Conrad Theodore Seitz

Here’s another shock value story: a man was treated for snakebite with four vials of rattlesnake antivenom.  He spent 18 hours in the Emergency Department.  The bill was $89,000, including $20,000 a vial for the antivenom.  Of course, Medicare pays about $2,000 a vial.  The man was insured by Blue Cross, and they paid about $5,000 a vial.  The man paid $5,4000 including deductible and copays.

All this is recorded at this news site: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/01/27/4643457/mooresville-patient-stunned-by.html#.UulSOhBdXNl for the Charlotte (NC) Observer.  In the 1980’s, rattlesnake antivenom cost $50 a bottle; a severe case of envenomation might require a dozen or more vials to reverse the shock and vascular collapse.  You can see where this might add up; however, rattlesnake bites are extremely rare and the bottles may sit on the shelf for five or ten years.  Manufacturing the antivenom is a tedious job, and insurance problems also weigh heavily.

However, it seems obvious that the law governing food and drug manufacturing should provide for “orphan” drugs with regulations that smooth the production of rarely used or small quantity items.  The problem of coccidiodin manufacture, which I mentioned before in the context of Valley Fever, is a good example of the need for regulations.  Vaccines, even widely used ones, are another example of items that need special treatment to ensure adequate manufactures for the maximum public good.  This is a place where special federal regulations are sorely needed to provide for the common good.  There is no better example of how government can be good and why government is really needed.

1. From: Clapso

   I’ve noticed ad clicks from my blog a couple of times, and frankly it pissed me off. This is a sore point with me. I don’t charge wordpress or goo goo or anyone for the content I produce which gives them something to attract readers TO THEIR OWN PAGES WHERE ADVERTISING IS PLACED. Why should I have to pay to keep advertising OFF MY BLOG? Sorry, it feels a little like a protection racket you are announcing…

   The scientifically impossible I do right away
   The spiritually miraculous takes a bit longer

2. From: Matt; September 18 at 5:57 pm [2012]

   Clapso, I’m sorry the fact that WordPress.com is ad-supported bothers you. It is very, very expensive to provide free service to millions of blogs and we have to support it somehow. However we try really hard to make the ads not intrude on your experience. We show orders of magnitude fewer ads than most free services, heck compare the pages on Yahoo or Facebook to pages on WordPress.

    

   [Comment: by Conrad; Frankly, I think Clapso is somewhat egotistical.  He seems to be assuming that the blog content he posts is so good that it attracts lots of readers, therefore he shouldn’t have to pay for the service.  The only problem with this attitude is that the only way to cash in on Internet traffic is with ads, so he would have the site provider (Matt) lose out either way.]

Here’s a brief, but important article that explains the trajectory of the economy as a result of Reagan’s tax cuts in the early 1980’s.  The top 5% of the workforce increased its income dramatically, while the lower 95% stagnated.  The lower 95% continued to spend, however, by borrowing more money on the increased value of their houses.  This spending came to an abrupt halt in 2008 with the Great Recession, and has not recovered due to “deleveraging.”

See the article here: http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org/econobytes-thursday-january-16-2014.    It is referenced in Paul Krugman’s opinion piece in the New York Times online.  Krugman says that the Republicans in Congress now are using the deficit as an excuse to make matters worse, by slashing safety-net programs for the poor.  By contrast, the Republicans are not proposing anything to help improve the severe income inequality that is now hobbling the economy.  See Krugman’s piece at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/opinion/krugman-the-populist-imperative.html?hp&rref=opinion

Krugman goes in to much more detail, repeating himself relentlessly on points that we really need to understand.  He’s calling for Obama to start supporting programs that reduce income inequality, and he has polls that show the majority of Americans support this policy.  Even Republicans, at least the rank and file, seem to be beginning to understand the need to support the lower 95% of the population.

The New York Times online reported today on the legal troubles of a large hospital chain that is now facing Justice Department investigation as well as numerous private lawsuits.  The article can be found at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/business/hospital-chain-said-to-scheme-to-inflate-bills.html?action=click&contentCollection=Business%20Day&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=Blogs

The for profit hospital chain is Health Management Associates, whose shareholders have just approved its acquisition by Community Health Systems.  This merger will create the country’s second largest hospital chain (by revenue), including over 200 hospitals.

“Every day the scorecards went up, where they could be seen by all of the hospital’s emergency room doctors.  Physicians hitting the target to admit at least half of the patients over 65 years old who entered the emergency department were color-coded green. The names of doctors who were close were yellow. Failing physicians were red.”

Techniques like this ensured many healthy hospital patients who created lucrative bills for Medicare and Medicaid, as well as private insurers.  Uninsured patients were naturally given short service, as their bills usually went unpaid.  This is just one example of the overtreatment epidemic that affects American medicine.  Patients who are well-insured are “soaked” with unnecessary tests and treatments, while uninsured patients are left to die.

This overtreatment/undertreatment combination has led to medical costs that are double those of other developed countries, all of whom have national health care systems with universal coverage.  At the same time, life expectancies are shorter than those of other developed countries, and infant mortality rates are higher.  This problem will not be solved until for profit (and similar “not for profit” ) systems are either highly regulated or abolished entirely.

In this case, the soaking was the primary responsibility of the former head of HMA, Gary D. Newsome, who left last year after four years of predatory management.  Numerous employees who complained about his practices were fired and have sued the hospital chain.  Here is his photograph, from the Times article.  Doesn’t he resemble George W. Bush?