hdc

Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. --C.S. Lewis

[Senator Tan Parker @TanParkerTX]

It’s been a very tough journey, and I am grateful to share that precious 2½-year-old Annelise Camp is being safely escorted tonight to New Orleans, where the exceptional team of physicians and medical professionals at @OchsnerHealth Children’s Hospital will lead her care. We need your prayers for America’s little fighter and her family, along with every caregiver by her side. 🙏

[Scott Braddock @scottbraddock]

I'm not saying the world is ending. I'm just pointing out that the hearings at the Texas Capitol today are focused on massive flooding and a Biblical plague of flies #TxLege

[KP, Pharm.D. @kpharmd12]

Why in the hell is epinephrine (EpiPen) not covered across all insurance plans for an affordable price?

Around here, anyone and their brother can pick up as many Narcan’s as they need for $0.

Just ran a claim for a patient who needs an EpiPen and their insurance makes them pay $395 for the cheapest generic option.

Pharmacy wholesale cost is north of $170 a box.

So, even running it as a cash-pay is unaffordable for majority of patients.

[Neurosurgery @neurosurgery]

🚨 REPORT: 82% of physicians are now employed by hospitals or corporate entities. Nearly two-thirds of practices are no longer physician-owned.

This outcome should not surprise anyone.

For more than a decade, Medicare payment cuts, mounting administrative burden, growing insurer oligopolies, and policies that disadvantage independent practices have made this outcome entirely predictable.

If lawmakers want more competition, lower costs, and better access to care, preserving independent practice must be part of the conversation.

No single reform will reverse decades of consolidation. But policymakers can start by fixing Medicare, fixing prior authorization, expanding physician-owned hospitals, and strengthening antitrust enforcement.

Dive into the full study 👉
https://t.co/FJ227IpoHa

@AANSNeuro @CNS_Update @spinesection @AANSCNStrauma @painsection @councilsns @physicianhosp

[David Dayen @ddayen]

High-deductible health insurance can be "affordable," if you never, ever use the coverage.
This is a great corrective from Thom Walsh, a health care regulator in Vermont.
https://t.co/iGeUfqEenz

[Texas 2036 @Texas2036]

Annual healthcare costs for a family of four covered by a typical employer health plan are now $37,824, per new estimates from @millimaninsight.

@caitlinnowens breaks down the numbers for @axios: https://t.co/3MynHJyZlw #txhealth

[Texas Pharmacy Assn @TXpharmAssn]

"Independent #pharmacies are closing at a rate of at least one per week—not because patients need fewer medications, not because competitors can provide care less expensively, but because vertically integrated PBMs have discovered they can systematically underpay independent pharmacies while overregulation limits our ability to adapt and expand services," said TPA Independent Pharmacy Academy Chair Crystal McEntire. "The path that we are on is unsustainable."

McEntire was invited to testify today before the Texas Senate Health & Human Services Committee and Chair @LoisKolkhorst as it examined the role of PBMs in health care costs and monitored the implementation of SB 1236, passed last year. #PBMReform #txlege

[Forest Park Pharmacy @ForestParkPharm]

TRICARE got robbed in broad daylight and nobody at the Pentagon can be bothered to look up from their coffee.

Sen. Warren put the receipts on the table last week (5.22.26 hearing) and what came out of that room should be on the front page of every paper in the country.

According to The Lever / Fed. News Net., Express Scripts' own pharmacy charges the DOD an average of $484 EXTRA on every generic prescription compared to what independent pharmacies get reimbursed. On MILLIONS of scripts. Every year. Do the math and you start to see the size of the hole that's being drilled into the defense health budget.

Here's the trick they're running:

Express Scripts is the PBM that runs the TRICARE pharmacy network. They've held that contract since 2009. Cigna bought them in 2018. The same company that decides what every pharmacy gets paid… also owns its own mail-order pharmacy that competes in the same network. So they set the price, they pay the bill, and the check lands in their own pocket. Pentagon → Express Scripts → Express Scripts. Rigged.

Real example. Ezetimibe (generic Zetia, cholesterol med):

— Independent pharmacy fills the script: reimbursed $0. Not a typo. Zero. — Express Scripts' OWN mail-order pharmacy fills the exact same script: pays itself $1,000.

Same pill. $1,000 difference. Taxpayer funded.

The consequence is exactly what you'd expect: ~13,000 pharmacies have walked away from the TRICARE network since 2022. That's nearly 1 in 6 independent pharmacies in the entire country. Military families and veterans are watching their local pharmacy options collapse because Express Scripts offered terms so bad nobody could afford to stay.

When Sen. Warren asked Assistant Secretary Stephen Bass about the cost, his answer was basically "I'm not aware." Nine million TRICARE beneficiaries, billions of dollars, and the guy whose desk it sits on hasn't bothered to check the price. He'd notice real fast if it was his own credit card.

And in case anyone thinks this is just bad management — there's an active whistleblower lawsuit alleging BILLIONS in fraud against Express Scripts and Accredo. The federal government has paused payments to other vendors for far, far less.

So here's the message that needs to land on Secretary @RobertKennedyJr's desk:

Cancel the payments. The $4.3B TRICARE contract is up for revision annually until 2029. There is a lever. Pull it.

Demand a real audit. DOD has refused to check pricing since the 2021 contract. Warren got a commitment on 5.22.26 — now make it happen.

Criminal charges. If the whistleblower allegations hold up, this isn't a billing dispute. It's looting a military health program.

And @NickShirley — you exposed $9 billion in Medicaid daycare fraud in Minnesota and got the feds to freeze payments statewide off ONE investigation. 134M+ views. This is the same playbook, bigger target, bigger stakes — 9 million military families and vets, tens of billions a year, and a single address worth driving to: 1 Express Way, St. Louis, MO 63121. Go expose this.

People should be losing their minds over this.

[MedicalQuack @MedicalQuack]

This the current scenario and getting worse with Medicaid cuts...
Many doctors (MDs and DOs) in private practice do not accept Medicaid, primarily because state reimbursement rates are notoriously low, and the administrative paperwork is burdensome. As a result, private practices often lose money on Medicaid patients.

Patient Quotas: Even if a doctor is technically enrolled in Medicaid, many limit the number they see or "opt-out" entirely to keep their practices financially viable

Community or public health systems are the options..

https://t.co/rfPryvO96P

[Protect TX Fragile Kids @fragilechildTX]

Dr. Medellin, a pediatrician who specializes in palliative medicine, said he is worried the rule limits providers.

“I do have some concerns about the additional changes in the policy for criteria.” https://t.co/76AbzuzeAP
@TexasHHSC @keratx

#protectTXfragilekids #txlege

[Vinny Martorano @VinnyMartorano]

About 250 people joined a fleet of 100 boats on the Rio Grande at Santa Elena Canyon inside Big Bend National Park to continue the fight against a possible wall in the Big Bend region.

The event was organized by a community coalition, No Big Bend Wall. They also say there were over 3k people at yesterday's rally at the Texas Capitol.

@cbsaustin

[Robert Lufkin MD @robertlufkinmd]

As a medical school professor, I was taught that lost cartilage is gone forever.

Stanford just proved that wrong.

Researchers discovered that blocking a single protein (15-PGDH) -- which rises as we age -- can actually REGROW joint cartilage in aging mice.

The results:
- Two injections per week for 4 weeks dramatically thickened knee cartilage
- An oral pill version worked too
- Chondrocyte cells reprogrammed to a more youthful state
- Human cartilage samples from knee replacements also began regenerating

No stem cells needed. Just reversing an age-related enzyme.

The Phase 1 clinical trial for the oral version is already underway.

This could make knee and hip replacements obsolete.

What excites me most: 15-PGDH is a "gerozyme" -- an enzyme that accumulates with aging and drives tissue decline. Blocking it doesn't just treat symptoms. It addresses the metabolic root cause.

Full breakdown coming on the Health Longevity Secrets podcast.

Source: https://t.co/1v3131YDei

#Longevity #Arthritis #MetabolicHealth #AntiAging #HealthLongevitySecrets

[Ali Swenson @AliSwenson]

New: The Trump administration acknowledged it made a major error in figures it used to help justify a fraud probe into New York’s Medicaid program.

“These numbers could have been cleared up in a phone call, so it’s really slapdash,” one analyst said.
https://t.co/2JBFHlSq9d

[Bob Herman @bobjherman]

The Trump administration has voiced some tough rhetoric about health insurers. But almost every major decision from Trump officials has benefited insurers and their bottom lines. The new Medicare Advantage rule is the latest example. https://t.co/ziGzSwknqK

[CBS News @CBSNews]

The DOJ has been taking down Epstein files. Here’s what remains. https://t.co/Abi1J8lpXm

[Protect TX Fragile Kids @fragilechildTX]

Genesis Dixon, 17 mos old, has a rare genetic disorder typically monitored by neurologist. The closest they could find was in Dallas, 1.5 hrs away. They got an appt in Sept, a year after… @WSJ https://t.co/Vi872AyR6X

#misManagedCare #fixthismess #protectTXfragilekids #txlege

[Protect TX Fragile Kids @fragilechildTX]

Medicaid Insurers Offer 'Ghost Networks' Of Doctors: Many doctors listed in insurer networks treat few or no #Medicaid recipients, leaving patients with long waits; ‘Don’t get sick.’ @WSJ

#misManagedCare #fixthismess #protectTXfragilekids #txlege

[Protect TX Fragile Kids @fragilechildTX]

1⃣ #Texas already has some of the lowest #Medicaid rates in the US—no increase in 20+ yrs. Now @TexasHHSC wants to cut rates for oxygen, medical nutrition, feeding + other life-sustaining supplies.
🗓️ Comment by 11/10: [email protected]
#protectTXfragilekids #txlege

[Kathryn @TexBlonde05]

@LoewyLawFirm Dear friends under 42: When you can write in cursive and do simple math in short form than you can tell us how many spaces we leave after a . Thank you!

[Derek Ryan @longhornderek]

Just like in the feel-good movie Minority Report.

A whole bunch of people who say that the government is too big and powerful and can’t be trusted are somehow going to be okay with this.