Jay Jackson

UFAlum | Orthotics /Prosthetics | GOAL = be more creative than I can dream, give more than I receive | GatorFBall |EagleScout | CokeScholar, FootlockerScholar

[Owen @Owennfa]

Health insurance killed Alec Raeshawn Smith in 2017.

He was 26. Worked full-time as a restaurant manager in Minnesota. Made $35,000 a year.

He had Type 1 diabetes. He needed insulin to live. Not optional. Biological necessity.

When he turned 26, he aged out of his mother's health insurance. That's the law.

His job didn't offer insurance.

His $35,000 salary was just high enough to disqualify him from Medicaid.

The insurance he could buy on the marketplace: $450 a month premium with a **$7,600 deductible.** He'd be paying for insulin out of pocket anyway.

So he made a rational decision. Pay for insulin directly instead of a useless insurance plan.

Then the pharmacist told him the price.

**$1,300 a month.** For insulin and supplies. On a $35,000 salary.

He couldn't afford it. So he did what one in four diabetics in America do.

He rationed. Stretched the doses. Tried to make it last until payday.

On June 27, 2017 — **three days before payday** — his mother got the call no parent wants.

Alec was found dead alone in his apartment. Diabetic ketoacidosis.

The insulin pen he used to inject himself was empty.

He was 27 days off his mother's insurance.

Insulin costs $30 to manufacture. Its inventor sold the patent for **$1** because he believed it should belong to the world.

In America, it cost Alec his life.

He wasn't lazy. He wasn't reckless. He worked full-time and did the math.

The math just didn't include a way to survive.

[Parent Heart Watch @PHWorg]

This week, we're proud to feature Andrew's Assist of Huntley, IL.

Established in memory of Andrew Fulcer, Andrew's Assist works to expand access to heart screenings, CPR/AED training, and AEDs throughout its community.

#FeaturedFoundationFriday #HeartScreening #CPR #AccesToAEDs

[Parent Heart Watch @PHWorg]

18 y/o Dominic died from SCA at home one day before graduation. His family says there were no warning signs.

This is why PHW continues to advocate for ECG and limited echocardiogram as the standard of care for youth.

#1in300AtRiskForSCA #HeartScreening #ECG #ECHO

[Holly Robinson Peete 💃🏾♍️ @hollyrpeete]

No insult can shrink a woman whose legacy is already larger than the people attacking her.

#clockit @ufc

[Parent Heart Watch @PHWorg]

❤️ Introducing Featured Foundation Friday!

We're proud to launch the series with the Lion Heart Heroes Foundation.

Learn more: https://t.co/pEqnkE9iFM

#FeaturedFoundationFriday #USMilitary #ECGScreening #AccessToAEDs

[Parent Heart Watch @PHWorg]

❤️ They don't do it for recognition. They do it because they care.

A health professional who goes above and beyond. A survivor who turns experience into action. A young person making a difference. Someone creating change

Do you know a Hero?

🏆 Nominate: https://t.co/UE9etc4GVG

[C𝖺𝗋𝖽𝗂𝗂’𝗌 C𝗈𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇 🇩🇴 @ibeystannin]

Wanted to post something positive about Karmelo Anthony. Saw this article about when he was younger he saved a child from drowning. 🙌🏼

[Parent Heart Watch @PHWorg]

As National CPR & AED Awareness Week comes to a close, one message stands out from every survivor story we've shared:

Because someone took action, a life was saved.

#RecognizeAndRespondToSCA #CallPushShock #CPR #AccessToAED

[Parent Heart Watch @PHWorg]

No one expected a routine workout to become a cardiac emergency.

When it did, people nearby took action. Learning CPR and how to use an AED can help prepare you to respond when every second counts.

#RecognizeAndRespondToSCA #CallPushShock #CPR #AccessToAED

[Ricardo @Ric_RTP]

Amazon just got caught running a secret price manipulation operation with Levi's, Home Depot, Walmart, and many more.

Every time you "comparison shopped" online, you were looking at prices that were already rigged.

Here's what happened:

Amazon would monitor prices on Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Chewy in real time. The second a competitor listed a product cheaper than Amazon, they'd contact the brand directly and tell them to "fix it."

And the exact emails are now PUBLIC.

Amazon sent Levi's links to two Walmart listings with the subject line "styles of concern." They basically said the prices on Walmart are too low and we have a problem.

The next day, Levi's responded: "I talked to Walmart and they have partnered with us to take Easy Khaki Classic fit back up to ladder SPP price, $29.99 immediately."

Levi's literally called Walmart and told them to raise the price. Because Amazon told Levi's to make the call.

Walmart complied. Then Amazon matched the HIGHER price.

Both retailers ended up charging more. The customer paid extra. Nobody competed.

Same playbook with Hanes:

Amazon sent them links showing Target and Walmart prices were lower. Hanes confirmed they "reached out to Target and Walmart to have the prices increased."

Target increased the prices. Walmart increased the prices. Amazon kept their margins.

But it gets even worse...

Amazon told Allergan (the company that makes eye drops) that their product was "suppressed" on Amazon because it was cheaper on another site.

Allergan responded: "Walmart got their price back up to $16.99." Amazon then unsuppressed the listing.

They did this with pet treats on Chewy. Furniture on Home Depot. Products across dozens of categories spanning YEARS.

The mechanism is simple but terrifying:

If you're a brand and you sell cheaper on Walmart than on Amazon, Amazon suppresses your product, removes you from the Buy Box, buries you in search results, and effectively makes you invisible to 300 million customers.

Brands can't afford that. So they call Walmart and Target and say "raise your prices or we'll lose our Amazon listings."

Walmart and Target comply because they need the brand's products.

Amazon captures 40 cents of every dollar spent online in America. That gives them the leverage to set prices across THE ENTIRE internet. Not just their own platform.

So turns out, you were never comparison shopping.

You were looking at a coordinated price floor set by Amazon through backroom phone calls between brands and their competitors.

"Amazon is working to make your life more unaffordable."

3 separate antitrust trials are now scheduled for 2027. The FTC has its own case. 18 states plus the DOJ are piling on.

This is literally happening during the WORST affordability crisis in a generation. Groceries up 25% since 2020. Housing unaffordable. Wages flat.

And the largest ecommerce company on Earth has been secretly coordinating with brands to make sure you can't find a cheaper price ANYWHERE.

"Competition" in retail is just a fantasy.

[Dittie @DittiePE]

Children in Lubbock, Texas were admitted to the hospital with liver damage. Not from measles. From vitamin A toxicity — because their parents followed RFK Jr.’s advice and gave them cod liver oil to treat measles. He is the sitting U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.

This is not the first time this has happened. In 2019, RFK Jr. traveled to Samoa and ran the same anti-vaccine campaign.

Vaccination rates dropped to 31%. Five months later: 5,700 cases. 83 dead. Most of them children under 4. He called it a “natural experiment.” The Senate confirmed him as HHS Secretary anyway. https://t.co/IIFqMOobvW

🧵1/3

[HustleBitch @HustleBitch_]

🚨 MAN WALKS INTO WALMART AND EXPOSES THE DIGITAL PRICE TAG SCAM — THIS IS HOW THEY'RE MAKING MILLIONS MORE OFF YOU

A shopper films inside Walmart… and shows every price tag quietly replaced with digital screens.

Not paper. Not fixed.

They can change instantly.

• Prices shift throughout the day
• Go up when it’s busy… drop when it’s slow
• Updated across the entire store in seconds
• Same item… slightly different price depending on timing
• He shows this is happening across almost every shelf

Tiny increases… a few cents at a time… across thousands of products.

That adds up to millions more, straight from customers who don’t even notice.

So the price you see?
It might not be what it was earlier.
And it might not be what the next person pays.

He says this is just the beginning…

• Constant price testing
• Slow increases over time
• Dialing in exactly what people will tolerate

Same product. Same shelf.
But the price?
Always moving.

Are you okay with prices changing behind the scenes… or does this feel like something people should be paying attention to?

[FactPost @factpostnews]

Florida resident: I struggle every day. And I'm taking care of my mom who's being denied simple things like breathing meds. I don't eat this week because I have to take mom to the doctor tomorrow.

Q: If you could pick one word to describe the economy, what would it be?

Florida resident: Desolate.

[Furkan Gözükara @FurkanGozukara]

NBC News exposes massive insider trading right before the Trump administration launched the Iran war. Elites pocketed millions with advance knowledge of military strikes while ordinary Americans suffer soaring gas prices and job losses. The corruption is staggering.

[MatrixMysteries @MatrixMysteries]

An American doctor ran the same bloodwork and received two different prices

Same tests. Same lab.
With insurance? $1,086.75. Patient pays $252.12.

Pay cash?
That EXACT same bloodwork costs $44.

That’s not healthcare. It’s a rigged pricing system DESIGNED to keep insurers rich

[Shawnee Gregorio @ShawneeMG2]

I am not so partisan that I can't appreciate Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez taking down the CEO of CVS on behalf of all Americans.

Healthcare is a universal issue, so pay attention to what's being sold to us.

Translation: "Our perfect patient is insured by Aetna, CVS. They are seen at Oak Street Health, CVS. The prescriptions and drugs they take are negotiated in price by Caremark, CVS, and they pick it up at, oh, you guessed it, CVS."

This one-stop shop idea doesn't benefit the end user; it benefits the companies selling it to us. This is not healthcare; it's herding cattle. We all need to get behind this reform.

[Danny Bloom🌷 @danzu72]

I worked for USAID when It was closed, these guys literally were firing senior Foreign Service Officers with 30 years of experience on the spot. These kids were drunk on power and a reckoning is coming. I will always be hot about this shit. I know for a fact we allowed children to die because of these snotty shits.

[DSP @DonnaPence5]

@AngryRedInc @DaveWhittum Avoid Cigna and United Healthcare if you can

[AngryRed Inc @AngryRedInc]

Cigna just sent my dead wife, who succumbed to cancer last August, a DENIAL letter for a test to help diagnose her tumor markers. WTF is even going on with medical insurance companies? She left this world 6 months ago BECAUSE she couldn't get proper treatment. We don't hate these people enough.

[Jerome Adams @JeromeAdamsMD]

As a former U.S. Surgeon General who held an active medical license and practiced medicine while in the role (at Walter Reed and aboard the USS Comfort) it is incomprehensible that the Senate is even considering a nominee for this role who lacks any active license and has never practiced unsupervised. 🤯