WOW…and Trump isn’t even president yet….United Health Care is my connection, as well as CareMark.  Slipping under my feet, with no  suspicions.  Will the investigations be dropped under our new president?

I’m referring to  news items about…

Earlier this year, a Senate committee investigated Medicare Advantage plans denying nursing care to patients who were recovering from falls and strokes. It concluded that three major companies — UnitedHealthcare, Humana and CVS, which owns Aetna — were intentionally denying claims for this expensive care to increase profits. UnitedHealthcare, the report noted, denied requests for such nursing stays three times more often than it did for other services. (Humana had an even higher figure, denying at a rate 16 times higher.)   /unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson

I didn’t bite on Medicare Advantage because it advertised so much.

No one knows how often private insurers like UnitedHealthcare deny claims because they are generally not required to publish that data. People who bought coverage under Obamacare, a government-funded plan, had 17 percent of their care denied in 2021, according to KFF, a health policy group. Other surveys have found that denials are more prevalent among those with private insurance than those who carried government coverage.

UnitedHealthcare, part of the giant conglomerate UnitedHealth Group, reported more than $16 billion in operating profits last year and employed roughly 140,000 people. The company is a frequent lightning rod for criticism over how it handles claims.

Oxycontin misbehavior:  This week I read about so much illegal conniving that I got a little depressed, especially about one that detailed oxycontin illegal  manipulation in the pharmacy/medical illegal activities.  I guess I asked for it–read  digitaldefynd.com’s 60 biggest  Business Scandals in History for a jolt or

1. Fraud
2. 2020 National Health Care Fraud and Opioid Takedown

_______________

I GUESS I’M NAIVE –If all conditions are satisfied and the non-monetary terms – which still need to be determined – are finalized, CVS Health has agreed it will pay approximately $5 billion ($4.9 billion to states and political subdivisions and approximately $130 million to tribes) over the next ten years beginning in 2023, depending on the number of governmental entities that agree to join the settlement. (Re the oxycontin scandal).

The agreement would fully resolve claims dating back a decade or more and is not an admission of any liability or wrongdoing.   5 billion for no wrongdoing?

_______________

I REGRET SO MANY suspicions, before Trump is even in office.  But, when I read a  UnitedHealthcare representative  made humanizing remarks about  their late CEO, including the statement that

“While the health system is not perfect, every corner of it is filled with people who try to do their best for those they serve.”  Who are those they serve?  The Stockholders?  Grrr, as another blogger said.

______________

When I read that so many wealthy outfits are cozying up to Trump, my blood runs cold.

______________

I didn’t know there were so many school shootings:  This year, nine shooting suspects were female compared with 249 who were male, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.

______________

Headlines: South Korea’s President Is Impeached After Martial Law Crisis….Maybe this will make Trump think twice before doing it?

______________

DUMB:  To ask folks who survived due to the polio vaccine to wipe out their saviour?  {re nytimes post)

______________

ENOUGH HAND WRINGING — The good lord willing, my next blog will be about nursery rhymes  (but not all necessarily happy)….

The Green Study has been a personal essay blog for the last ten years and the commenting community here is largely made up of smart, thoughtful, respectful, and considerate humans. Despite that, polarization of politics has affected many of us right down to the bone. No matter what side you’re on, heels are dug in, and many of us are not particularly good at engaging on controversial topics, myself included, without reacting with defensive anger. Be that as it may, I still consider this my turf and as such, will curate it to the best of my ability. My guiding principles for the comment section are civility, mindfulness, authenticity, and growth. Civility: No personal attacks, name calling or needless escalation. The use of stereotypes or labels and cutesy insult names are not appreciated. Mindfulness: Not everyone shares your life experiences or perspectives. Don’t assume. Authenticity: Save the talking points for the big dogs. I tune out people who recite memes, fake news, inaccurate science, or try to hawk their own wares. Be you and stick with your own perspective. Growth: Conversations get better when people expand on ideas or give a unique perspective. On that note, I have not always followed these principles myself when writing posts and am trying to be more mindful about that. I still like salty language in context and believe that humor which punches upward has its place. If I do not have the time, energy or wherewithal to curate comments on a post effectively, particularly if it’s controversial, comments will be turned off. Please feel free to send me a message via my contact page and I’ll answer emails as time permits. Thank you. Share this:

Comment Policy

I visited Google and saw a number of articles beginning with “OEDC countries,” with no explanation of what they were talking about.  I figured OEDC was such common knowledge that I must be a dummy not to know.

Seems it was otherwise.  More specifically on Google  I learned that The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a unique forum where the governments of 37 democracies with market-based economies collaborate to develop policy standards to promote sustainable economic growth.  Non-OECD countries are called developing economies or modernizing economies. https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/OECD#:~:text

China has been an OECD Key Partner since 2007, alongside Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa. Since embarking on a programme of dialogue and co-operation with China in 1995, the OECD has contributed to policy reform in China through the sharing of policy experience.  I’m unsure about the count list of member countries, since in one post the U.S. refers to the OECD’s number as “democracies,” yet Russia and China–and I don’t know what other countries would not be considered democracies. Incidentally, not surprisingly it appears the largest countries are not in favor of any international enforceable climate change laws, although its [“our”] response was more than 100 pages long.  

HOPEFULLY:  Legal expectations and  consequences for nations  who ignore or do not follow through on climate responsibilities are being currently thrashed out at the International Justice Court in the Hague now.  The hearing is in response to a filing  from the republic of  Vanuatu, an archipelago with 80 islands.  Before its independence in 1980, Vanuatu was jointly administered by France and the U.K.,  and known as the New Hebrides for 74 years. Today Vanuatu is a republic with a non-executive presidency.  <nytdirect@nytimes.com> 

___________________

Romanian Court Annuls Presidential Election Results and Orders a New Vote   The decision came days after the government asserted that there had been “cyberattacks” meant to undermine the vote and security council documents indicated possible Russian meddling.  Imagine that!

ERRONEOUS FANTASIES

Somehow, when I formerly considered cloning, I imagined two identicals, maybe enjoying each other’s company.  Wiser now, I realize one is mother to the other, and at least sometimes (if not always) the clone gets a “surrogate mother.” I didn’t know fifteen species have been cloned; many pets also, at the request of their owners.

Even wiser now, I read that Dolly had three mothers: one ewe for the DNA, another for the egg into which the DNA was injected, and a third to carry the resulting cloned embryo.

I knew many secretly fantasized about cloning humans, but there was an ethical, maybe legal barrier.  I just discovered the basis…or at least one concern is that with each cloning there are apparently many failures, and misfires with damaged results.  Dolly, the first cloned sheep, was named after Dolly Parton and produced in Scotland by Ian Wilmut, head of the original cloning team after 434 attempts (a success rate of 0.2 percent.)  She lived from  July 5, 1996  until she was euthanized on February 14, 2002, due to an incurable lung tumor.  She had also been treated for arthritis.

Dolly led to concerns about cloning a human being — a thought that reportedly horrified Wilmut, originally. This concern spurred policy makers everywhere to action. Indeed, the United Nations (UN) spent 3 years trying to negotiate an international ban on human cloning. Bogged down by differing views on the ethical acceptability of “therapeutic cloning,” in 2005 the UN General Assembly settled on an ambiguous non-binding Declaration that calls upon countries to prohibit all forms of human cloning that are “incompatible with human dignity.”

And I just learned from David Barash’s book The Whispering Within, that human clones, even [horrors] “successful” ones are not expected to naturally be “buddy buddy,” since as he wrote, “A gene that instructed its body to ‘be nice to your clone’ probably was not very strongly favored by natural selection during our evolutionary history.”  (And haven’t you heard people complain, “I’m getting to be just like my mother”?)

_________________

I DIDN’T KNOW THAT:  Certain groups, and particularly minoritized racial and ethnic groups, were impacted much, much, much more dramatically by COVID, although everybody had a negative experience…      https://www.healthdata.org/news-events/podcasts

_________________

• Roles for In-Laws: Trump tapped Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of his daughter Tiffany, as a senior adviser covering Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. He also picked Charles Kushner, his daughter Ivanka’s father-in-law, as ambassador to France.

_________________

Sign on the Christian Fellowship Church:  CHURCH PARKING. trespassers will be baptised.

Sign on the South End Baptist Church:  WHOEVER IS PRAYING FOR SNOW, PLEASE STOP

_________________

I wouldn’t want a god who made others lose so I could win.

(At least not all the time).

_________________