@smiley7
service for lack of space in the actual ICUs.

#4

Yes, and i saw the walk and drive through disinfectant tunnels in use last week.

@UntimelyRippd

#4
is beginning to feel a bit like an endless drip drip drip of water on my forehead.

@dervish
The entire Mount Sinai health system has over 7,400 physicians, as well as 3,815 beds, and delivers over 16,000 babies a year. In 2019–20, the hospital was ranked 14th among the nearly 5,000 hospitals in the US by the U.S. News & World Report. So, nearly 4,986 US hospitals are worse than this:

Holy freaking hell. A nursing manager at Mt Sinai Hospital in NYC just died from coronavirus. Nurses at the hospital have been wearing trash bags because of the lack of protective gear. https://t.co/DSkHKVECmE pic.twitter.com/gl3w7ksPog

— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) March 26, 2020

#4 Except a few hospitals in NYC.

@smiley7

Politico posted an article on how the justice department is going to suspend habeous corpus for the duration of the epidemic and people are freaking out that it's Trump who is doing it. Guess what? This law has been in place since 2012 when Obama was president. It was just waiting for an event to trigger it.

Hey what is the woman who isn't president saying?

I... think she just became president.

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) March 24, 2020

She along with Neera and other DNC'rs have been all over the Twit griping about the things that Trump is doing wrong. However not one of them are offering advice or saying what they would be doing. Even Biden's 'press conference' was about all the things Trump is doing wrong, but nothing for what he would do if he or when he becomes president. Go figure huh?

Ya think?

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_ZIl6twxIM&list=TLPQMjQwMzIwMjAohneRaKW...

#9 #9
Martial Law will prevent uprisings, i fear.

edit for sp.

@smiley7

wishes. My apologies for not replying sooner--now, got a bum elbow. Seems I'm getting accident-prone in my old age!

Didn't know that CV could live 17 days on hard surfaces. Yikes! Will try to do better wiping down stuff that's mailed to us--got a FedEx package this morning. Pretty much everything is delivered to us--except for grocery pickup items.

Here's stats as of today (TN),

It's been reported that 28 patients and 16 employees at a local nursing home tested positive for the coronavirus last week. The facility had 320 employees and patients tested after two COVID-19 cases were identified. The "vast majority" of the group that tested positive were "symptom-free," meaning they could have unknowingly spread the virus to others.

So, to date, regarding the number of cases in our area, a large number of the 81 positive cases occurred in an institutional setting (a skilled nursing facility). Not to say it can't/won't spread from that point--notice that '16' were employees who live in the greater community, not to mention, as stated above, they were "symptom-free." Bad news, indeed.

Hope to catch up with you Guys, Saturday. Hope to have a screenshot (of a Golden) that I think you'll very much appreciate. BTW, hope new Pup is settling in better with Son and Family. Sometimes they come to us a bit traumatized, unfortunately.

Think it's wise that you're avoiding medical facilities right now (as much as possible). So are we.

Take good care. And stay safe.

Mollie

THANK YOU America's Physicians & Nurses, All Medical Personnel, First Responders, To Include Medical (EMT/Paramedics/Ambulance), Pharmacy Personnel, Fire Depts, Police Depts, Retailers/Grocers--Especially, To Marginally-Paid Frontline Retail Cashiers & Clerks.

Last, but not least,

THANKS to America's Truckers/Delivery Persons, Especially, To Over-The-Road/Long Haul Truckers, Who Obviously Have The Capacity To Shut Down The Entire Country, If They Should Choose To Sit Out The Current Health Crisis.

You are all truly heroes. Godspeed.

FYI

From the website Concierge Medicine Today,

Concierge Care for Congress: Attending Physician of the United States Congress

July 15, 2014

OAP provides members of Congress with physicals and routine examinations, on-site X-rays and lab work, physical therapy and referrals to medical specialists from military hospitals and private medical practices. When specialists are needed, they are brought to the Capitol, often at no charge to members of Congress.[4]

Members of Congress do not pay for the individual services they receive at the OAP, nor do they submit claims through their federal employee health insurance policies. Instead, as of 2009, members pay a flat, annual fee of $503 for all the care they receive. The rest of the cost of their care is paid for by federal funding, from the U.S. Navy budget. The annual fee has not changed significantly since 1992.[4]

and,

Yearly Fee

One aspect of the office’s operations which remains unclear is just how the annual $503 fee is determined.

Until 1992, OAP services were free to members of Congress. But after former Sen. Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania angered members by introducing a bill to make Congress members pay market rate prices for using the OAP, a compromise was reached.

Instead of charging for each service, Wofford said, members of the House and Senate agreed to hire independent consultants to determine the average value of the services offered and to use that amount to determine an annual fee.
“We thought of the pricing much like an HMO,” Wofford said of the compromise pricing model. “The attending physician at the time told me he had no interest in handling insurance or billing for each service available.”

But Wofford said the House and Senate committees tasked with determining the fee each insisted on hiring their own consultants, leading to a split pricing system. According to press accounts from 1992, the Senate set the fee at $520; the House fee was set at $263 for the same care. At some point, sources say, the separate rates were scrapped and replaced with the single fee, now set at $503.

The Office of the Attending Physician refused to comment on the fee or why it has not changed significantly in 17 years, despite rampant inflation in all other areas of health care costs.

Anderson refused repeated requests for the Committee on House Administration to provide details of how the rate is determined or who determines it.

“Members pay an annual fee determined by an independent actuary for use of the OAP services,” Anderson responded each time he was asked about the pricing model.

Gotta put an end to this Congressional Perk, if we hope to ever have a decent healthcare program.

(IOW, their current excellent OAP healthcare program allows them to be exempt from any austerity/managed care tools that they impose on the masses.)

#12

though small at present, appear to be growing at a fast pace, outstripping us in NC.

We may, in time, see this happen in red states not taking good precautions; would not doubt or bet against this thinking, almost expected.

Can't easily ignore or stop a virus that apparently can live on hard surfaces for 17 days per the Center for Disease Control.

@magiamma

reading my OAP blurb. Apologies for delay in replying--got a bad elbow, to match my already bum ankle--so been laying low much of this week.

Couldn't agree more. Apparently, in the minds of our 'overlords,' only the richest and most powerful deserve decent healthcare.

Well, I don't plan to accept that dictate and/or attitude, lying down.

I know how hard you worked on Bernie's behalf, and, imagine that the news of him stepping out of the race has to be a rather bitter pill to swallow. IMO, Bernie's a very fine man, but, maybe too much a part of the power structure to really want to rebel against it--with full force. Of course, he has brought many important and powerful ideas to the forefront--for that, we can all be quite thankful.

My 'hope' is that many progressives will stay engaged enough to fight another day against a 'managed care'-like so-called "public option" if, by a fluke, Uncle Joe is actually elected Prez. If he wins, I'm convinced that the PtB will go after the Traditional/Original Medicare program in order to reduce it to a MA- or Medicare Advantage-like plan. Which would very likely mean--using 'primary physician gatekeepers' to reduce access to physician specialists, heavy doses of PA's (Prior Authorizations) and, other so-called UM (Utilization Management) tools, designed to deny folks medical services, in order to flatten the cost curve.

Hope to catch up with you Guys at your OT, by late tomorrow. In the meantime, take good care of yourself. And, stay well.

Mollie

FYI

From the website Concierge Medicine Today,

Concierge Care for Congress: Attending Physician of the United States Congress
July 15, 2014

OAP provides members of Congress with physicals and routine examinations, on-site X-rays and lab work, physical therapy and referrals to medical specialists from military hospitals and private medical practices. When specialists are needed, they are brought to the Capitol, often at no charge to members of Congress.[4]

Members of Congress do not pay for the individual services they receive at the OAP, nor do they submit claims through their federal employee health insurance policies. Instead, as of 2009, members pay a flat, annual fee of $503 for all the care they receive. The rest of the cost of their care is paid for by federal funding, from the U.S. Navy budget. The annual fee has not changed significantly since 1992.[4]

and,

Yearly Fee

One aspect of the office’s operations which remains unclear is just how the annual $503 fee is determined.

Until 1992, OAP services were free to members of Congress. But after former Sen. Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania angered members by introducing a bill to make Congress members pay market rate prices for using the OAP, a compromise was reached.

Instead of charging for each service, Wofford said, members of the House and Senate agreed to hire independent consultants to determine the average value of the services offered and to use that amount to determine an annual fee.
“We thought of the pricing much like an HMO,” Wofford said of the compromise pricing model. “The attending physician at the time told me he had no interest in handling insurance or billing for each service available.”

But Wofford said the House and Senate committees tasked with determining the fee each insisted on hiring their own consultants, leading to a split pricing system. According to press accounts from 1992, the Senate set the fee at $520; the House fee was set at $263 for the same care. At some point, sources say, the separate rates were scrapped and replaced with the single fee, now set at $503.

The Office of the Attending Physician refused to comment on the fee or why it has not changed significantly in 17 years, despite rampant inflation in all other areas of health care costs.

Anderson refused repeated requests for the Committee on House Administration to provide details of how the rate is determined or who determines it.

“Members pay an annual fee determined by an independent actuary for use of the OAP services,” Anderson responded each time he was asked about the pricing model.

Gotta put an end to this Congressional Perk, if we hope to ever have a decent single-payer healthcare program.

(IOW, our lawmakers' current excellent OAP healthcare program allows them to be exempt from any austerity/managed care tools that they seek to impose on the masses, as evidenced by several Dem Party MFA/public option proposals.)

#12
It’s good that we are getting crumbs I guess. But that’s all we get. I’m just trying to figure out what the advantage of having a bunch of people die is. Are they really that lacking in critical thinking? There must be some method to their madness. Maybe it’s sheer greed and they just don’t want to lose one thin dime. (Yes, without question it’s greed). But it seems like there must be more to it. Or they just got caught unawares and now have to figure out how to take advantage. FuckifIknow. Have a good one Mollie.