American Healthcare continues to go backward

[cowboyinexile]

Can we please get an SMH emoji?

As a first world problem I looked up what he was talking about because I had no idea what a heath ring is and started getting ads for them.

I dont buy into yalls death spiral talk but going from a tonedeaf congressman talking about people owning an expensive unnecessary piece of technology to getting random companies to try and get me (and thousands more who did the same thing I did) to buy said unnecessary technology because of a 2 minute internet search. It really makes you think about how messed up society is sometimes.

 

[KK10]

Yeah, I don't need a $500 smart ring to tell me about my lack of sleep. I already know.

 

[Polds4OSU]

Florida Republican has ectopic pregnancy, Almost Dies because of it

Florida Abortion Activist claim her case shows the dangers of anti Abortion Laws

Dems in Florida start pointing at her story as the Reason why Restrictive Laws on Abortion are dangerous

She accuses the Dems of Fearmongering because The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration issued guidance earlier this year that said "abortion is permissible at any stage of pregnancy in Florida to save the life and health of the mother," including in cases of ectopic pregnancies.

However
Physicians for Human Rights said the Florida Legal wording and ban has created an "unworkable legal landscape" and that doctors in Florida are reporting that ER staff were afraid to provide the drug methotrexate to patients as it was an "abortive agent."

Wall Street Journal picks up the story and Runs it and now she is getting death threats.

 

[cowboyinexile]

Florida Republican has ectopic pregnancy, Almost Dies because of it

Florida Abortion Activist claim her case shows the dangers of anti Abortion Laws

Dems in Florida start pointing at her story as the Reason why Restrictive Laws on Abortion are dangerous

She accuses the Dems of Fearmongering because The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration issued guidance earlier this year that said "abortion is permissible at any stage of pregnancy in Florida to save the life and health of the mother," including in cases of ectopic pregnancies.

However
Physicians for Human Rights said the Florida Legal wording and ban has created an "unworkable legal landscape" and that doctors in Florida are reporting that ER staff were afraid to provide the drug methotrexate to patients as it was an "abortive agent."

Wall Street Journal picks up the story and Runs it and now she is getting death threats.

View attachment 12414

Why in the world do people need to resort to death threats?

 

[KK10]

Why in the world do people need to resort to death threats?

These have to be people who haven't experienced a pregnancy loss or child death. I have a hard time seeing how someone who has would be able to stomach doing this against a mother who just went through this kind of horror, even if said mother may be politically stupid.

 

[Polds4OSU]

I wonder how long it will take them to start trying to write legislation to automatically cut someone off SNAP benefits if their Glucose, Cholesterol, Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, etc Levels go to High as reported by a Wearable directly to the Government and accuse them of having a poor diet based on their Wearable data and then restrict or remove their benefits. I could see them also basing Medicare and Medicaid payout and benefits on the overall health score from your wearable. ​

​

RFK Jr. wants every American to wear 'health tracking' device by 2029​

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has once again stirred the pot with his latest audacious proposal that all Americans should be equipped with a "wearable" health tracking device by 2029.

In his address to the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on Tuesday, Kennedy pledged to launch "one of the biggest advertising campaigns in HHS history" to realize his vision of wearable health tracking devices. These include smartwatches and fitness trackers like Apple Watches, FitBit, and Oura Rings, which monitor metrics such as blood pressure, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels.


Kennedy believes these devices could contribute to his mission of "Making America Healthy Again". It came as health fears were raised about Donald Trump as viewers spotted a clue in his clothes.

"It's a way people can take control of their own health. They can take responsibility," he stated. "They can see, as you know, what food is doing to their glucose levels, their heart rates and a number of other metrics as they eat it, and they can begin to make good judgments about their diet, about their physical activity, about the way that they live their lives."

Kennedy asserted that he has friends who've "changed their lives" by wearing glucose monitors, aiding them in weight loss and liberating themselves from diabetes. On the topic of providing every American with these health devices, Kennedy mentioned that his department was "exploring ways of making sure that those costs can be paid for."

He noted that the well-known weight loss medication Ozempic rings in at over $1,000 a month and touted that wearable fitness trackers could deliver equivalent results.

"If you can achieve the same thing with an $80 wearable, it's a lot better for the American people," he argued.

Despite Kennedy's portrayal of this as a thoughtful initiative, skeptics have voiced worries about the prospect of equipping every American with any form of tracking gadget. According to the Brown University Center for Digital Health, health information recorded by these devices is frequently uploaded to the cloud and might be traded to corporations, advertisers, or researchers without user approval.


The extensive data aggregation also triggers alarms about data breaches, which carry risks of identity theft.

Although many in the healthcare field endorse the use of wearable health monitoring gadgets, some caution that these devices could lead to medical anxiety, self-diagnosis, and self-treatment.

 

[cowboyinexile]

These have to be people who haven't experienced a pregnancy loss or child death. I have a hard time seeing how someone who has would be able to stomach doing this against a mother who just went through this kind of horror, even if said mother may be politically stupid.

Yeah. You can get upset about politics all you want but these are human beings we are talking about. It boggles my mind how desensitized we get when it comes to violence against a perceived enemy.

 

[RxCowboy]

As a first world problem I looked up what he was talking about because I had no idea what a heath ring is and started getting ads for them.

I dont buy into yalls death spiral talk but going from a tonedeaf congressman talking about people owning an expensive unnecessary piece of technology to getting random companies to try and get me (and thousands more who did the same thing I did) to buy said unnecessary technology because of a 2 minute internet search. It really makes you think about how messed up society is sometimes.

Technology can help you track improvements in your health as you work with primary care and specialists. It is not and cannot be a replacement for primary care and specialty care. That’s the basic high-pocrisy here.

Maybe it’s my bias because of my profession, but the wreckage that this administration is going to leave behind in healthcare is going to be profound, far reaching, and long lasting. I’m glad that I can see retirement from here, because it’s going to be painful.

 

[steross]

Why in the world do people need to resort to death threats?

Because our politicians have taken typical and healthy political disagreement and used it to fire up their base and fomented hate. They call other Americans that have a difference of opinion the enemy and all sorts of names. Not the least bit surprising that the followers take what they are told and actually start treating others like an enemy.

 

[Stillwater Townie]

Then there is this ghoulish problem that happens from a ban on abortion. I wonder if the people in Islamic countries where abortion is banned are more civilized than this? Anyway, such awful situations should be settled after family has consulted with doctors, not by the state always saying no.

Brain-dead mom forced to be kept alive because of Georgia’s anti-abortion laws gives birth via C-section​

MSN

 

[Polds4OSU]

​

 

[RxCowboy]

Then there is this ghoulish problem that happens from a ban on abortion. I wonder if the people in Islamic countries where abortion is banned are more civilized than this? Anyway, such awful situations should be settled after family has consulted with doctors, not by the state always saying no.

Brain-dead mom forced to be kept alive because of Georgia’s anti-abortion laws gives birth via C-section​

MSN

Would it be better for you if they both died?

Would you object if she were kept alive so her organs could be transplanted?

 

[cowboyinexile]

Would it be better for you if they both died?

Would you object if she were kept alive so her organs could be transplanted?

I dont know what the right answer is on this, but think the fact that her next of kin had no say in her care was the big issue.

If it were a situation where the family objected to her being an organ donor I don't think it would be right to keep her alive until they were harvested. I would hope the doctors had a conversation with them about the importance of organ donation its their decision to make. Its hard for me to see how this would be that different morally.

I hope the child has a long fruitful life and brings some peace and happiness to his grandparents.

 

[RxCowboy]

I dont know what the right answer is on this, but think the fact that her next of kin had no say in her care was the big issue.

If it were a situation where the family objected to her being an organ donor I don't think it would be right to keep her alive until they were harvested. I would hope the doctors had a conversation with them about the importance of organ donation its their decision to make. Its hard for me to see how this would be that different morally.

I hope the child has a long fruitful life and brings some peace and happiness to his grandparents.

My wife and I had discussions about this before my son was born and my daughter and I had this discussion when she told me she was carrying my grandson. The outcome of both discussions was the same even though my wife was pro-life and my daughter is pro-choice, save the baby.

I am still pro-life. But I have spent about the past 12 years or so studying, teaching, and acting as a healthcare ethics consultant. Where I once would have been in favor of an outright ban, I no longer hold that position and in fact am not terribly sure exactly where I stand anymore on legality. It isn’t as clear to me as it was. I’ll just say, that I understand the ethical arguments of both sides of the abortion debate now very well. And now that I understand the ethical arguments very well, I am unable to draw a line in the sand.

We routinely keep people “alive” who have been declared brain dead long enough to harvest organs. If they have signed donor card this would be considered positive consent and would be done over the objections of the family, because their wishes are clear. We do not, however, keep them alive for 90 days. That’s extreme. But who is better off if the baby is dead too? And how is the mother worse off?

 

[steross]

It isn’t as clear to me as it was. I’ll just say, that I understand the ethical arguments of both sides of the abortion debate now very well. And now that I understand the ethical arguments very well, I am unable to draw a line in the sand.

Yep. This is the most difficult and contentious issue of our time. Anyone who is absolutely certain their position on this issue is right hasn’t given it enough thought.

 

[Stillwater Townie]

Would it be better for you if they both died?

Would you object if she were kept alive so her organs could be transplanted?

They are inappropriate questions to ask me since I wasn't the father of the child. That is why I said the family after consulting with doctors should have the legal right to decide how to handle such a sad situation at such an early stage of pregnancy without the state always saying no. Hopefully, a doctor would be more optimistic if the pregnant woman was in the 3rd, rather than 1st trimester. By that time, it makes more lifeful sense to put the pregnant woman under life support since the unborn baby only needs a little more extra time. But it should be a doctor's decision about what is best to do. Most state laws protect the life of the fetus at the 3rd trimester, anyway, if mother's life is not threatened.

 

[RxCowboy]

They are inappropriate questions to ask me since I wasn't the father of the child. That is why I said the family after consulting with doctors should have the legal right to decide how to handle such a sad situation at such an early stage of pregnancy without the state always saying no. Hopefully, a doctor would be more optimistic if the pregnant woman was in the 3rd, rather than 1st trimester. By that time, it makes more lifeful sense to put the pregnant woman under life support since the unborn baby only needs a little more extra time. But it should be a doctor's decision about what is best to do. Most state laws protect the life of the fetus at the 3rd trimester, anyway, if mother's life is not threatened.

But you called it ghoulish and you stated an opinion and now you are trying to evade the question. Okay.

Would anyone anywhere have been better off had the child also died? Was the woman harmed in any way?

The obvious answers are no, no one anywhere would have been better off had the child also died. Some people make the argument that maybe the child would have been better off, we do not know the outcome of the child's life. But that argument is a two-edged sword, because we do not know the outcome of the child's life. The woman was brain dead. Keeping her on life support for 90 days did not make her any more brain dead.

The crux of the problem in this case is that there were no advanced directives and her wishes were not known, and the law is not clear, and it is new and there are no test cases, and the hospital staff did not want to be one, and in doing what they did, have likely become one anyway.

 

[RxCowboy]

Yep. This is the most difficult and contentious issue of our time. Anyone who is absolutely certain their position on this issue is right hasn’t given it enough thought.

I just said in another post, the crux of the problem in this case is that there were no advanced directives and her wishes were not known, and the law is not clear, and it is new and there are no test cases, and the hospital staff did not want to be one, and in doing what they did, have likely become one anyway. Perfect storm. Total clustersmurf.

Then you have the Republican lawmaker in Florida with the ectopic pregnancy... damn, steross, I'm no ob-gyn, but I could easily think through these laws.

 

[RxCowboy]

Here’s the latest on Gilead’s twice‑a‑year HIV prevention shot:

What is it?

• Lenacapavir (branded as Yeztugo for PrEP use) is a long‑acting injectable developed by Gilead that’s administered just twice a year to prevent HIV infection .
• It works by inhibiting the HIV capsid protein, which effectively stops the virus from replicating ().

Effectiveness & Safety

• Clinical trials (PURPOSE 1 and 2) showed 99.9% protection in adults and adolescents, with essentially zero infections in cisgender women and near-perfect results in other groups .
• Side effects are generally mild, including injection-site reactions, headaches, and nausea .

Timeline & Approval

• FDA accepted Gilead’s application under priority review in February 2025, with a PDUFA date set for June 19, 2025 .
• On June 18, 2025, the FDA officially approved Yeztugo as the first and only twice‑yearly PrEP option in the U.S. .

Cost & Accessibility

• The list price in the U.S. is about $28,218 per year (two injections) .
• This is comparable to other PrEP options, such as Gilead’s Descovy pill and ViiV’s Apretude injection .
• Gilead has rolled out co-pay assistance and is working to ensure insurance coverage, though a pending Supreme Court decision on ACA could impact cost-sharing .

Global Outlook

• Gilead has agreements with six generic manufacturers to supply the drug in about 120 low-income countries, targeting a generics price as low as $40/year .
• The EU and global health bodies (like WHO) are evaluating it for wider regulatory approval ().

Why it matters

• This is a game-changer for PrEP, especially for those who struggle with daily pills.
• Twice-yearly dosing could improve adherence, reduce stigma, and expand access among underserved communities .
• Seen as one of the most important HIV prevention advances in years, even dubbed Science’s 2024 Breakthrough of the Year .

Summary

• Yeztugo is FDA‑approved, highly effective, and now available in the U.S.
• It’s expensive upfront but typically covered by insurance, with assistance programs in place.
• Gilead is pushing global availability, with generics in production.
• It could significantly reshape HIV prevention—especially in populations underserved by current PrEP options.

Would you like more details on eligibility, how to access it near you, or what the Supreme Court decision might mean? Just let me know!

We might actually eradicate HIV.

 

[cowboyinexile]

We might actually eradicate HIV.

Not if the anti vax people have anything to say about it.