Now that the Covid-19 Pandemic has waned tuberculosis is once again the top killer of people worldwide. By some estimates the mortality rate is about 50% if left untreated. More than eight million people around the world are infected with tuberculosis (TB), according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A new report estimates that 1.25 million died of the disease last year. Tuberculosis remains mostly a disease of middle-income and developing countries. In the United States, nearly three-fourths (71%) of cases are identified in people born outside the U.S.
For most Americans tuberculosis is a faint memory. When I was a child, I recall once a year the school nurse would line us kids up outside the nurse’s office and administer a TB skin test (no parental permission required). Few, if any, states still require school kids to get tested for TB.
Tuberculosis is an age-old affliction. Evidence dates back many thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians had it. The ancient Greeks too. There is evidence from around the world, near and far, that ancient people died from tuberculosis for millennia. In the Middle Ages it killed an estimated 25% of people in Europe. More recently, tuberculosis killed about 20% to 25% of the people in America. It is thought to have peaked in both America and Europe between the late 1700s to the late 1800s.
Western history buffs probably recall that John Henry “Doc” Holliday survived the gunfight at the OK Corral but died of TB six years later in 1887. He was in good company throughout history. Numerous people died of tuberculosis. King Henry VII survived and won the day at the Battle of Bosworth Field (killing Richard III) but later died from TB. Richard III’s widow, Anne Neville is also thought to have died of TB. King Henry VIII is infamous for his six marriages to secure a legitimate heir. His illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, died young of TB. His only legitimate son, Edward VI, also is thought to have died of TB. French Kings Louis XIII, Charles IX and Louis VII (and several French dauphins, i.e. crown princes) died of TB. Several Ottoman Sultans died of TB. Founding Father James Monroe, and influential politician John C. Calhoun too. Even Andrew Jackson suffered from TB when he died. Influential political economists Alexis de Tocqueville and Frederic Bastiat did too. Even Pocahontas, died of TB.
Others who have died of TB include former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, famous actress Vivien Leigh (Gone with the Wind), writers John Keats, Henry David Thoreau and D.H. Lawrence. Even Jane Austen, author of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and writer George Orwell all died of TB.
The list is long: much, much longer than the relatively short list above. By one estimate perhaps one billion people died of TB in the past 200 years alone, despite the fact there has been a vaccine for TB for the past 100 years. One-quarter of worldwide TB cases are from India.
Some theories why TB has made a comeback is that covid reduced people getting screened. It’s difficult to pinpoint but countries need to be on the lookout for cases spreading from the developing world to the developed world. An illegal Chinese immigrant brought a rare form of TB into the United States recently. In Louisiana, 200 other inmates were possibly exposed to the disease. A separate case in Georgia 300 students and faculty were possibly exposed to TB and had to be tested.
Illegal aliens are bringing all sorts of problems with them, and US taxpayers are paying for their Medicaid and housing in California and other states.
I told you over the phone twenty years ago, Devon, that if you became too sick to work, you would lose the NCPA’s Blue Cross health insurance. In twenty years, I have never heard you mention this fact. I assume the nonprofits you work for profit from not informing employees about the truth regarding dangerous employer insurance.
I will go slow, Devon. A single-parent Mother in Wisconsin who is a State Employee pays $724 monthly for the State’s only PPO. If she becomes too sick to work, her premiums rise to $4,208 monthly when she has no income or hair. You never mention this fact, Devon. Are you paid never to report the truth?
Just think about how many lives have been devastated because you and Goodman are concealing the fact that sick employees lose their Dangerous Employer Insurance (DEI). The Blue Cross Association (BCA) must be paying you both a substantial amount to maintain the overpriced status quo.
I called you because you claimed that Golden Rule was the first to enroll a tax-free Medical Savings Account (MSA). However, I actually set that up in October 1996, while Golden Rule’s product didn’t launch until December 1996. Your misleading statement has caused me grief for the past 20 years. Don’t you think it’s time to correct your false claim?
Do you remember when you titled your article “A Brief History of Health Savings Accounts”? I called you and mentioned that Golden Rule didn’t enroll the first MSA; it was actually TIME Insurance from Milwaukee. I suggested that you should have named your article “A Brief History of TIME” instead.
Just so you know, Devon, Allstate acquired TIME, so the Zero-deductible Allstate plan is essentially TIME’s plan. Allstate calls their Zero deductible plan “Access.” TIME has referred to this plan as “Access” since 2006.
Everyone will soon realize how you and Goodman’s propaganda was designed to support DANGEROUS Employer Insurance for as long as possible. Trust me, Devon, you both have reached the end of the line. All of you so-called experts aren’t licensed, so you don’t truly understand the law. The media is so biased that no one corrects Obamacare enablers like you two.