4thgenheel
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 1,520
CURRENT EVENTS
- Thread starter nycfan
- Start date
- Replies: 680
- Views: 10K
- Politics
- Messages
- 23,767
Trump Delayed a Medicare Change After Health Companies’ Donations (Gift Article)
The president posted talking points provided by one firm that donated millions, and his administration delayed a change on coverage of pricey bandages that could have hurt the company and others like it.
- Messages
- 23,767
“…
Trump Delayed a Medicare Change After Health Companies’ Donations (Gift Article)
The president posted talking points provided by one firm that donated millions, and his administration delayed a change on coverage of pricey bandages that could have hurt the company and others like it.www.nytimes.com
For Extremity Care, the influence campaign was money well spent.
It helped secure support at the highest levels of the U.S. government to protect an important revenue stream for companies that sell skin substitutes to doctors, who use the products to heal stubborn wounds. Since April, the month when the Biden-initiated change would have otherwise gone into effect, Medicare has paid doctors and other medical providers more than $2.3 billion for skin substitutes, according to an analysis that Early Read AI, a health care data analytics company based in Lincolnshire, Ill., conducted for The New York Times.
… Over the preceding three years, as companies exploited a loophole in Medicare billing rules that allowed them to set their own prices for the products, Medicare payments for skin substitutes rose from $256 million in 2021 to $10 billion last year. That was more than the public insurance program spent on ambulances or anesthesia in 2024.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that manages the health care programs, has described the growth in spending on the skin substitutes products as unprecedented, attributing it largely to “abusive pricing practices.”
…
The company has sold some of the most expensive skin substitute products on the market. One called Restorigin, for example, began listing in January 2024 with a price of $9,916 per square inch. At the time, the average price for that kind of product was around $2,500.
Three months later, Medicare data shows the listing of another product sold by Extremity Care. That patch, Complete FT, sold for $11,283 per square inch.
On those two products alone, Medicare has spent at least $1.4 billion, according to an analysis of spending data from the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations.…”
- Messages
- 23,767
“… In April 2024, Medicare contractors released a proposal to limit the public insurer’s coverage to the 17 products that were the subject of published research proving their effectiveness. That list did not include any Extremity Care bandages.
…
The donations helped Mr. Ballard arrange audiences for Mr. Burckhardt and Mr. Madden with Mr. Trump during the campaign.
And in early June 2024 — a couple of weeks after the $1 million donation to the advertising super PAC, which was run by associates of Mr. Trump’s political operation — he made a post on his social media site that echoed Extremity Care’s concerns about the proposed new rule from the Biden administration tightening Medicare reimbursement.
“Crooked Joe Biden is saying Medicare will not cover more than 50,000 Americans living with horrible open wounds caused by diabetes,” Mr. Trump wrote, citing “testimony from doctors” and “groundbreaking medical research” ostensibly backing the products. “These people are hurting, but they should know that help is on the way this November!” he added.
As Mr. Trump was preparing to take office, some of the skin substitute companies and their executives donated to his inauguration, as well as to the campaign committee of his choice for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (Mr. Burckhardt donated more than $103,000 to Mr. Kennedy after the election, according to F.E.C. filings.)…”
- Messages
- 23,767
“… But the industry was caught off guard in July. The Trump administration changed course and proposed a new plan that would lower skin substitute reimbursements to a flat fee of $806 per square inch, a small fraction of what some companies currently earn. The proposal could go into effect next year if it is finalized.
The skin substitute industry immediately condemned the proposal but also saw an opening: They could lobby for a higher flat fee. In recent weeks, companies have coalesced around lobbying for a price of at least $3,800 per square inch.…”
lawtig02
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 4,215
Good lord. If the "skin substitute industry" isn't holding every single annual conference at Mar-a-Lago, they're missing the goldenest of all opportunities.
tarheel931
Active Member
- Messages
- 37
US Air Force to deny retirement pay to transgender service members being separated from the service
The U.S. Air Force has decided to deny early retirement options for transgender service members with 15 to 18 years of service.
apnews.com
This is beyond disgusting and despicable. As a Veteran this sickens me and pisses me off that Airmen who have served honorably are being treated like second class citizens. FUCK the MAGA ass hats and all who voted for Taco Cheese. What's next? Are they going to force out those of us who don't drink the kook-aid?
The supposition by some that Trump is a Russian agent might be wrong.
Maybe he’s a Chinese agent.
lawtig02
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 4,215
Shut the fuck up, heathen! Secretary Hegseth is returning our military to its war-fighting roots!
Hegseth Starts Evangelical Prayer Services at Pentagon with His Tennessee Church Pastor
The defense secretary's personal pastor from a Tennessee church whose leaders have a documented history of advocating for male-led Christian authority over society.
In a move that pushes the boundaries of Constitutional prohibition against a state religion, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hosted an evangelical prayer service in the middle of the day at the Pentagon in which a pastor praised President Donald Trump as "sovereignly appointed."
* * *
While Hegseth made an opening prayer, the majority of the service was run by the defense secretary's personal pastor from a Tennessee church whose leaders have a documented history of advocating for male-led Christian authority over society.
* * *
Meanwhile, the pastor, Brooks Potteiger, prayed for the Pentagon to "become a place where Christians come together to do just this, and we see you move in power, not just through the Pentagon, but through our nation's capital and down throughout this great nation."
* * *
Meanwhile, Trump has a long track record of pushing to blur America's long-standing traditions that separate church and state. Shortly after taking office for his second term, he established a White House Faith Office and signed an executive order banning "anti-Christian bias" and to "end the anti-Christian weaponization of government."
Hegseth's pastor, who came from Tennessee for the service at the Pentagon, runs the Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship -- a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.
The group's governing documents reserve church leadership roles for men and prohibit women from being "mustered for combat."
Hegseth has long been an opponent of women in military combat roles and argued in his last book that the achievements of female service members were inflated or the result of diversity efforts.
"They don't care how many battles we lose as long as our dead are diverse," he wrote, without specifying who "they" were. "We can see this in how the woke PR machine has spun stories of female service members."
Potteiger's sermon featured several references to the Pentagon and military.
"If our Lord is sovereign, even over the sparrows' fallings, you can be assured that he is sovereign over everything else that falls in this world, including Tomahawk and Minuteman missiles, including strategy meetings and war room debriefings. Jesus has the final say over all of it," he said.
The church documents also call being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender a "perversion."
"We pray for our leaders who you have sovereignly appointed -- for President Trump, thank you for the way that you have used him to bring stability and moral clarity to our land," Potteiger said in the sermon. "We pray that you would surround him with faithful counselors who fear your name and love your priesthoods."
Ahead of Hegseth's confirmation to lead the Pentagon, USA Today reported that a podcast run by Potteiger and Joshua Haymes, another member of the leadership at Pilgrim Hill, often features the concept of the "sphere sovereignty" in which "Christian men are over three equally powerful spheres -- the government, church and family -- to maintain order and submissiveness through different forms of discipline."
When Hegseth introduced Potteiger on Wednesday, he said that the pastor had "long been a mentor of mine, of my wife and I, of our family" and that he had participated in Bible studies with him "long before anything like this seemed possible."
"And now here we are," he added.
The good news is that any good properties this Trumplican abomination has will be bought by people who likely know what they’re doing.
Pete Hegseth has been married his THIRD wife since 2019; he and his SECOND wife divorced in 2017.Shut the fuck up, heathen! Secretary Hegseth is returning our military to its war-fighting roots!
Hegseth Starts Evangelical Prayer Services at Pentagon with His Tennessee Church Pastor
The defense secretary's personal pastor from a Tennessee church whose leaders have a documented history of advocating for male-led Christian authority over society.www.military.com
In a move that pushes the boundaries of Constitutional prohibition against a state religion, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hosted an evangelical prayer service in the middle of the day at the Pentagon in which a pastor praised President Donald Trump as "sovereignly appointed."
* * *
While Hegseth made an opening prayer, the majority of the service was run by the defense secretary's personal pastor from a Tennessee church whose leaders have a documented history of advocating for male-led Christian authority over society.
* * *
Meanwhile, the pastor, Brooks Potteiger, prayed for the Pentagon to "become a place where Christians come together to do just this, and we see you move in power, not just through the Pentagon, but through our nation's capital and down throughout this great nation."
* * *
Meanwhile, Trump has a long track record of pushing to blur America's long-standing traditions that separate church and state. Shortly after taking office for his second term, he established a White House Faith Office and signed an executive order banning "anti-Christian bias" and to "end the anti-Christian weaponization of government."
Hegseth's pastor, who came from Tennessee for the service at the Pentagon, runs the Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship -- a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.
The group's governing documents reserve church leadership roles for men and prohibit women from being "mustered for combat."
Hegseth has long been an opponent of women in military combat roles and argued in his last book that the achievements of female service members were inflated or the result of diversity efforts.
"They don't care how many battles we lose as long as our dead are diverse," he wrote, without specifying who "they" were. "We can see this in how the woke PR machine has spun stories of female service members."
Potteiger's sermon featured several references to the Pentagon and military.
"If our Lord is sovereign, even over the sparrows' fallings, you can be assured that he is sovereign over everything else that falls in this world, including Tomahawk and Minuteman missiles, including strategy meetings and war room debriefings. Jesus has the final say over all of it," he said.
The church documents also call being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender a "perversion."
"We pray for our leaders who you have sovereignly appointed -- for President Trump, thank you for the way that you have used him to bring stability and moral clarity to our land," Potteiger said in the sermon. "We pray that you would surround him with faithful counselors who fear your name and love your priesthoods."
Ahead of Hegseth's confirmation to lead the Pentagon, USA Today reported that a podcast run by Potteiger and Joshua Haymes, another member of the leadership at Pilgrim Hill, often features the concept of the "sphere sovereignty" in which "Christian men are over three equally powerful spheres -- the government, church and family -- to maintain order and submissiveness through different forms of discipline."
When Hegseth introduced Potteiger on Wednesday, he said that the pastor had "long been a mentor of mine, of my wife and I, of our family" and that he had participated in Bible studies with him "long before anything like this seemed possible."
"And now here we are," he added.
How long has this grifting “minister” been mentoring Hegseth’s wife?
Aren’t they publicly in Illinois?
I like the term kook-aid!
US Air Force to deny retirement pay to transgender service members being separated from the service
The U.S. Air Force has decided to deny early retirement options for transgender service members with 15 to 18 years of service.
This is beyond disgusting and despicable. As a Veteran this sickens me and pisses me off that Airmen who have served honorably are being treated like second class citizens. FUCK the MAGA ass hats and all who voted for Taco Cheese. What's next? Are they going to force out those of us who don't drink the kook-aid?
superrific
Legend of ZZL
- Messages
- 9,260
I'd limit it to post WWII. Andrew Mellon was a doozy, and the Gilded Age was full of corruption and long-forgotten cabinet members, some of whom might also be doozies.
But certainly in our lifetime, we've had few rivals except for Trump 1.0 (e.g. Ben Carson, Matt "Toilet" Whitaker, whoever the fuck was leading DoD by the end, etc)
WaynetheDrain
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 1,285
If the Texas Democrats really want to disappear, they should hide wherever the Epstein files are. Nobody will ever find them.
JCTarheel82
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 1,462
Has anyone checked the Mar-a-Lago shitters?
- Messages
- 1,045
As Ramrouser knows, the Jesus man loves him some Tomahawk and Minuteman missiles. But he insists that during Pentagon debriefings, there will be no fighting in the War Room!
lawtig02
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 4,215
Fair. I do not have a full list of all cabinet secretaries. But I think we'd be hard-pressed to find worse ones than these --
- Vance
- Zeldin
- Loeffler
- Bondi (although, if it's possible, a VAST improvement over Gaetz)
- Gabbard
- Vaught
- Rollins
- Lutnick
- Hegseth
- Kennedy
- Noem
- Duffy
- Greer
And that's leaving a LOT of meat on the bone.
I think we have normalized the shitfuckery of Trump 2.0's cabinet. These are the worst of us. I've always said I would rather have a random draw of the 343 million Americans over Trump. I'm now confident I'd take the same gamble for any of the 13 cabinet-level officials listed above. Maybe we have a crackhead or two. That still wouldn't be worse that what calla and Ram have enabled.