A white minivan carrying four Americans from North Carolina crossed the border into Matamoros, Mexico where they were ambushed by an armed gang. A Mexican bystander was killed along with two of the Americans. The two surviving Americans were held captive until they were later freed by Mexican police. They had traveled 1,500 miles to a Mexican border town for cosmetic surgery.
Author: Devon Herrick
Drugs Ordered from Pharmacies Abroad are Illegal (but Mostly Not Opioids)
Hardly a day goes by but what there’s a news article about opioid overdose deaths. Most deaths are tracked back to Fentanyl. According to police almost all prescription opioid drugs purchased on the street contain Fentanyl. China is thought to be the largest producer of Fentanyl and its precursors. To mitigate the risk of dangerous drugs entering the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) receives funding to inspect prescription drugs arriving in the mail from abroad. According to NBC News:
Is Medical Debt Bad? Sometimes; Sometimes Not
Millions of people struggle with medical indebtedness. Millions more are thought to forgo care or put off treatment, hoping to avoid medical bills. The nonprofit media, Kaiser Health News, published extensive surveys on medical debt in 2022. According to National Public Radio (NPR):
Hospitals Ignoring Price Transparency Rule; CMS Ignoring Hospitals’ Noncompliance
Prices in health care are often difficult to obtain and meaningless when you obtain them. There is not one price but dozens of prices depending on who the payer is. There are different prices for Blue Cross, Aetna, Cigna and UnitedHealth. There is the pricemaster (list) price that almost nobody pays. The chargemaster price is often the official cash price if you lack insurance coverage and don’t inquire prior to care. Then there is the cash price if you negotiate in advance of care, which is often lower than the list price. If you were to inquire about the price, assuming you were told a price at all, you would likely be given the pricemaster charge for a specific billing code without information about which billing codes belong together. You see, a knee surgery isn’t one code, it’s numerous codes so hospitals can bill for numerous services.