I compare the weekly Kingston demonstration against federal governmental actions with the County Commissioners' Resolution against federal governmental actions relative to the concept of First Amendment's protection of speech.
I link to and comment on three articles about medical care: 1) the death of a child from measles; 2) meddling with the VA's health system in ways that will reduce available health care for veterans; 3) NM's debate on excessive malpractice insurance costs.
This posting republishes an original article by Amy Maxmen in KFF Health News. The article also appeared in CBS News. Since the federal government and some state governments no longer concern themselves with containing infectious diseases, more people will get infected, some die, just as in the great old days.
I link to Searchlight New Mexico's article which interviews three people recently fired from the Forest Service. I follow with an opinion piece discussing the continual firing of civil servants as the product of a new idea of government, not imagined in the country's past.
After the 2022 New Mexico Supreme Court decision that allows the public to fish and boat on all waters of the state as a matter of the public trust doctrine, the landowners filed suit in federal district court for relief. Thursday, the federal court dismissed their case.
In the past year, the Federal Trade Commission has been studying how drug pricing works. In July, it published an interim staff report on the role of pharmacy benefit managers. Last week the FTC published a second report on how the biggest three PBMs control prices.
Doctors are leaving New Mexico. Hospitals essential to small, rural counties (and that is most of them in the state, including Sierra County), find it difficult to stay in the black. The Searchlight New Mexico reporter Ed Williams thinks the cause is malpractice insurance. His analysis has started a controversy.
The Citizen republishes here Ben Neary’s article from the New Mexico Wildlife Federation’s website. There will be a follow up from Steve Morgan and Nichole Trushell on behalf of the Percha Creek Association, the other successful claimants in this litigation.
ProPublica investigates more health care problems. It details how UnitedHealth uses its statistical data to find mental health patients to deny payment for care, sometimes forcing therapists and doctors to withdraw care. It’s all part of “saving money,” “efficiency,” responsible sounding terms in corporate PR speak for "profit" and "greed."
In this long-term investigation of Lincare, the largest supplier of oxygen equipment in the country, Pro-Publica shows how government regulation of the healthcare industry has been unable to prevent the growth of a new business model that lives by scamming.
The New Mexico Gas Company, the natural gas company which services Truth or Consequences, has asked the state's Public Regulatory Commission for permission to be sold. If the sale is approved, it will transfer ownership from a Canadian energy company to an American equity firm.
Continuing the series of articles on the healthcare system, I offer a link to an article in Pro Publica which investigates the largest of companies which health insurers hire to examine and deny medical procedures. Evicare claims to the insurance companies that it will provide a 3 to 1 return.