Republican Blurts Out That Sick People Don’t Deserve Affordable Care

Posted on April 5, 2019 by Pharmaciststeve

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/05/republican-sick-people-dont-deserve-affordable-care.html

Republicans usually defend their health-care position with an array of buzzwords like choice, patient-centric, or competition. In a CNN interview, Representative Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, makes the case for Trumpcare in much starker terms: It will free healthy people from having to pay the cost of the sick. “It will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool that helps offset all these costs, thereby reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives, they’re healthy, they’ve done the things to keep their bodies healthy,” explained Brooks. “And right now, those are the people who have done things the right way that are seeing their costs skyrocketing.”

It is certainly true that the Republican health-care plan will spur insurance companies to charge more money to people with expensive medical needs, and less to healthier people. (It will also transfer hundreds of billions of dollars from the poor, who will get reduced Medicaid and tax credits to buy insurance, to the rich, who will receive a large tax cut.) The idea that morality dictates healthy people pay less, and sick people more, has been floating around the margins of conservative health-care thought. John Mackey, the libertarian owner of Whole Foods, made this case in a 2009 Wall Street Journal op-ed denouncing Obamacare:

Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health. This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health.

Unfortunately many of our health-care problems are self-inflicted: two-thirds of Americans are now overweight and one-third are obese. Most of the diseases that kill us and account for about 70% of all health-care spending—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity—are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices.

When Democratic Senator Tom Harkin in 2010 proposed that it was time to stop segregating Americans on the basis of health status, the conservative health-care analyst Jeffrey H. Anderson scoffed, “Having people pay their own way is apparently an injustice akin to segregating them by race or creed.”

Of course, you can’t pay your own way if you’re too poor or sick to afford your own projected medical costs. Indeed, sometimes people who are healthy at the moment find one day they are not, or they have a sick child, or maybe they simply want to have a baby. (The cost of bearing children is another one Republicans want to be borne entirely by those doing it.) The Republican plan expresses one of the core beliefs shared by movement conservatives, and utterly alien to people across the globe, right and left: that people who can’t afford the cost of their own medical care have nobody to blame but themselves.

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TN: even “the littlest innocent ones” cannot escape the “fiscal axe”

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Pharmaciststeve

kidsTennessee Quietly Kicks 128,000 Kids Off Medicaid

www.gritpost.com/tennessee-kicks-kids-medicaid/

Are your kids insured? Parents in Tennessee might want to double-check.

Over the last two years, at least 128,000 kids have been removed from Medicaid coverage through TennCare or CoverKids, many without their parents’ knowledge.

“What we are seeing now is massive numbers of people being dropped off the rolls with no notification, and they don’t find out until they have a reason to use their insurance,” said one healthcare professional. “They are forced to determine what the health of their child is worth to them and if they can delay whatever attention they need until they get — if they can get — their insurance back.”

One in every eight children in TennCare was disenrolled. If this was the result of an improving economy, officials argue, those kids would transition to CoverKids — they haven’t. In fact, 39% of CoverKids recipients have been disenrolled.

Tens of thousands of those kids remain uninsured.

TennCare attributes the disenrollment of many of those kids to missing paperwork, but advocates blame systemic procedural errors within the insurance provider.

“There were humans processing these renewals. And humans do make mistakes,” admitted TennCare director of member services Kim Hagan. “But is it systemic? Absolutely not.”

The number of uninsured children has skyrocketed in the state, from an estimated 58,000 in 2016 to 71,000 in 2017. And with Tennessee being one of the least healthy states in America, the dramatic rise in uninsured children is dangerous.

“I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center. “This is the first time in 10 years that the number of uninsured children are going the wrong direction, and that just from the start of disenrollment.”

Insured children are healthier than uninsured children across the board, not just from immediate health concerns. Insured children have a lower rate of obesity and fewer hospitalizations from preventable causes later in life. And as children age into adults, healthcare costs will disproportionately burden them.

TennCare data for February originally showed 52,000 more children losing coverage, but took those statistics down after being questioned by the Tennessean claiming them to be inaccurate.

 

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Is this “scare tactics” or factual information ?

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Pharmaciststeve

FDA Confirms ‘Dangerous’ Levels of Heavy Metals in Some Kratom Products

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/911370

Final results of tests performed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 30 kratom products confirm the presence of heavy metals, including lead and nickel, at concentrations not considered safe for human consumption, the FDA said Wednesday.

The FDA first warned of “disturbingly” high levels of heavy metals, including lead and nickel, last November, as reported by Medscape Medical News. 

The FDA has posted a list of the kratom products and concentrations of heavy metals found in them on its website.

Based on reported patterns of kratom use, heavy kratom users may be exposed to levels of lead and nickel many times greater than the safe daily exposure, the FDA warns in a statement.

Based on these test results, the typical long-term kratom user could potentially develop heavy metal poisoning, which could include nervous system or kidney damage, anemia, high blood pressure, and increased risk of certain cancers, the agency adds.

“Over the last year, the FDA has issued numerous warnings about the serious risks associated with the use of kratom, including novel risks due to the variability in how kratom products are formulated, sold and used both recreationally and by those who are seeking to self-medicate for pain or to treat opioid withdrawal symptoms,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, said in the statement. 

Gottlieb said the FDA has been “attempting to work” with the companies whose kratom products contain high levels of heavy metals.  The agency has released the final laboratory results to the public to “help make sure consumers are fully informed of these risks.”

“The data from these results support our public warning about the risk of heavy metals in kratom products. The findings of identifying heavy metals in kratom only strengthen our public health warnings around this substance and concern for the health and safety of Americans using it,” he added.

No Approved Use

Kratom is derived from the leaves of the kratom tree (Mitragyna speciosa), which is native to Thailand, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. The botanical’s popularity has been increasing in the United States, with manufacturers — and those who take it — claiming it can help treat pain, anxiety, depression, and more recently, opioid withdrawal.

Last year, an analysis of kratom by FDA scientists found that its compounds act like prescription-strength opioids. In addition to heavy metal contamination, kratom products have also been found to be contaminated with Salmonella, resulting in numerous illnesses and product recalls.

Kratom has been linked to numerous deaths in the United States. There are currently no FDA-approved uses for kratom, and the agency has advised against using kratom or its psychoactive compounds mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine in any form and from any manufacturer.

Health providers are encouraged to report any adverse reactions related to kratom products to MedWatch, the FDA’s safety information and adverse event reporting program.

I gave some thought before I put this on my blog…what if, since the FDA and other parts of the bureaucracy have unsuccessfully been trying to ban Kratom in some form or another ..have they decided to put a “scary warning” out there to give people second thoughts about using it.

While they state that there is NO  FDA APPROVAL for use of Kratom. Kratom is classified as a SUPPLEMENT and NO SUPPLEMENT has the FDA APPROVAL for any use to cure or treat.  So the statement that Kratom is not FDA approved – Is NOTHING BUT BS !

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China bans all types of Fentanyl, cutting supply to U.S.

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Pharmaciststeve

Chinese Fentanyl has been flooding the U.S. market for years and now China says its changing its policy on the highly addictive painkiller. NBC’s Jacob Soboroff joins Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle to discuss if this is a game-changer for the opioid epidemic in the U.S. or just a good political move by China.

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Are Federal Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids Hurting Patients with Chronic Pain?

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Pharmaciststeve

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/27/are_federal_guidelines_for_prescribing_opioids

As Oklahoma and Purdue Pharma reach a landmark settlement, we look at an underreported result of the opioid crisis: the underprescribing of opioids for patients who rely on them for pain management. This month, more than 300 doctors and medical researchers sent an open letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warning patients have been harmed by a lack of clarity in guidelines for prescribing opioids. The CDC revised the guidelines for primary care physicians in 2016 in order to improve safety and reduce risks associated with long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain. But many say the new guidelines caused confusion and led to the reduction or discontinuation of opioids for people who responsibly use the medication to manage pain related to cancer, multiple sclerosis, lupus and fibromyalgia. We speak with Terri Lewis, a social scientist, rehabilitation practitioner and clinical educator who is running a national survey of patients and physicians to calculate the impacts of changes in chronic pain treatment. We also speak with Barry Meier, the author of “Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic.” He was the first journalist to shine a national spotlight on the abuse of OxyContin.

Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, as we turn now, end the show, by looking at the flipside of the opioid crisis: the underprescribing of opioids for patients who rely on them for pain management. This month more than 300 doctors and medical researchers sent an open letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, that warns patients have been harmed by a lack of clarity in guidelines for prescribing opioids. The CDC revised the guidelines for primary care physicians in 2016 in order to improve safety and reduce risks associated with long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain. But many say the new guidelines caused confusion and led to the reduction or discontinuation of opioids for people who responsibly use the medication to manage pain related to cancer, multiple sclerosis, lupus, fibromyalgia. A survey by the Pain News Network found more than 85 percent of patients say the CDC’s guidelines have made their pain and quality of life worse. Almost half those surveyed said the poor management of their pain prompted them to consider suicide.

For more, we’re joined by Terri Lewis, social scientist, rehabilitation practitioner, clinical educator, who’s running a national survey of patients and physicians to calculate the impacts of changes in chronic pain treatment.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Terri. Can you explain this flipside? People might be congratulating the CDC by saying that prescriptions must be much lower. But talk about what is happening for people who are not addicted but need serious pain management.

TERRI LEWIS: Well, the bottom line is that the CDC guidelines were written for primary care, for new cases of illness and injury, and they were designed to prevent addiction from developing by not creating new people who were going to have a problem. The problem that we’re seeing is that these guidelines have been adopted and Incorporated into federal and state regulations in a way that they were never intended to. And we have characteristics in our population that we haven’t accounted for in this design. We’ve got an aging population. We’ve got an existing, multiply chronic care population that is on the books. These are people who are stable or have been stable in care, and they are no longer getting the care that they need, because we have applied and adopted a one-size-fits-all policy, a square peg in a round hole. And we’re seeing that problem develops in creating structural barriers throughout the whole care system.

AMY GOODMAN: So people are losing the ability to have their drugs paid by insurance. What role do pharmacies play in this?

TERRI LEWIS: Pharmacies are enrolled in insurer networks. Their job is to be a party to the dispensing decision that is made for people who live both in urban environments and rural environments. As the DEA reduces the available supplies, the job of the pharmacist is now to parse and determine who is a legitimate patient at the dispensing end versus who is not, and, secondarily, to determine who’s a reliable, legitimate prescriber and who is not. And that is a new role for pharmacists.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaking in February of last year about the opioid crisis.

ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS: We need to stop addiction. The plain fact is, I believe, and I am operating on the assumption, that this country prescribes too many opioids. I mean, people need to take some aspirin sometimes and tough it out a little. That’s what General Kelly—you know, he’s a marine. He had a surgery on his hand. It was a painful surgery. He said, “I’m not taking any drugs.” It did hurt, though. He did admit it hurt. But, I mean, a lot of people, you can get through these things.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s Jeff Sessions saying, “Just take some aspirin.” I want to bring Barry Meier back into the conversation, author of Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic. What about this flipside, the people who desperately need chronic pain management, and now they’re not—they’re losing their insurance for these drugs?

BARRY MEIER: Well, you know, the management of pain is an extremely complicated issue. And I agree with what Ms. Lewis said about there being a need for those patients to receive appropriate treatment. Appropriate treatment, however, doesn’t necessarily mean opioids. That’s not—one doesn’t equal the other. I think what doctors, what medical institutions are trying to do are use other technologies, other means of managing pain, other than opioids. And the successful application of those strategies has great value for patients in pain, because while we focus a lot on addiction, there are other serious health consequences to the long-term use of high doses of opioids. They have a range of side effects that patients would be well to be without. So, I think what we need to see and encourage is an evolution in pain management. And I think pain patients are a critical part of that evolution.

AMY GOODMAN: Terri Lewis, can you respond to Barry Meier?

TERRI LEWIS: Yes, I’d like to. First of all, I’ve been surveying this population since 2012. The majority of people that we’re concerned about are people with six or more chronic comorbid conditions. These are people who have been folded up in car wrecks by freight trucks. They have multiple progressive diseases that are not going to get better. By denying care at this level without a replacement system, we are denying people treatment. We do not have replacement treatment to deal with the kinds of problems that these folks have. Nor do we have payment systems and physicians trained to provide the care that is needed, both in urban and rural America, to serve this population. So, it’s a little naive to suggest that grandma, who is 82, who is dealing with not only Alzheimer’s, but also lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, is going to benefit from yoga and exercise. We have a very diverse, complex problem. There are at least four populations of pain patients in this problem. And we need to get the data right.

AMY GOODMAN: Last comment, Barry Meier?

BARRY MEIER: Well, I think that we have experienced a huge public health problem. Part of it has to do with the overprescribing of opioids—the overprescribing of opioids for patients who could benefit from other treatments. There are certainly patients that require and deserve these drugs. But for back pain, dental pain, the panoply of problems for which Purdue and others promoted this drug, that laid the seeds for what is the biggest health crisis we are now facing.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you both for being with us, Barry Meier, author of Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic, and Terri Lewis, social scientist, rehabilitation practitioner, who’s running a national survey of patients and physicians to calculate the impacts of changes in chronic pain treatment.

And that does it for our broadcast. I’ll be speaking in Boston at the South Church on April 11, along with Noam Chomsky. You can check our website at democracynow.org.

Happy birthday, Nermeen Shaikh!

Democracy Now! has an immediate job opening. Check our website. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.

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Chronic Pain Patients Are Dying Because Of Restrictions On Pain Medication (RIP Dawn Anderson)

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Pharmaciststeve

https://youtu.be/KOBFVnbsvoI

Chronic Pain Patients Are Dying Because Of Restrictions On Pain Medication (RIP Dawn Anderson)

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Montana has become a wasteland for pain management

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Pharmaciststeve

Dr. Mark IbsenMontana has become a wasteland for pain management

https://helenair.com/opinion/columnists/montana-has-become-a-wasteland-for-pain-management/article_e567f3fa-a8dc-5f69-aa83-16d37394d496.html#comments

Why would we be sycophants for the Attorney General, who misrepresents the facts for political gain, so he can claim a “victory” in a drug war (against people) that is 50 years old, costing $2 trillion?

AG Fox is featured in the Montana Medical Association bulletin this month, supporting added mandates for physicians and others who provide prescription medications. “Know your Dose” is a program right out of American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, not scientifically based, and holds a prominent ad buy in the bulletin.

The surge in back pain in Montana is directly related to the surge in procedures.

Drs. Bender and Danaher testified under oath in Dr. Christensen’s trial, in order to take out their competition.

Dr. Christensen took on opiate refugees from Missoula Spine, as the plan, now successful, was to eliminate opiates, so as to enable more procedures. Did you know that epidural steroids are NOT approved by FDA? That ESIs can cause adhesive arachnoiditis, and Intractable Pain?

That .01 percent of patients metabolize opiates so rapidly that they require very large doses (similar to diabetics who require huge insulin doses)?

That Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, a group of addiction doctors, claim that opiates for pain are heroin pills, and never should be used, and they claim this without evidence?

There is another side to this whole story that has yet to be told, or is being told by doctors and patients who have been marginalized, and that includes myself. The Board Of Medicine took me out, in coordination with DEA. It worked.

But the DEA, regulators and legislators are practicing medicine without a license, always mindful of: “we cannot tell you what to do, we are not doctors.”

It is well known that the board of medicine deprived me of my due process rights, had “experts” that were found to be lying (not credible) and ignored the findings of their own hearing officer, David Scrimm. The intimidation of doctors in this state has worked. It worked on me.

The consequences, intended or not, are that Montana has been turned into a wasteland for pain management. We have become a Third World state, with people in such misery that they kill themselves.

Let’s have an open debate about the terror that doctors have been feeling.

Let’s look at the tribalism and shaming happening around pain and addiction.

Let’s interview patients who were taken from their familiar primary care MD, and forced to see a mid level NP or PA, who took them off their stable regimen.

It’s nasty.

Follow the money. 

But remember FEAR: false evidence appearing real.

In a letter to the Statesman Journal, Dr. Darryl George wrote: “I have seen providers misread drug tests and dismiss patients with rapid or no tapers. They fail to do confirmation testing to ensure the office test is accurate. They look for any excuse to fire the patient. Many of these patients will become unable to work, become less functional at home, and personal relationships become strained. Some patients end up divorced or contemplate suicide when their pain is uncontrolled.

The “ugly” happens when federal and state agencies blame the opioid epidemic on providers and patients.”

The facts are coming out. Montana leads the nation in suicides. Pain mismanagement and malfeasance have created a hostile regulatory environment for doctors.

I’m a member of The Montana Medical Association.

MMA could start standing up for patients who have been abandoned and physicians who try to help them.

Of course, the message and messengers were not welcomed.

Truth will come out.

Where will we be standing when it does?

Mark Ibsen, MD, is the former owner of Urgent Care Plus in Helena. 

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Another chronic painer/advocate that wants to help

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Pharmaciststeve

Hello,

Let me take this time to introduce myself and give a little background of who I am and what I believe. First, my name is Sarah Yerxa. I am a pain patient and advocate. I have been an advocate for different reasons for most of my life. I’m an event planner, a researcher and am good at proof reading(I had good English teachers).  I was a very active Jaycee until I aged out; holding every office except state president. Last move was I started a new chapter from scratch. The highest award received was the national award for speak-up-write-up. The crisis around us is affecting not only patients but doctors, families, caregivers and more. We all need to get the real facts out and share our knowledge with whomever will listen. So let me know if I can help you and I will try my best. I will not be afraid to share my ideas and thoughts. I want to thank Linda Cheek for allowing me to assist with sharing our thoughts and experiences to make life a better one for all. Oh and no need to dumb down medical terms. Again, I’m here for you and hope we will make a great team.

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Do these Senators really mean what they say ?

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Pharmaciststeve

https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2019-04-02%20CEG%20RW%20to%20CVS%20Health%20Corporation%20(Insulin).pdf

 

This letter is signed by Senators Grassley & Wyden who are chair and co-chair of the Senate Committee On Finance

Within the letter they are quoted as “We want to ensure that patients are able to acquire prescription drugs necessary for them to enjoy a happy and healthy life, and ensure that those drugs are affordable”

Are they are really interested in ALL PATIENTS being able to get ALL THEIR NECESSARY PRESCRIPTION DRUGS ? Including those that help manage SUBJECTIVE DISEASES ?

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this should make Walgreen’s employees a bunch of “happy campers”

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Pharmaciststeve

Walgreens, which has already angered store managers by slashing their bonuses, plans more cost-cutting

https://www.pantagraph.com/business/walgreens-which-has-already-angered-store-managers-by-slashing-their/article_01f7bf03-4382-5754-8b40-e00d7c191c23.html

Walgreens reported what it called its most difficult quarter in years on Tuesday, saying it will aim to cut another $500 million in costs annually by 2022, hitting workers and managers who are already feeling the pinch and spurring a makeover in many of its stores.

The Deerfield-based pharmacy chain had already cut bonuses for store managers and others last year — in many cases by thousands of dollars each — outraging managers who said they relied on those annual payments.

Walgreens also made changes to other benefits, said James Kehoe, global chief financial officer and executive vice president. He said during a conference call with analysts Tuesday that “lower bonus accrual” helped offset inflation and investments in store workers.

“The estimated bonus payout for the year has been substantially reduced,” Kehoe said.

The $500 million in new cost-cutting announced Tuesday comes on top of December’s announcement of $1 billion in annual costs Walgreens pledged to cut within three years.

Walgreens may reduce its information technology spending by $500 million to $600 million, Kehoe said.

Despite that, the company did not announce any changes to its plans to move 1,800 employees to Chicago’s former main post office, Walgreens spokesman Brian Faith said after the call. The company confirmed plans in June to relocate employees to 200,000 square feet in the riverfront building, including digital and IT employees.

But the cutbacks will hit the Rite Aid chain, which Walgreens acquired in 2017. Walgreens said it would close more Rite Aid stores than it had initially planned — 750, up from 600. Walgreens spent more than $4 billion to acquire its former rival’s nearly 2,000 stores.

Faith declined to comment further after the call.

Along with the cost-dutting, Walgreens said it planned to revamp many of its stores, highlighting partnerships with other companies that it hopes will spur growth.

The store has already partnered with online beauty retailer Birchbox, which has shops inside Walgreens’ beauty departments. It’s also partnered with grocery chain Kroger to offer food pickup at some Walgreens stores, and it has partnered with LabCorp to provide lab testing in stores. It’s also working with Sprint to offer wireless services and advice on mobile services and products.

“Our stores have had a one-size-fits-all mindset since the Walgreens strategy was created in the U.S. in particular, so we are reformatting and reshaping our stores,” Alex Gourlay, Walgreens’ co-chief operating officer, said.

For investors, it was hard to find reason to cheer the results.

Walgreens’ operating income fell more than 23 percent, to $1.5 billion, the company said. The company said it had profit of $1.24 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, slipped 5 percent to $1.64 per share in the second quarter.

The nation’s largest drugstore chain now expects adjusted earnings per share growth to be flat this year, compared with a previous forecast for growth of 7 to 12 percent that it had reaffirmed in late December.

The results Tuesday did not meet Wall Street expectations. FactSet says analysts were expecting earnings of $1.72 per share.

“A number of the trends we had been expecting and preparing for impacted us significantly more quickly than we had anticipated,” Stefano Pessina, executive vice chairman and CEO, said.

Moving forward, the company will focus on going increasingly digital, “transforming and restructuring” its retail offerings, and making its pharmacies destinations for health care needs, Pessina said

Walgreens Boots Alliance runs more than 18,500 stores in 11 countries and, along with CVS Health Corp., is one of the two biggest chains in the U.S. drugstore market.

Walgreens shares have decreased 7 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen roughly 1 percent in the last 12 months. In June of last year, Walgreens shares plummeted following news that Amazon was acquiring PillPack, an online pharmacy headquartered in Massachusetts that delivers medications in presorted doses.

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