- AMA To FDA: Allow OTC Birth Control Pill. Something we have favored for years, but don’t stop there!
- AMA rejects economics: calls for a higher minimum wage. (Pardon us for thinking that the OTC position was based on sound economic reasoning.)
- How manufacturers manipulate the rules to avert competition from generic competitors – the case of asthma inhalers.
- How Biden’s policies have undermined his previous vice presidential goal of a “moon shot” to eradicate cancer.
Category: Policy & Legislation
How a Needless Test Starts a Cascade of More Unnecessary Tests
A man came into the Denver VA hospital complaining of a painful hernia near his stomach. His doctor knew he needed surgery immediately but another doctor had ordered a chest-ray, which is standard practice. The X-ray revealed a shadow, possibly a mass (cancer) or more likely a harmless cluster of blood vessels. A follow-up CT scan showed his lung was fine but found something suspicious on his adrenal gland. A second CT scan cleared his adrenal gland but by this time two months had gone by. It would be another four months due to scheduling conflicts before the man finally got his surgery. This “cascade of care” is what results when one test is ambiguous resulting in additional tests that ultimately find nothing was wrong in the first place. These unnecessary tests and procedures are what medical research refers to as “low-value care.” There are no clinical benefits from low-value services and potential for harm.
Has CMS Gone Totally Woke?
On April 18, 2022, CMS issued a proposed rule that will force medical providers to advance a divisive and potentially discriminatory agenda. As explained by Do No Harm:
- CMS wants to collect a wide variety of personal data from patients in order to create more precise categorizations of patients along race, gender, and other demographic lines.
- CMS wants hospitals to report confidential patient information to highlight potential gaps in care between groups of patients. By labeling these differences as disparities, CMS could use this information to reward or punish certain healthcare facilities.
- The proposed rule would distract medical professionals from providing care to patients and instead saddle them with a new mandate focused on politicized and non-medical issues.
$783.5M in Covid Relief Money Went to Prisoners
Passed in March, the American Rescue Plan granted $1,400 in stimulus money to people making less than $75,000 per year. Republicans objected to sending these checks to incarcerated individuals, but lost on a party line vote. According to a Fox News report:
In response to a public records request from conservative group American Crossroads, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revealed that the money flowed to 560,000 individuals who were incarcerated for the full tax year 2020.
Among the recipients of Covid money was the Boston Marathon Bomber.