Tag: Seniors

Hospitals, doctors drop private Medicare plans over payment disputes

Ms. Cat

One large health system with hospitals in Virginia and Ohio this year cut off in-network access to consumers enrolled in some Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare and Medicaid health insurance plans.

Hospitals, doctors drop private Medicare plans over payment disputes

Related:

Vanderbilt Health to drop some Medicare Advantage plans

H/T: Christopher Westfall | Senior Savings Network (this is not an endorsement)

Raising Social Security’s retirement age would slam low-wage workers yet again

Ms. Cat

A proposal by Sens. Angus King (I-ME) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70 would be a massive benefit cut, particularly affecting low-wage workers. If Congress enacts it, millions more Social Security taxpayers would not live long enough to collect a cent in retirement benefits.

Raising Social Security’s retirement age would slam low-wage workers yet again

Related:

Social Security Solvency: Raised Retirement Age More Likely as Congress Fails to Compromise

Tucker Carlson is no populist…

Ms. Cat1 Comment

Watch: Tucker Carlson repeatedly attacks Medicare and Social Security

…unless right-wing populists now think that Grandpa & Grandma should live on the street, eating kitty food!

Related:

Right-wing populism:

Right-wing populism in the Western world is generally associated with ideologies such as anti-environmentalism, anti-globalization, nativism, and protectionism. In Europe, the term is often used to describe groups, politicians, and political parties generally known for their opposition to immigration, especially from the Muslim world, and for Euroscepticism. Right-wing populists may support expanding the welfare state, but only for those they deem fit to receive it; this concept has been referred to as “welfare chauvinism”.

Right-wing populists and welfare chauvinism:

According to welfare chauvinists, the safety nets of the welfare state are for those whom they believe belong in the community. By the right-wing populist standard, affiliations with society are based in national, cultural and ethnic or racial aspects. Considered to be included in the category are those that are regarded as nourishing. The debilitating group (primarily immigrants) is considered to be outside of society and to be unjustly utilizing the welfare system. In essence, welfare chauvinists consider immigration to be a drain on societal scarce resources. They believe these resources should be used for the ethnically homogeneous native population, preferably children and the elderly.

Millions of seniors on Social Security are at risk of losing benefits this summer if the GOP doesn’t raise the debt ceiling

Ms. Cat

Millions of seniors on Social Security are at risk of losing benefits this summer if the GOP doesn’t raise the debt ceiling

As Insider previously reported, Biden could get around Congress through a process known as minting the coin, in which Biden could deposit a $1 trillion platinum coin in the Federal Reserve thanks to a loophole in the types of coins the Treasury can mint. But Yellen has dismissed that idea on numerous occasions and remains committed to Congress lifting the debt limit once again.

‘There’s no way that patients are going to be able to afford that.’ Why aren’t new drugs that can help you lose weight more widely used?

Ms. Cat

A pair of new drugs offer something many Americans desperately want: a way to lose weight.

‘There’s no way that patients are going to be able to afford that.’ Why aren’t new drugs that can help you lose weight more widely used?

“Ten years ago, policymakers would come out and say, ‘Fat people need to eat less and move more.’” – majority of people still feel this way, unfortunately. Most of them don’t know how hard it is to lose weight or if they have, they don’t understand that one weight loss plan may not work for another. Same way it is with medical treatments. One size fits all doesn’t fit all!

Pfizer’s anti-COVID pill Paxlovid shows no benefit for younger adults

Ms. Cat

Pfizer’s anti-COVID pill Paxlovid shows no benefit for younger adults

The report’s authors found that Pfizer’s antiviral medication Paxlovid offered little to no benefit for younger adults. However, it did reduce the risk of hospitalization for high-risk seniors. Notably, supplementary material from the original study of Paxlovid in high-risk non-hospitalized adults with COVID-19 during the Delta wave had demonstrated benefits in those younger than 65, albeit the difference compared to the placebo was much less than in those 65 and older.

…

Among those over 65, there was a 73 percent decrease in the hospitalization rate and a 79 percent reduction in the risk of death. However, patients between the ages of 40 and 65 saw no benefit in taking the antiviral medication in either category, regardless of previous immunity status.

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Another critical study from Hong Kong published in Lancet Infectious Diseases on the same day as the Israeli study but which went unmentioned in the press offered further evidence of Paxlovid’s limited therapeutic role. The authors reviewed their clinical experience with Paxlovid and Lagevrio, Merck’s antiviral pill, Molnupiravir, in hospitalized patients. They compared them to hospitalized patients who did not receive those medications during the horrific wave of infections that slammed into the semi-autonomous region in February and March.

…

The mortality risk reduction for Lagevrio was 52 percent, and for Paxlovid it was 66 percent. Those receiving antivirals had a lower risk of their disease progressing, but the drugs did not significantly impact their need for mechanical ventilation or ICU admission. The patients in the study averaged in age from mid-70s to early 80s.

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Given the results of these studies, it bears mentioning that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently estimated that approximately 95 percent of Americans aged 16 and older have some level of immunity against COVID-19.