email, CVS Senior Director of Corporate Communications Michael DeAngelis said the NCPA claims were patently false.

“Our pharmacies only initiate prescription transfers when requested by a patient,” he said. “Also, CVS Caremark members have access to our broad network of more than 60,000 pharmacies, including most independent pharmacies and chain pharmacies, in addition to CVS Pharmacy. In fact, more than 40% of the pharmacies in our network are independently owned. If a plan sponsor chooses a particular network design that includes specific pharmacies, their members are notified in advance.”

DeAngelis also panned the process behind the NCPA survey.

“The ‘survey’ conducted by the business trade association, NCPA, of its own members has no basis in fact and is nothing but a self-serving attempt to disparage CVS Health,” he said. “Accusations that we transferred patients’ prescriptions to our own pharmacies without their knowledge or consent are simply not true.”

One Ohio pharmacist said he doesn’t know why he’s losing patients, but he knows he’s been losing them.

“We’re down 300 or 400 patients a month” compared to last year, said Barry Klein, owner of Klein’s Pharmacy in Cuyahoga Falls. “It’s hard to say what was the cause of it, but definitely our patient count is down.”

 

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Dr. Thomas Kline, MD, PhD: Medical Myths Revealed

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Pharmaciststeve

Dogs…  Millions of pills…. Profiling

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Sticker Shock in the Pharmacy

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Pharmaciststeve

Sticker Shock in the Pharmacy

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/well/live/sticker-shock-in-the-pharmacy.html

When Caiti Derenze, a lawyer in Jersey City, N.J., went to Walgreens to refill her insulin prescription in July, she was met with a nearly $300 bill.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I only paid like $50 last month. What happened?’” Ms. Derenze said. “It feels like a punch in the gut, to be told a medication you need to live costs so much money.”

Trying to find the answer set in motion a wild-goose chase. Walgreens directed Ms. Derenze to her insurance company, Aetna. Aetna sent her to Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager. Express Scripts said it needed prior authorization from her doctor.

“I deal with these issues on, if not on a monthly basis, every two months,” Ms. Derenze said. “You have to call so many people just to figure these things out.”

In the last decade, as prescription drug prices have steadily risen, patients have increasingly experienced this kind of sticker shock at the pharmacy counter. For people who are chronically ill, decisions about whether to pony up the cash or go without aren’t frustrating, one-off predicaments; instead, they represent life-or-death battles that must be fought not once, but over and over again.

Pharmacies are quick to blame insurance companies and vice versa, tasking patients with the burden of trying to find a cost-effective solution via hours of back-and-forth phone calls.

Worse, for diabetics and other chronically ill patients who will need these medications forever, they stand to face the same issue all over again the next time they need a refill. By then, a new insulin might be the preferred brand covered by insurance.

Brooks Bellman, an immigration paralegal in Atlanta, recalls an incident last year when his insurance company switched its preferred long-acting insulin from Lantus to Levemir. He needed a higher dose of the Levemir to keep his blood sugar in a healthy range and went through it more quickly, but his insurance company wouldn’t account for that change and prevented him from refilling it early.

Mr. Bellman said he had to spend three days on the phone with the pharmacy to get enough medicine to tide him over until his next refill.

Insulin has become the poster child of unaffordable prescription drugs. From 2002 to 2013, prices tripled for some brands, and as a result, one in four patients has reported rationing their insulin.

But insulin’s not the only example. Since 2007, prescription drug spending has increased by about 40 percent, to $335 billion in 2018 from $236 billion. A study from last year showed this increased spending isn’t a result of new, better drugs hitting the market, either — rather that pre-existing brand-name and generic drugs were becoming increasingly expensive.

“Why do drug companies charge that much? Because they can,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs, a nonprofit advocacy group. “We let them.” Whereas most other developed countries allow the government to negotiate with drug manufacturers on behalf of its citizens for lower prices, the United States does not.

President Trump recently issued an executive order aimed at addressing this disparity, after a separate deal that proposed to cut drug costs by $150 billion fell apart. The order would enable Medicare to pay the same price for prescription drugs as those sold in other countries, but experts questioned whether the White House has the authority to put it into effect.

Dr. Elizabeth Seeley, an adjunct lecturer at Harvard’s school of public health whose research focuses on pharmaceutical pricing and policy, said that while this order or an international price reference would “certainly lower the cost of many patented, brand-name drugs,” it’s unclear what impact it would have on the market.

In the current system, pharmacy benefit managers, or P.B.M.s, act as middlemen between drug manufacturers and insurance companies and negotiate the receipt of rebates in exchange for listing a manufacturer’s medication as the preferred brand on their insurance formulary. Assuming they’re insured, patients pay the co-payment or coinsurance stipulated on their health plan’s policy, blind to the drug’s actual cost.

“They tell you that the value of the rebate is passed through to the patient in the form of lower prices, lower out-of-pocket and lower premiums,” said Mr. Mitchell, who has an incurable blood cancer and spends more than $15,000 for just one of the medications he takes to treat it. But all of those dealings are restricted from public knowledge. “Even members of Congress can’t find out what rebates are paid, because it’s all considered a trade secret.”

According to Dr. Seeley, because of that classification, it’s difficult — if not impossible — to quantitatively answer whether P.B.M.s drive drug prices up or down. Without them and the large rebates they negotiate, she said, drugs could be even more expensive.

On the other hand, “there are points of inefficiency,” said Dr. Seeley, “and there are areas in which their incentives may be distorted.”

For example, Mr. Mitchell said P.B.M.s might “steer you to a drug that may not be better at all, but is actually more expensive,” because that’s the drug that affords the P.B.M. a larger rebate. This in turn creates constant fluctuations in which drugs are “preferred” and results in an ever-moving target that doctors and patients must try to keep up with.

“It’s exhausting and it’s angering because I realized that it’s not an accident, it’s a strategy,” said Dr. Danielle Ofri, an attending physician at Bellevue Hospital who has written about insulin prices. “I feel manipulated by the P.B.M. system, that they will let me do the work or patients do the work of trying to figure out what’s going on, rather than them doing the work.”

That extra work represents yet another barrier that many patients don’t have the resources to overcome.

“It takes a certain degree of privilege to have that time and that mental energy and to do all those things that we need to do in addition to managing the condition 24/7,” said Elizabeth Pfiester, the founder of T1International, a British nonprofit organization that advocates for affordable insulin worldwide. “Not everyone is able to fight those extra battles. And that puts their health in a worse situation.”

Ms. Pfiester equates patient assistance programs, like manufacturers’ coupons, to “a Band-Aid on a gushing wound” rather than a long-term solution, since a company can eliminate those programs at any time. Plus, they create even more hoops for patients to jump through.

“Many of my patients either don’t speak English or don’t have the socioeconomic skills or the literacy skills to navigate that,” Dr. Ofri said. “When that bill goes up, they simply cannot do it.”

At the pharmacy counter, patients have little recourse. Uninsured patients must pay the list price, while insured patients can ask the pharmacist if there are any less-expensive options if they pay with cash. Some may resort to taking a different, less-expensive drug that may not work as well.

Even people with adequate resources occasionally opt not to take up the fight simply because it’s not worth the added hassle. When we spoke, Ms. Derenze had just received a bill for her insulin pump supplies from Medtronic that was more than twice the amount of the previous one. “I wanted to throw up. That’s a rent payment,” she said. But her firm had an important brief due the next day. “I don’t have the time to get on the phone, argue with Medtronic for an hour and then argue with my doctor and everyone else involved. Sometimes I have to keep moving.”

To Dr. Ofri, the additional labor passed on to doctors and patients by P.B.M.s is a reflection of the for-profit health care system. “Once there’s a profit drive that’s permissible in there, well then, this is what we get,” she said.

Ms. Pfiester grew up in the United States but moved to Britain in 2011 to study. Experiencing how much easier it was to get her medical supplies under the National Health Service was the catalyst that inspired her to create T1International.

“I walked out of the pharmacy the first time,” Ms. Pfiester said, “and I didn’t have to pay copays. I didn’t have to battle with my insurance. I didn’t have to do any of that. I just was able to access the things that I needed.”

 

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Grim headlines warn of an impending stall in America’s economic recovery:the narrative the media is pushing isn’t the story people are living

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Pharmaciststeve

Our economy and what Biden, mainstream media keep missing: Brian Brenberg

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/economy-biden-mainstream-media-brian-brenberg

Grim headlines warn of an impending stall in America’s economic recovery. But as is often the case, the narrative the media is pushing isn’t the story people are living.

Three new pieces of data on confidence, housing, and jobs are showing us that workers, families, and businesses are moving past fear and pessimism.

America is bouncing back more strongly than the loudest pundits and politicians are willing to acknowledge, and voters need to know it as they decide whose policies will dictate where the recovery goes from here.

Consumer confidence in September saw its biggest jump in 17 years as people reported that they expect to see higher incomes and more job opportunities in the near term.

According to survey findings, respondents say business conditions are improving, it’s getting easier to find work, and they’re gearing up for more big purchases—like cars and appliances—in the months ahead.

The confidence boost also explains why the housing market has been red hot. This week the National Association of Realtors reported its index of pending home sales rose to a record high, and it follows news that both new and existing home sales continue to see sharp gains.

These aren’t the kinds of moves people make out of fear, but when they see opportunity.

Both the confidence bump and housing boom coincide with 5 straight months of job gains that easily eclipse anything we’ve seen before. It’s an employment comeback that indicates the economic momentum we enjoyed heading into the pandemic is still at work.

Too many journalists and pundits concentrated in coastal media bubbles have been missing this story of economic resurgence and hope, as Martha Raddatz of ABC News notably reported this week. After a 6,000-mile cross-country road trip that took her to places ignored by most national media, she expressed “surprise” that people were “talking about the economy more than anything else.”

Not just talking about it, as the evidence shows, but bringing it back.

An election that will come down to leadership demands an honest accounting of what leaders have accomplished.

Biden would like Americans to believe that the shutdown economy is representative of Trump’s economic record. But anyone willing to take an honest look at the data will immediately conclude the opposite.

The pre-pandemic economy under President Trump produced record highs on median income, near record lows on poverty rates, generational lows on unemployment, and wages that grew fastest for groups that have historically lagged behind.

And, as the data continues to roll in after the depths of the shutdown, we’re seeing the economy has picked up much of that same vibrancy. Confidence, spending, housing, and jobs have come back faster and stronger than most of the “experts” saw coming.

It’s not an accident that Biden chooses to focus on the worst three months of this pandemic-ridden year rather than the full three and half years of the President’s economic record.  But it is irresponsible.

Making a smart choice in November means examining the whole record, including what’s happening right now.

Americans have been producing historic, widespread gains in prosperity. Coronavirus shut those down for a time but didn’t knock them out. Businesses, workers, and families are on the move, investing, buying, and hiring. They’re regaining optimism and looking for political leaders who will help them unleash it.

That’s the economic story America is living right now. Voters need to know it if they’re going to help write the next chapter in November.

Brian Brenberg is a professor of Business and Economics at The King’s College in Manhattan. Follow him on Twitter: @BrianBrenberg.

 

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This is the person who could be ONE HEART BEAT AWAY from being our President

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Pharmaciststeve

She supports BLACK LIVE MATTERS (BLM)… she supports CASHLESS BAIL… she support DE-FUNDING OF THE POLICE

That last issue… they are not talking about how DEEP they want to get into de-funding our law enforcement…

They want to get RID OF THE DEA and ICE….

Think about that for a minute….  if there is no ICE… we have no control on illegal immigration.. we could have … within weeks…. LARGE HOLES in our new southern border wall… and with no DEA — and many of us want to muzzle the DEA especially in regards to raiding prescribers’ offices.

That could mean that both the free flow of illegal drugs across our southern border and the free flow of illegal immigrants across our borders.

CASHLESS BAIL… means that anyone who gets arrested – for any crime – who cannot post their bail bonds.. they are simply processed and let back out on the street.. they are doing this currently in New York and  many criminals will be back out on the streets …doing what they do best… commit crimes.

One reported story of a guy who was arrested for beating up his wife… got out because he had no cash for bail – and was bailed out by a non-profit – and then he went back and KILLED HIS WIFE.

https://nypost.com/2019/04/17/man-accused-of-killing-wife-hours-after-being-released-on-bail/

 

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Medicare Open Enrollment starts October 15

Posted on October 1, 2020 by Pharmaciststeve

Medicare Open Enrollment starts October 15

https://www.medicare.gov/plan-compare/#/?lang=en&year=2021

I have previously stated that when President Trump stated that he was going to get medication costs down… that the insurance/PBM industry makes their money by basically extorting the pharmas to pay a discount/rebate/kickback to them… if they want their medications on their formulary and won’t require a prior authorization.  It has been stated that those discount/rebate/kickback can range up to 75% of the AWP (Average Wholesale Price).

If the pharmas are forced to reduce their prices… this is going to have a greater impact on the insurance/PBM industry and pts…  because the pharmas are going to refuse to kickback to the insurance/PBM  and for profit businesses being what they are … they are going to try and gain those lost profit dollars from somewhere else… and who is going to be the first place that they go looking ???…. PATIENTS…

The above hyperlink is the 2021 comparison for Medicare Part D and other supplemental Medicare prgms.

I would recommend that everyone who has one of these programs … to use this comparison program…  because what you have this year… may have little resemblance with what is being offered next year.

The Part D provider that we are using this year … HUMANA –  has multiple Part D programs… the plan we have used this year… next year a couple of the meds we take… ARE NO LONGER A COVERED MED… unless you opt for their “PREMIUM” plan – at over TWICE THE MONTHLY PREMIUMS.

Of course, in 2020… most all  Part D prgms implemented sizeable deductibles …many in the $400 range… some programs will have a days supply limits, some prgms will have prior authorization on certain meds and other prgms will not have a PA required.

One thing that I found interesting is the price quoted during the deductible period was the same as after the DEDUCTIBLE HAS BEEN MET… which basically means that after paying the deductible there is no further reduced prices … as have been in past years…

Things are going to get more confusing and complicated…. when I went into this program ..  I was given 30 different part D prgm options.  This could be just the start of the confusions and complications and the Feds push for more and more lowering of medication prices

Open enrollment starts Oct 15, 2020 and ends Dec 7, 2020… if you don’t check out what the current program you are on and you do nothing… as of Dec 8 2020 .. you will be on the same program in 2021 that you are on this year… and stuck with it for another year

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