#united health care

[misku-nimfa]

Fuck United. Fuck their decision to segment their clients in such a way that 4 different representatives give you 5 different customer service numbers to call. Fuck their decision to make on customer service line completely automated with no way to speak with a person. And fuck every person with the power to stop them from doing this who chooses to fuck around instead.

[penpoise]

Unraveling the Essence of Advent Health

Introduction to Advent Health In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare, one institution stands out for its unwavering commitment to holistic well-being – Advent Health. This article delves into the multifaceted aspects of Advent Health, exploring its history, mission, services, and the impact it has on communities. History and Background Advent Health traces its roots back to a visionary…

[reasonsforhope]

Less than three months after U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin and her colleagues launched an investigation into the four major American manufacturers of inhalers, three of the companies have relented, making commitments to cap costs for their inhalers at $35 for patients who now pay much more.

25 million Americans have asthma and 16 million Americans have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), meaning over 40 million Americans rely on inhalers to breathe.

Inhalers have been available since the 1950s, and most of the drugs they use have been on the market for more than 25 years.

According to a statement from the Wisconsin Senator’s office, inhaler manufacturers sell the exact same products at a much lower costs in other countries. One of AstraZeneca’s inhalers, Breztri Aerosphere, costs $645 in the U.S.—but just $49 in the UK. Inhalers made by Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, and Teva have similar disparities.

Baldwin and her Democratic colleagues—New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders—pressured the companies to lower their prices by writing letters to GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Teva, and AstraZeneca requesting a variety of documents that show why such higher prices are charged in America compared to Europe.

As a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Baldwin recently announced that as a result of the letters they had secured commitments from three of the four to lower the out-of-pocket costs of inhalers to a fixed $35.00 rate.

“For the millions of Americans who rely on inhalers to breathe, this news is a major step in the right direction as we work to lower costs and hold big drug companies accountable,” said Senator Baldwin.

A full list of the inhalers and associated drugs can be viewed here.

It’s the second time in the last year that pharmaceutical companies were forced to provide reasonable prices—after the cost of insulin was similarly capped successfully at $35 per month thanks to Congressional actions led by the White House.

-via Good News Network, March 25, 2024

[lottiestudying]

08.08.2024—moments of clarity & peace in a chaotic day. back in psychiatric care

[intersectionalpraxis]

Capitalism is killing people in so many ways, and the medical industrial complex is one of them. Healthcare should always be a universal right -both fair and equitable access, but in many cases it is not... the mass injustices.

[politijohn]

Source

Source

One day apart....

[orchidvioletindigo]

It's possible I'm just not on here enough to see people talking about this but I have yet to see any posts going around mentioning the new canine respiratory virus that's making the rounds in the United States. Here's a non-paywalled news article on the virus.

Symptoms include tiredness, fever, eating less, a wet cough, a runny nose and/or runny eyes, difficulty breathing, and pneumonia.

Steps to take to protect your dogs include making sure they're up to date on all their vaccines and practicing doggy social distancing. Avoid play groups, group training classes, kennels, daycares, any other situations where your dogs are in close contact with lots of other dogs, and definitely letting your dogs drink from the same water bowls as other random dogs.

[ineed-to-sleep]

*me immediately after going through a terrifying and traumatic experience* haha yeah I guess it was rough but I'm fine now like I'm totally chill. It was kinda funny actually if you think about it

[anarchywoofwoof]

controversial opinion: if you can’t afford to give your employees sick days, vacation or health benefits, you shouldn’t start a business. sorry. the weird obsession that people have for small businesses is embarrassing considering that nearly every small business owner that i’ve ever met is like a forty year old white guy named Todd who only hires high school kids and blonde girls under five foot six.

employer sponsored health care is a sham. your right to affordable and accessible health care shouldn’t be based on whether or not you are providing value in return to a business. but until we live in a country where health care and sick pay is guaranteed for every single person, then your business is going to have to pick up the slack.

“but then no one would be able to start a business” okay well that sucks for them. leave it to the people with enough capital to properly run a business while fairly compensating the people doing the work.

maybe this makes me anti-small business. but this imaginary construct that people have created where a little old grandpa and grandma are running a bakery is woefully inaccurate. most small businesses can’t justify their existence because in order to remain profitable, they must cut expenses from LABOR, the one thing that they can’t do without.

[arctic-hands]

For real tho health freaks who scream about how sugar and salt will kill us all and try to push for restrictions on things like candy and chips for SNAP recipients or politicians who try from time to time to replace food stamps all together and give out Government Approved Staples like bread and peanut butter and Government Cheese are gonna kill a whole lotta sick and disabled people like

Diabetics

POTS sufferers

Hypotensives

People with peanut allergies

People with celiac disease or wheat allergies

The lactose intolerant

People who can't eat solid food

People who are undernourished for any reason and need all the calories they can pack on

So-called "picky eaters" who can't tolerate certain tastes and textures without getting violently ill

A myriad of other human conditions that cannot be neatly tallied into categories because the human body and human experience is vast and infinitely variable

But I don't think ableds really care about us and our health like they like to claim so they can harass us about it, do you?

[saturnsorbits]

Spent the whole afternoon at A&E and now all I can think about is Hospital AU Bakusquad…

Kirishima is in paediatrics.

A giant of a man, who everyone assumes (or hopes) is a physio or maybe even cardiology, but is most often seen with his hair in odd pigtails or butterfly clips, the tattoos on his forearms partially coloured in with bold felt tip. His mega-watt smile and calm, protective demeanour has both kids and parents seeking out his warmth and it isn’t uncommon to hear calls asking when ‘Dr Ei’ is going to be back on the ward. His office is littered with drawings from his patients and thank you cards from their parents - and it isn’t uncommon to see the odd scrawled phone number appear on the edge of a post it note that has somehow found its way into the pocket of his scrubs or coat.

Kaminari is a radiology tech.

He specialised because he thought he’d have a higher chance of seeing tits in his day-to-day work life, but stayed when he discovered his unexpected talent of reading radiographs. He’s got an eye for it, a weird knack that has his final year professor outright refusing to let him pivot to midwifery or plastics. He doesn’t mind so much these days. He’s the life of the department, with an easy going charisma that lures his, often anxious, patients back to relative calm and a manner that makes him more than approachable. ‘Ask Kaminari’ are often the first words spoken in front of a grainy X-Ray, his name the first on patients lips who have been seen by him before.

Mina is a specialist paramedic.

Trained to the highest level alongside Bakugo in med school, Mina decided surgery was just a little too detached for her liking - choosing instead to be the front line for those in an emergency. She likes the rush, the adrenaline filled afternoons that rely on her quick thinking and flawless bedside manner, but she also likes the breaks. Some of her favourite rides are booked appointments ferrying over the resident old dear for her routine CT scan and she’s a favourite amongst the frequent riders. The urgent care staff love her, knowing that they’re getting the best possible hand off when they see her bubblegum curls bounce through the doors, gloved hands gripping the stretcher as she reels off seamless histories and reassurances.

Sero is in orthopedics.

Having undergone his own elbow arthroplasty as a young adult, he knew exactly what he wanted to specialise in even before he started his first year of rotations. By his graduation, he had co-published a series of papers, pioneering a new innovative surgical fix for adolescent joint restoration that involved a veterinary technique using medical grade fishing wire. Despite this, he is humble to his core and steadfastly patient focuses where others may have sought out further research possibilities. His youthful demeanour makes him popular, despite his shyness, oh, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s absolutely smoking hot (and oblivious) either.

Bakugo is an ER Doctor.

It was certain that Bakugo was going far. Graduating top of his class, it was a sure thing that he would become one of the leading surgeons of his generation… Only for him to join the emergency department instead. Longing for a challenge, there are no safer hands in the department than his. Called in for the more harrowing and difficult cases, what he lacks in bedside manner is made up for easily in skill. He is blunt in demeanour and easy to anger, but ask any of the nurses in A&E and they’ll tell you all of that vanishes as soon as a child walks through the door. He has a cult following among the staff, nurses who long to crack his impenetrable shell and get to the gooey stuff they know is underneath and who can blame them? They’ve seen him shirtless in the overnight rooms.

[queerofthedagger]

me, a fool, repressing the knowledge of exactly how long 15 hour shifts are: oh I'm sure it'll be fine, just one more shift to go, really how long can 15 hours be

this shift: i am going to end you and your entire blood line

[withoutaconscienceorafilter]

I think about this thread a lot, so linking to it here so others can see it.

You'll never unsee it. Original here.

[reasonsforhope]

"Growing up, Mackenzee Thompson always wanted a deeper connection with her tribe and culture.

The 26-year-old member of the Choctaw Nation said she grew up outside of her tribe’s reservation and wasn’t sure what her place within the Indigenous community would be.

Through a first-of-its-kind program, Thompson said she’s now figured out how she can best serve her people — as a doctor.

Thompson is graduating as part of the inaugural class from Oklahoma State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation. It’s the first physician training program on a Native American reservation and in affiliation with a tribal government, according to school and tribal officials.

“I couldn’t even have dreamed this up,” she said. “To be able to serve my people and learn more about my culture is so exciting. I have learned so much already.”

Thompson is one of nine Native graduates, who make up more than 20 percent of the class of 46 students, said Dr. Natasha Bray, the school’s dean. There are an additional 15 Native students graduating from the school’s Tulsa campus.

The OSU-COM graduates include students from 14 different tribes, including Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, Alaska Native, Caddo, and Osage.

Bray said OSU partnered with the Cherokee Nation to open the school in 2020 to help erase the shortage of Indigenous doctors nationwide. There are about 841,000 active physicians practicing in the United States. Of those, nearly 2,500 — or 0.3 percent — are Native American, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

When American Indian and Alaska Native people visit Indian Health Service clinics, there aren’t enough doctors or nurses to provide “quality and timely health care,” according to a 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office. On average, a quarter of IHS provider positions — from physicians to nurses and other care positions –are vacant.

“These students here are going to make a generational impact,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. told the students days before graduation. “There is such a need in this state and in this region for physicians and this school was created out of a concern about the pipeline of doctors into our health system.”

The Cherokee Nation spent $40 million to build the college in its capital of Tahlequah. The walls of the campus feature artifacts of Cherokee culture as well as paintings to remember important figures from Cherokee history. An oath of commitment on the wall is written in both English and Cherokee.

The physician training program was launched in the first year of the pandemic.

Bray said OSU and Cherokee leadership felt it was important to have the school in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, home to more than 141,000 people, because students would be able to get experience treating Indigenous patients. In Tahlequah, students live and study in a small town about an hour east of Tulsa with a population of less than 24,000 people.

“While many students learn about the problems facing these rural communities,” Bray said. “Our students are getting to see them firsthand and learn from those experiences.”

While students from the college are free to choose where to complete their residency after graduation, an emphasis is placed on serving rural and Indigenous areas of the country.

There’s also a severe lack of physicians in rural America, a shortage that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Association of American Medical Colleges has projected that rural counties could see a shortage between 37,800 and 124,000 physicians by 2034. An additional 180,000 doctors would be needed in rural counties and other underserved populations to make up the difference.

Bray said OSU saw an opportunity to not only help correct the underrepresentation of Native physicians but also fill a workforce need to help serve and improve health care outcomes in rural populations.

“We knew we’d need to identify students who had a desire to serve these communities and also stay in these communities,” she said.

Osteopathic doctors, or DOs, have the same qualifications and training as allopathic doctors, or MDs, but the two types of doctors attend different schools. While MDs learn from traditional programs, DOs take on additional training at osteopathic schools that focus on holistic medicine, like how to reduce patient discomfort by physically manipulating muscles and bones. DOs are more likely to work in primary care and rural areas to help combat the health care shortages in those areas.

As part of the curriculum, the school invited Native elders and healers to help teach students about Indigenous science and practices...

Thompson said she was able to bring those experiences into her appointments. Instead of asking only standard doctor questions, she’s been getting curious and asking about her patient’s diets, and if they are taking any natural remedies.

“It’s our mission to be as culturally competent as we can,” she said. “Learning this is making me not only a better doctor but helping patients trust me more.”

-via PBS NewsHour, May 23, 2024

[lottiestudying]

30.05.2024—moments from the psych ward

•

1. my bed in the emergency department, waiting to be admitted

2. sunset on hospital grounds

3. the main foyer of the psych ward

4. front of the psych ward where we sit and 💨

•

sharing these to provide more insight into what being in a psych ward is like. breakfast is at 8.30, lunch 1.30, and dinner 5.30. i see the psychiatrist twice a week, nurses (both male and female, from a variety of racial backgrounds. there are also some student nurses) take care of us at other times. they take blood pressure and heart rate every morning. meds are at 8pm and 8am (for those with morning meds). hope this was interesting 🤍✨ take care of yourselves

[intersectionalpraxis]

Heman is a brilliant young man and I know he will continue to have a bright present and future ahead!