Nobody Cares about Your Health

[Rose Karuna]

Facebook, now slurping up your medical data!

Facebook Is Receiving Sensitive Medical Information from Hospital Websites – The Markup

Experts say some hospitals’ use of an ad tracking tool may violate a federal law protecting health information

themarkup.org

A tracking tool installed on many hospitals’ websites has been collecting patients’ sensitive health information—including details about their medical conditions, prescriptions, and doctor’s appointments—and sending it to Facebook.

The Markup tested the websites of Newsweek’s top 100 hospitals in America. On 33 of them we found the tracker, called the Meta Pixel, sending Facebook a packet of data whenever a person clicked a button to schedule a doctor’s appointment. The data is connected to an IP address—an identifier that’s like a computer’s mailing address and can generally be linked to a specific individual or household—creating an intimate receipt of the appointment request for Facebook.

On the website of University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, for example, clicking the “Schedule Online” button on a doctor’s page prompted the Meta Pixel to send Facebook the text of the button, the doctor’s name, and the search term we used to find her: “pregnancy termination.”

Very creepy.

 

[Govi]

Why are the hospital sites using the Meta Pixel at all? Is FB paying them to use it? Are there any other promised benefits of its use to anyone other than FB?

 

[Free]

Why are the hospital sites using the Meta Pixel at all?

They're using it because everyone uses it to track everything on The Web. A Facebook Meta pixel, a GTM tag, and you be learnin' all the things about who visits your sites. And Facebook and Google don't have to pay a thing, because our thirst for knowledge makes invasive data collection a freebie.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Sleep scientist Russell Foster: ‘I want to take the anxiety around sleep away’

The Oxford professor has studied our circadian rhythms for decades – and says much of what we think we know is wrong

www.theguardian.com

Evernote link

 

[Rose Karuna]

Drug prices seem to be all over the place in the US. Recently, I stumbled across this website and had no idea Mark Cuban has a company that sold prescription drugs.

https://costplusdrugs.com/medications/

They offer certain generic drugs at discounted prices, by selling medications at a fixed markup of 15% plus a $3 flat fee. I noticed a significant [lower] price difference between drug prices on this site and drug prices in stores like Walgreens or CVS. Now that I'm retired, I'm always looking for better deals in medications because I am sure I will inevitably hit the donut hole again this year and have to spring for at least some of it "out of pocket".

I don't take insulin, but for those in the US that do and are struggling to afford it, I also ran across this:

The nonprofit drugmaker Civica Rx announced in March that it planned to make and sell generic versions of insulin to consumers at no more than $30 per vial and no more than $55 for a box of five pen cartridges.

My friend takes insulin and it has been running around $3,600/month and has been around $1500 for her out of pocket. She has an insulin pump, but still, her out of pocket cost for insulin is more than some people pay in rent per month.

Often I've also found better deals than drug stores offer at Publix and Costco. I use an inhaler and was shocked at the $184 price (with medicare insurance) of it at Walgreens. Cuban's site offers it for MUCH less.

Hope someone finds this helpful.

 

[Free]

I found this kinda interesting. OK yes, I'm weird.

 

[Rose Karuna]

Hubris, so much fun to watch when they finally get their dick caught in a wringer.

MSN

When his medical malpractice trial concluded in April, Dr. Essam Quraishi left an Orange County civil courtroom in victory. Swiftly and unanimously, 12 jurors had decided that the gastroenterologist had not been responsible for the death of a patient.

That was before his lawyer, Robert McKenna III, appeared in an online celebration video, bragging of his work and saying the case involved “a guy that was probably negligently killed, but we kind of made it look like other people did it.”

Citing McKenna’s remarks, the judge who presided over the trial has vacated the verdict, ordering the case back to court. “I think I have to protect the system and say plaintiffs deserve a new trial,” Orange County Superior Court Judge James Crandall said at an Aug. 4 hearing.

After reading about the issue, I have a hard time understanding how the jury even came to the decision they did with the evidence they had. I'm hoping the next jury actually considers that this was a mans life that was taken.

 

[Rose Karuna]

I ran across this today and it's really scary if you live in the US.

America Is a Rich Death Trap

It’s not just the pandemic. For citizens of a wealthy country, Americans of every age, at every income level, are unusually likely to die, from guns, drugs, cars, and disease.

www.theatlantic.com

The second fact was perhaps more alarming: The U.S. fared worse in life expectancy than other high-income countries. While most of the developed world saw conditions improve in the second year of the pandemic, more Americans died of COVID after the introduction of the vaccines than before their invention.

 

[Free]

Why pain feels worse at night

New research into the circadian clock helps explain this mystery.

arstechnica.com

 

[Free]

 

[Free]

Probably another law and order groupie, as well - except when it impinges on their own beliefs.

Man says he secretly lowered his town’s water fluoride for over a decade

Town manager says fluoride levels now restored and will be monitored monthly.

arstechnica.com

 

[Free]

Do we have a thread called "Parents don't care about their children's health"?

Growing vaccine hesitancy fuels measles, chickenpox resurgence in U.S.

Twenty-eight percent of all adults now say parents should be able to decide not to vaccinate their children for measles, mumps and rubella to attend public schools, up from 16% in 2019.

www.pressherald.com

A rapidly growing measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio – largely involving unvaccinated children – is fueling concerns among health officials that more parent resistance to routine childhood immunizations will intensify a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Most of the 81 children infected so far are old enough to get the shots, but their parents chose not to do so, officials said, resulting in the country’s largest outbreak of the highly infectious pathogen this year.

“That is what is causing this outbreak to spread like wildfire,” said Mysheika Roberts, director of the Columbus health department.

 

[Rose Karuna]

So first I want to say to nurses that there are not words to describe how much I appreciate what you do and your dedication, the enormous responsibility you take on and your and knowledge. OMG. Just watching my husband in the hospital has taught me a lot.

Hospitals could not run without the nurses. What I have learned, is that in hospitals, no one except the nurses are actually talking to each other. The doctors, managers and administrators seem to have tunnel vision and generally have absolutely no knowledge of the whole patient. But the nurses... you want to know anything, just ask a nurse. I wish I knew of some way I could show them my appreciation when my husband is finally released (hopefully Friday or Tuesday).

Now I am having to learn something about the enormous responsibility of nursing. I'm getting set up to take care of Bran at home. He has a PICC line for chemo and for TPN. TPN (IV line feeding) is the scary (and horribly expensive) one. Since he can't eat. I am terrified when I get him home and have to change the first bag that I'm going to forget something or do something horribly wrong that results in an air bubble or an infection.

I am also terrified that medicare won't cover the TPN which amounts to about $17,000/month. Unfortunately, a feeding tube would not work for him because his spleen has expanded and his stomach can't fill with anything. So, I'm asking the universe to kick a good one my way and have medicare approve it.

Anyhow, I'm personally getting an up close look at our medical system in the US, the good, the bad and the ugly.

 

[Khamon]

We attended a nurse's funeral today. There was a lamp and a cape to represent Florence Nightingale; a white rose was laid on the coffin before a bell was rung as her name was called. Then, when she didn't answer, the head nurse released her from her duties and granted her rest from her labours.

 

[Rose Karuna]

We attended a nurse's funeral today. There was a lamp and a cape to represent Florence Nightingale; a white rose was laid on the coffin before a bell was rung as her name was called. Then, when she didn't answer, the head nurse released her from her duties and granted her rest from her labours.

This was a beautiful way to acknowledge her life and what she gave.

 

[Free]

'Cancel This Failed Experiment': Physicians Tell Biden HHS to End Medicare Privatization Pilot

A national physician group this week called for the complete termination of a Medicare privatization scheme that the Biden White House inherited from the Trump administration and later rebranded—while keeping intact its most dangerous components.

In a Tuesday letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) argued that ACO REACH "presents a threat to the integrity of traditional Medicare, and an opportunity for corporations to take money from taxpayers while denying care to beneficiaries."

Sounds like something the Republicans would love.

 

[Rose Karuna]

'Cancel This Failed Experiment': Physicians Tell Biden HHS to End Medicare Privatization Pilot

Sounds like something the Republicans would love.

OMG - My husband just spent a full month in the hospital and now has a home nurse once a week and I handle his care the rest of the time. Honestly, if they had been successful with privatizing medicare or if we had been on "private insurance", we would be f-ing homeless right now.

I can't imagine how younger people who have a seriously ill child or spouse handle it. Not just having crappy private insurance but also, potentially losing their job because they have to care for their loved one.

Christian Nationalists and Republicans are completely heartless. The next time one of them says they are going to pray for me I'm going to punch them in the face.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Nutrition Science’s Most Preposterous Result: Could Ice Cream Possibly Be Good for You?

Studies show a mysterious health benefit to ice cream. Scientists don’t want to talk about it.

www.theatlantic.com

Evernote link

 

[Soen Eber]

Drug prices seem to be all over the place in the US. Recently, I stumbled across this website and had no idea Mark Cuban has a company that sold prescription drugs.

https://costplusdrugs.com/medications/

They offer certain generic drugs at discounted prices, by selling medications at a fixed markup of 15% plus a $3 flat fee. I noticed a significant [lower] price difference between drug prices on this site and drug prices in stores like Walgreens or CVS. Now that I'm retired, I'm always looking for better deals in medications because I am sure I will inevitably hit the donut hole again this year and have to spring for at least some of it "out of pocket".

I don't take insulin, but for those in the US that do and are struggling to afford it, I also ran across this: My friend takes insulin and it has been running around $3,600/month and has been around $1500 for her out of pocket. She has an insulin pump, but still, her out of pocket cost for insulin is more than some people pay in rent per month.

Often I've also found better deals than drug stores offer at Publix and Costco. I use an inhaler and was shocked at the $184 price (with medicare insurance) of it at Walgreens. Cuban's site offers it for MUCH less.

Hope someone finds this helpful.

There is also GoodRX.com as well.

I've been researching both for myself (when I can no longer use medical assistance and am forced onto MediCare) and my brother who is already on MediCare.

Here's a good frugal living YouTube channel that covers low income and seniors: Low Income Relief. This is where I got the GoodRX website.

 

[Soen Eber]

Nutrition Science’s Most Preposterous Result: Could Ice Cream Possibly Be Good for You?

Studies show a mysterious health benefit to ice cream. Scientists don’t want to talk about it.

www.theatlantic.com

Evernote link

(from the referenced web page) The benefit drops in half when you factor in that people who have been notified they are diabetic (or worry they might be) cut ice cream out of their diet, while healthy people with no such risk or fear continue to eat ice cream. There is still an effect that stands apart from statistical noise, however.