Comment by 👻 darkghost
You're assuming a dirt cheap drug will be sold for dirt cheap. Insulin isn't expensive, epinephrine isn't expensive... and yet... if you need something to survive or are addicted, drug companies will charge what they feel like.
I am glad your family is okay and they've got a good head and sharp eye to be able to catch things like that. I hope they dropped their providers after each incident. While I also think this is not a common experience, I do always tell folks to be an advocate for themselves. Good doctors will still listen even if you're not making sense.
👻 darkghost [OP, Left leaning independent]
2025-08-30 · 8 months ago
5 Later Comments ↓
🚀 stack · 2025-08-30 at 21:20:
When drug dealers are backed by men with guns, even cheap drugs will be sold for a lot of money.
I wish I could say my family is doing well. But not entirely. We spent the last couple of years trying to get a diagnosis for a family member from a number of doctors who are very reluctant, and then stop taking the insurance we happen to have at a time, and the process repeats. Much harm is done with useless contrast dye radiological tests which result in trips to emergency room due to delayed anaphylaxis and such. Modern medicine is great for obvious stuff, but at the margin no one wants to do anything except schedule more tests and prescribe potentially harmful drugs.
👻 darkghost [OP] · 2025-09-03 at 23:03:
I know this story well. It happened to my grandmother. Though I thought it had more to do with her being 99. She began to get horrible pain and as such couldn't lay down. The doctors tried nothing and nothing worked. You have to lay down to get an MRI after all. As she sat slowly dying, we tried to secure some medication to make her comfortable. But it was the weekend of the 4th of July and her case was swallowed by the bureaucracy and general dysfunction of the american health care system. My folks will say she passed surrounded by family. I know she passed sitting up and in agony. While I am sure many are scared to die, this injected new fear into me that I will suffer immensely on the way out.
🚀 stack · 2025-09-03 at 23:54:
The last few years have convinced me of the necessity to figure out the exit strategy.
👻 darkghost [OP] · 2025-09-04 at 11:55:
The balkinization of public health has begun. Soon you will have federal recommendations, state recommendations, and professional organization recommendations. Insurance companies will follow whoever they feel like, probably whoever costs them less.
Vaccination is a group project. No vaccine is 100% effective, but over a certain number of people disease is unable to spread. Florida is moving to no longer require any vaccination of children under any circumstance, likening the mandates to slavery. Florida will drop below the minimum threshold. Communicable disease doesn't respect political boarders, creeds, or socioeconomic divides. And the number one victim of these changes will be infants.
👻 darkghost [OP] · 2025-09-17 at 22:32:
Today there was a senate committee hearing featuring Dr Monarez and Dr Houry. RFK's telling of why he fired Monarez is he asked her "are you a trustworthy person?" and she responded "no." Monarez tells a different story about how she was forced out for refusing to agree in advance to the agency's new vaccine schedule regardless of the scientific evidence.
Seeking a "gotcha" moment, Senator Markwayne Mullin of OK said she was lying because he had a recording of their conversation. After the hearing he revealed there is no recording.
The hearing went deep into detail and it is far worse than I expected. We really are on the precipice of turning back public health by a century.
Original Post
More chaos at the CDC — The head of the CDC is out after a month on the job. Dr. Susan Monarez was confirmed by the senate back in July. Apparently what is happening is RFK Jr wants to rescind the mRNA vaccine's approval and she would not do so without consulting vaccine advisors. RFK Jr asked that she resign for "not supporting Trump's agenda" and she refused. He wants a rubber stamp director, not some nerd who follows "evidence." As news of her firing spread others resigned. Dr. Demetre...