xkcd‘s Randall Munroe looks at how physicians explain health data.
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The annual Right to Meddle in Women’s Lives demonstration was held in Washington DC last Friday, sponsored by the Zygote Liberation Front and the Committee to Restrict Women’s Health Care, or something like that. Theme of this year’s pep rally was “Equality Begins in the Womb,” a bid to promote fetal personhood and negate the human rights of the, um, womb-owners. This biology-denying sect is said to have infiltrated the federal judicial branch recently.
More:
“Anti-Abortion Marchers Gather With an Eye on the Supreme Court,” Kate Zernike and Madeleine Ngo, New York Times
“As March for Life returns to D.C., antiabortion activists wonder: Is this the last march under Roe?” Casey Parks, Washington Post
Related:
“Catholic pro-choice activists project messages onto DC basilica in protest,” by Jack Jenkins, RNS, via National Catholic Reporter
“White nationalists are flocking to the US anti-abortion movement,” Moira Donegan, The Guardian
“‘You never forget it’: These are the stories of life before Roe v. Wade transformed America,” Shefali Luthra, The 19th
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On January 20th, before fleeing to Palm Beach (where his neighbors don’t want him) lame duck grifter Donald Trump granted clemency to fellow Floridians convicted of engaging in the Sunshine State’s flourishing industry, Medicare and Medicaid fraud:
Philip Esformes, a nursing home system operator convicted of a $1.3 Billion Medicare fraud, largest in the the nation’s history, won comutation of his 20-year prison sentence.
South Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen was serving a 17-year sentence for a $73 million Medicare fraud conviction, was pardoned by Mr. Trump, a Florida neighbor.
Also pardoned: Todd Farha, Thaddeus Bereday, William Kale, Paul Behrens, and Peter Clay, former executives of Florida’s WellCare Health Plans, were convicted of defrauding the state’s Medicaid program of over $35 million.
This should make him welcome in his new retirement home, a state represented by a Republican senator once involved in a $1.7 billion Medicare fraud.
More:
“The doctors Trump pardoned for defrauding the government,” Anjalee Khemlani, Yahoo Finance
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President Donald Trump’s favorite COVID-19 preventing snake oil, Hydroxychloroquine, has been shown to be ineffective against the novel coronavirus in yet another medical study, this one involving health care workers.
More:
“Trump-touted hydroxychloroquine shows no benefit in COVID-19 prevention: study,” Reuters
“Hydroxychloroquine didn’t prevent Covid-19 among health care workers in new study,” Jacqueline Howard, CNN
“No Evidence That Hydroxychloroquine Can Prevent Covid-19, Concludes New Study,” Ed Cara, Gizmodo
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“President Trump capped his fruitless four-year journey to abolish and replace the Affordable Care Act by signing an executive order Thursday that aims to enshrine the law’s most popular feature while pivoting away from a broader effort to overhaul the nation’s health insurance system.
Trump announced the move during a trip to North Carolina, outlining his ‘vision’ for revamping parts of the nation’s health care. During the speech, which came shortly before a campaign swing to Florida, Trump barely veiled the political nature of his intent.”
— “After years of promising his own health care plan, Trump settles for rebranding rather than repealing Obamacare,” Toluse Olorunnipa, Washington Post
More:
“President Trump Finally Laid Out His Healthcare Plan. It Doesn’t Do Anything.” Paul McLeod, BuzzFeed News
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ProPublica explains why COVID-19 antibody tests can generate false positives:
“Antibody tests are meant to recognize a past infection. Many of these have hit the market in recent weeks and are being offered at local clinics. Officials have touted the tests as crucial for reopening the economy and developing public health strategies to contain the virus.
But there are still questions about how accurate they are. And even with a very good test, it’s possible to test positive for antibodies even when you don’t actually have them.”
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On Thursday, in a literal 11th-hour brief, an hour before a midnight deadline, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and strip healthcare from 23 million Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thursday also marked the largest single-day increase in diagnosed Coronavirus cases in the U.S. to date, the day when the CDC admitted that coronavirus cases may be 10 times higher than reported.
More:
“Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Strike Down Affordable Care Act,” Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times
“Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare,” Meagan Flynn and Tim Elfrink, Washington Post
“Trump, Intent on Self-Destruction, Asks Supreme Court to Kill Obamacare,” Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine
Update:
“Obamacare Versus the G.O.P. Zombies,” Paul Krugman, New York Times
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“More than 80 percent of the benefits of a tax change tucked into the coronavirus relief package Congress passed last month will go to those who earn more than $1 million annually, according to a report by a nonpartisan congressional body ….
The provision, inserted into the legislation by Senate Republicans, temporarily suspends a limitation on how much owners of businesses formed as ‘pass-through’ entities can deduct against their nonbusiness income, such as capital gains, to reduce their tax liability. The limitation was created as part of the 2017 Republican tax law to offset other tax cuts to firms in that legislation.
Suspending the limitation will cost taxpayers about $90 billion in 2020 alone, part of a set of tax changes that will add close to $170 billion to the national deficit over the next 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the nonpartisan congressional body.”
— “Tax change in coronavirus package overwhelmingly benefits millionaires, congressional body finds,” Jeff Stein, Washington Post
More:
“Coronavirus stimulus law has a tax loophole just for millionaires, report says,” Charles Duncan, McClatchy
“Millionaires to reap 80% of benefit from tax change in US coronavirus stimulus,” Amanda Holpuch, The Guardian
Related:
“White House, GOP face heat after hotel and restaurant chains helped run small business program dry,” Jonathan O’Connell, Washington Post
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Wash your hands, often. Stay home. When you must go out, maintain social distance.
That’s it. There is no vaccine, no magic cure.
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President Donald Trump has been laser-focused on the deadly Coronavirus epidemic, especially one frightening symptom, the biggest stock market dive since the 2008 financial crisis. This is big trouble for Mr. Trump, who has been taking credit for rising stock prices for the past three years. After putting public health expert Mike Pence in charge of the nation’s Coronavirus response, Mr. Trump prescribed his no-fail remedy for Wall Street’s ills: tax cuts. They’ll even pay for themselves! Too bad they won’t treat disease or pay for America’s health care.
More:
“Trump officials discuss tax cuts, other emergency measures in hopes of tackling coronavirus fallout,” Jeff Stein and Ashley Parker,” Washington Post
“Coronavirus Shows the Problem With Trump’s Stock Market Boasting,” Neil Irwin, New York Times
“The coronavirus gores Trump’s bull market,” Robert J. Samuelson, Washington Post
“Trump tries to shift blame as virus outbreak rattles markets,” Jonathan Lemire and Josh Boak, Associated Press
“Only Doctors Can Save the Markets From the Coronavirus,” Binyamin Appelbaum, New York Times
Update:
“Dow plunges despite Fed’s emergency rate cut to stem coronavirus panic,” Rachel Siegel and Thomas Heath, Washington Post
Related:
“Stock markets are headed for a 40 percent plunge, says economist who predicted financial crisis,” Summer Meza, The Week
“Global stock markets have lost $6 trillion in value in six days,” Maggie Fitzgerald, CNBC
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