Did you know that before the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), mental health services were often not paid for by insurance? The ACA/Obamacare requires insurance companies to pay for mental health services (depression medication, office visits, certain hospitalizations, some therapy). Around 20% of Americans use these services. If the Republicans win in November, any of us using those services can expect to immediately be paying out of pocket (if we can afford it).
@icedquinn@tdverstynen literally nothing about Paxlovid is ivermectin. At all. Ivermectin is an antihelminthic that works by modulation glutamate gated chloride channels. Paxlovid is a combination of antivirals that work by a completely different biochemical mechanism. Nirmatrelvir works by inhibiting a Sars-CoV-2 protease, and ritonavir works by inhibiting another viral protease (it was originally used for HIV). Ivermectin and nirmatrelvir-ritonavir are not the same.
What I would say to Arab Americans arguing against supporting Biden in the fall is this: if Trump wins (which is a likely outcome), he will ban any immigration from majority muslim countries again. He will round up and deport anyone who is not yet a citizen, regardless of their asylum claims, supporting family, or history. He will probably deport some citizens “by accident” (as he did when he was last president).
Push on Biden to unfuck Gaza for sure, but don’t expect to win if he loses.
If these reports are accurate Israel’s army: 1. Let 5 people suffocate as they ran out of oxygen while IDF controlled Nasser hospital. 2. IDF occupied the hospital, and is now interrogating people INSIDE of the facility in the former maternity ward (which is IDF using the hospital grounds for a military purpose now).
So IDF raids one of the last functioning hospitals in Gaza, sets up shop there, lets patients in the ICU die a slow horrible death, and is interrogating captives there. Hmmm…
So, uh, folks, Biden is 4 years older than Trump. He bicycles regularly, and regularly jogs across the stage at events. Trump is obese, never exercises (by his own report), and isn’t known for his ability to walk steadily. If you’re voting for Trump because Biden is old, you’re an idiot.
I don’t care if RFK is creeping on OnlyFans. I care that he spread vaccine misinformation for over a decade, leading to numerous outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. He targeted immigrant and african american communities, and in some cases there were outbreaks of diseases like measles within a year or two of his operations. The effects are still being felt.
@AmpBenzScientist@freemo while some cases of inaccurate reporting may have occurred, there was not any significant effect of that on the numbers overall. COVID aid was not related to cases or deaths. Hospitals did not make any more money treating COVID than anything else, and indeed many hospitals went broke during the pandemic due to need for extra staffing, expensive PPE, and inability to run lucrative elective surgical cases.
@AmpBenzScientist@freemo perhaps, but it is in line with how we classify deaths by other causes. For instance, when I fill out paperwork for a death certificate, it includes questions about tobacco smoking history.
It should be noted as well that despite the concerns you raise here, the all-cause excess mortality data for the US has consistently been well above the COVID excess deaths, suggesting we are missing a huge number of COVID deaths in our counting (an undercount).
@AmpBenzScientist@freemo in the US at least, the mortality data were not falsified despite reports to the contrary. Indeed, two papers by the same authors looking at mortality suggested a ~20-30% undercount during the early pandemic (higher early on, lower later on). This was most likely due to poor test availability, out of hospital deaths, and shoddy reporting early on.
@freemo@Raccoon Dude. You are not reading the same paper. You are so tied up on being right that you are confused. Again, READ the source I am citing which is NOT that Nature paper. Fuck…
So, before you go accusing me of not having read the papers, back up a second, follow the citations, and read it. You got confused in the back and forth (fine), but then are accusing me of misstating something, when in fact I am not.
@freemo@Raccoon here’s the text of the study cited by the CDC abstract. Go find that part for me in it, I’ll wait.
The CDC abstract quoted earlier, and the recent Nature review, both concluded what you reference. That, however, is not the same as telling me that the cited paper (linked below) did not show an 80% rate in the study population, which included all severities and non-hospitalized patients.
@freemo@Raccoon the analysis SPECIFICALLY states that multiple data sources were not exclusively hospitalized or severe cases. Jesus christ man, I’m arguing with a “well acshuallllly” guy from hell here.
@freemo@Raccoon literally what they said is “…80% of the patients with COVID-19 have long term symptoms”. Explain to me what it is you are getting from this that is different than what the authors repeatedly conclude.
@freemo@Raccoon not sure if you missed that citation in the CDC paper or are concluding something different than the authors, but it is right there, in the cited paper, repeatedly…
@freemo@Raccoon is it? Here’s the study (linked below). It’s a meta-analysis from earlier in the pandemic, which looked at studies that included hospitalized and ambulatory patients. The study concludes jn multiple places that 80% of people with COVID will experience one or more long-term symptoms. Do I think that’s representative? No. Is it what the study says, yes.
@freemo I never (and have never) said that the 80% number is representative. What I said, and is the case, is that estimates run that high in some studies. The higher bounds tens to be in much higher risk populations, in studies from early waves, and in studies with high risk of selection bias. Similarly, low bound estimates in the single digits are likely underestimates.
@freemo I think you have an opinion that COVID isn’t a big deal, when in fact, for some folks, it’s a problem. We have a poor understanding of the long term sequelae of it, but as I initially and repeatedly have noted, post COVID symptoms are not rare, and even at a conservative estimate of 10%, are a concern. Palpitations are a common ER complain, and we see folks after COVID with this not infrequently, some of whom are told not to worry, when in fact they haven’t had adequate workup.
Hunter, ER doc, believer in democracy. I’m here to rant, combat medical misinfo, shitpost, and get social therapy. Posts aren’t medical advice. This is the only platform I am currently on. If you find “me” elsewhere, it isn’t me. “You can’t love your country only when you win” — JB ‘24