This thread was deleted by a volunteer moderator. I certainly don't want a thread this big deleted so I've restored. THat being said, this thread has served it's purpose. I've closed it to new posts.
We have a new 2024 vaccine thread here. New people don't need to try to wade through 20,000 posts to figure out what is going on.
I missed the whole "vaccine" thingy. Where do I sign up ?
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, 67, contracted COVID at the start of her term in 2020, again in 2022, and has it a third time this week, spokesperson Natalia Jaramillo confirmed Thursday night.
“She feels sick, with cough and congestion,” Jaramillo said.
SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Miami-Dade County’s Mayor rolled up her sleeve for a COVID vaccine booster shot. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava received the Pfizer...
Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of the first respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine approved for use in the United States. The vaccine, Arexvy, is approved for the prevention of lower res...
What's the difference between Covid pneumonia and pneumonia?
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung.
Covid pneumonia is that condition caused by the Covid-19 virus as opposed to some other virus or bacteria.
So now Covid causes pneumonia? How do you know case of pneumonia was caused by Covid? Is this one of those cases where someone dies of cancer but tests positive for Covid so the death goes down as a Covid death?
Except you neglect to mention that a good 90% of those patients were obese and/or with significant comorbidities, exactly the group I’ve always advocated should get vaccinated. But if they still steadfastly refused, we had treatments to mitigate worst outcomes, treatments that you would discard in favor of, you know, those “extremely effective” and nontoxic therapies of Remdesivir plus ketamine/propofol/midozolam. Lol.
You are just an extremely butt hurt individual who cannot stand that someone like me exists, someone with a background in science who removed myself from the echo chamber, defied convention, and “miraculously” thwarted what appeared to be a fairly innocuous Coronavirus for the majority of people with no ill effects whatsoever. We truly are living the Twilight Zone.
They ran trials for everything under the sun and almost all repurposing trials failed. Just because you want it desperately to be a conspiracy doesn’t mean it is. Just because you refuse to familiarize yourself with the trials that were done doesn’t mean they weren’t done. Just because you don’t want to accept the negative results doesn’t mean the trials were done poorly.
This insistence is getting tired. You’re on the level of the “vaccines don’t work” and “vaccines are killing thousands” people now.
Did I or did I not just say I advocated the vaccine for the obese and others with significant comorbidity? And the elderly. Always have. So 300,000 deaths are on my hands as much as the early deaths are on anyone’s hands who were ok with Remdesivir and ketamine, midozolam (hell of a drug), and propofol (killed one Michael Jackson). Where is the RCT for the safety and efficacy of that combination of drugs in the inpatient Covid-19 setting?
I am merely positing that some brave doctors outside the system used budesonide, cypraheptadine, singulair, steroids, heparin, vitamin D, Fluvoxamine etc to treat patients who refused to get vaccinated in an outpatient setting, and they saved lives. See Dr. Urso for one. Where is the RCT looking at that combination, even though it does make sense from a pharmacological standpoint? Where is that RCT? There is published evidence that budesonide and Fluvoxamine together mitigated worst outcomes.
By the way, the only posters here using the word “polypharmacy” are 2600bro, Harambe, Moron Shepherd, revealing that you are, in fact, merely the same person, a party of one. Which we all already knew.
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung.
Covid pneumonia is that condition caused by the Covid-19 virus as opposed to some other virus or bacteria.
So now Covid causes pneumonia? How do you know case of pneumonia was caused by Covid? Is this one of those cases where someone dies of cancer but tests positive for Covid so the death goes down as a Covid death?
COVID has always caused pneumonia. You’re confusing ‘pneumonia’ with ‘bacterial pneumonia’. Any infection of the respiratory system can cause pneumonia if the organism/virus is replicating in the lower respiratory tract rather than upper (like a cold..). Omicron is less likely to cause pneumonia, and much more likely to replicate in the nose, throat and sinuses. Hence the milder form of the disease. How else did you think viruses cause respiratory failure?? Did you really not understand this? After 3 years of incessantly posting your superior ‘knowledge’ of medicine??
This post was edited 20 seconds after it was posted.
Tell me you know nothing about medical billing without telling me you know nothing about medical billing..
When you submit a bill to an insurance company, you don't put in a word salad, you put in ICD-10 codes. You don't get "triple" if you put in additional diagnoses. There is no ICD-10 code for "COVID-related pneumonia" or "post-COVID pneumonia" so you can't bill for those, and you can't just "make up" medical terms to get "paid more".
There is a single code for "COVID", "COVID infection", "SARS-CoV2 infection", "COVID-19" and any different variation of those words. It defaults automatically to "U07.1" on a medical bill.
Please go on... and explain how you think insurance companies just blindly pay triple and quadruple because there are more random words included on a medical bill. After explaining that you unearthed the "conspiracy" of "NOW THEY'RE CALLING COVID PNEUMONIA!!!"
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
People like me contribute strongly to herd immunity, and that just chaps your hide. I’m not sure why.
You do contribute to herd immunity - congrats! You’d be lower risk if you got vaccinated though. I don’t loathe people who choose not to vaccinate for COVID. I just think it’s a poor decision. I do get enjoyably incensed at people who misrepresent data, make post-hoc claims to support their poor vaccination decisions, and claim other general BS about COVID.
Tell me you know nothing about medical billing without telling me you know nothing about medical billing..
When you submit a bill to an insurance company, you don't put in a word salad, you put in ICD-10 codes. You don't get "triple" if you put in additional diagnoses. There is no ICD-10 code for "COVID-related pneumonia" or "post-COVID pneumonia" so you can't bill for those, and you can't just "make up" medical terms to get "paid more".
There is a single code for "COVID", "COVID infection", "SARS-CoV2 infection", "COVID-19" and any different variation of those words. It defaults automatically to "U07.1" on a medical bill.
Please go on... and explain how you think insurance companies just blindly pay triple and quadruple because there are more random words included on a medical bill. After explaining that you unearthed the "conspiracy" of "NOW THEY'RE CALLING COVID PNEUMONIA!!!"
Pardon me for not quite getting the details right.
*******
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a slew of criminal charges against 18 individuals working in healthcare -- including doctors and nurses -- for allegedly stealing a total of $490 million in funds from federal health and COVID-related programs. Today's announcement marks the largest-ever coordinated law enforcement action in the United States targeting healthcare fraud schemes that exploit the COVID-19 pandemic, said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the DOJ's Criminal Division, in a press release. This action follows two other enforcement actions, in May 2021 and April 2022, which prosecuted similar fraud schemes. Those charged with the crimes took advantage of pandemic-era relief programs, including the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) COVID-19 Uninsured Program, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program, and the Health Care Fraud Unit's Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Initiative. They also billed Medicare fraudulently, and sold thousands of fake COVID vaccination cards. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) previously reported that pandemic relief programs were vulnerable to massive fraud, in part because they lacked appropriate controls to prevent, detect, and recover fraudulent and other improper payments. For the EIDL and PPP programs alone, the GAO noted that the government estimated improper payments totaling $36.7 billion in 2022.
Lab Testing Elder Scam
Lourdes Navarro, 64, of Glendale, California, operated the Matias Clinical Laboratory with her husband, Imran Shams. They performed COVID screening for residents of nursing homes, rehab facilities, assisted living facilities, and primary and secondary schools. Though court documents said Navarro and Shams were previously excluded from participating in all federal healthcare programs, they billed Medicare, the HRSA, and a private insurer for respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) testing, but are alleged to have fraudulently added claims for tests that their clients didn't order or weren't needed. They also reportedly told HRSA that some patients had been diagnosed with COVID when they hadn't been to get reimbursement for the RPP screening claims. Their superseding indictment alleges additional loss to the payers of $241 million, and reimbursement to the lab of an additional $39.9 million. From the bank accounts of Matias, they transferred money to themselves to use for real estate, luxury items, travel, and household expenses, court documents said.
False Billing for the Uninsured
Anthony Hao Dinh, DO, of Orange County, California, is allegedly behind a $230 million fraud using the HRSA uninsured program, which was meant to provide uninsured patients access to COVID testing and treatment. The owner of Elite Care Medical Group and two surgery centers was the second-highest biller in the country to this program, and reportedly submitted claims for treatment of patients who were insured, and billed for services that weren't provided or were medically unnecessary. According to court documents, Dinh billed the uninsured program for services allegedly provided to an entire command of National Guard soldiers who had insurance. The ear, nose, and throat doctor allegedly used much of the money for high-risk options trading. He allegedly lost over $100 million between 2020 to 2022, according to court documents. He also used the funds to buy a $1.1 million home, and transferred the property to his wife. Dinh is being charged with two others, who allegedly submitted 70 fraudulent loan applications to the PPP and EIDL programs to get $3 million in loans.
COVID Test Kit Racket
Latresia Wilson, MD, PA, 60, of Ocala, Florida, and Corey Alston, 45, the chief administrative officer of Heritage Pharma Group, are charged with illegally purchasing Medicare beneficiary identification numbers to bill the program for over-the-counter COVID test kits that weren't eligible for Medicare reimbursement. They allegedly submitted more than $8.4 million in Medicare claims for these test kits, regardless of whether Medicare beneficiaries actually requested the tests. Medicare paid more than $2.6 million based on the claims, court documents alleged, and Wilson funneled much of the reimbursement to Alston, and retained a portion of the Medicare reimbursement payments for her own use.
COVID Aid for Luxury Cars, Real Estate, and Vacations
Melissa J. Watson, DNP, 50, of Slidell, Louisiana, owned a primary care clinic and purported medical spa before the pandemic, and is alleged to have submitted false and fraudulent documentation to HRSA's PRF and EIDL programs in a scheme to get $1.1 million for these businesses, which she spent for personal use. The PRF was meant to provide funding to healthcare professionals delivering COVID treatments, and EIDL provided low-interest loans to small businesses affected by the pandemic. According to the DOJ, Watson used the funds to buy two luxury cars, thousands of dollars of real estate, a boat, a trailer, a time share, and multiple luxury vacations. Court documents noted that Watson also paid off a $15,000 truck loan for another person, and $32,000 to a probation office in court-ordered restitution for the same person. The government has seized $500,000 from Watson's bank accounts, as well as her boat, trailer, and Range Rover Sport.
Midwife COVID Card Scheme
Two certified nurse midwives who ran a practice called Sage-Femme Midwifery in Albany, Sharon Springs, and Saratoga, New York, were charged in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by distributing around 2,700 forged COVID vaccination cards. Kathleen Breault, CNM, 65, and Kelly McDermott, CNM, 61, enrolled their practice as a COVID vaccine administration site and became one of the busiest sites in New York state, outpacing large, state-run vaccination sites despite being a small midwife practice. Because they were enrolled as a vaccination provider, they received genuine COVID vaccination cards and forged them to indicate vaccinations had occurred when they hadn't. According to court documents, Breault and McDermott even held vaccination clinic days, met with individuals, and destroyed vials of COVID vaccines instead of administering them. They allegedly provided vaccination cards to minors who were ineligible for the vaccine and to non-U.S. citizens.
Online COVID Card Hustle
A Utah man allegedly manufactured and sold as many as 120,000 fake COVID vaccination cards to customers across the country, particularly in states with more strict COVID restrictions, such as New York. Nicholas Frank Sciotto, 32, of Salt Lake City, sold the cards largely through Facebook and charged $10 per card, and offered a discounted rate of $7.50 each for orders of 100 or more (plus shipping), according to court documents. Co-defendant Kyle Blake Burbage, 32, of Goose Creek, South Carolina, allegedly bought and resold several packages of cards from Sciotto. According to the DOJ, the defendants significantly undermined the CDC's COVID-19 vaccination program and other governmental health-and-safety regulations and protocols. They are charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. by obstructing the CDC's COVID-19 vaccination program.
They ran trials for everything under the sun and almost all repurposing trials failed. Just because you want it desperately to be a conspiracy doesn’t mean it is. Just because you refuse to familiarize yourself with the trials that were done doesn’t mean they weren’t done. Just because you don’t want to accept the negative results doesn’t mean the trials were done poorly.
This insistence is getting tired. You’re on the level of the “vaccines don’t work” and “vaccines are killing thousands” people now.
Did I or did I not just say I advocated the vaccine for the obese and others with significant comorbidity? And the elderly. Always have. So 300,000 deaths are on my hands as much as the early deaths are on anyone’s hands who were ok with Remdesivir and ketamine, midozolam (hell of a drug), and propofol (killed one Michael Jackson). Where is the RCT for the safety and efficacy of that combination of drugs in the inpatient Covid-19 setting?
I am merely positing that some brave doctors outside the system used budesonide, cypraheptadine, singulair, steroids, heparin, vitamin D, Fluvoxamine etc to treat patients who refused to get vaccinated in an outpatient setting, and they saved lives. See Dr. Urso for one. Where is the RCT looking at that combination, even though it does make sense from a pharmacological standpoint? Where is that RCT? There is published evidence that budesonide and Fluvoxamine together mitigated worst outcomes.
By the way, the only posters here using the word “polypharmacy” are 2600bro, Harambe, Moron Shepherd, revealing that you are, in fact, merely the same person, a party of one. Which we all already knew.
I just stole that word from Harambe because I liked it! You never commented on the studies and data that show death rates increased when hospitals were crowded and people couldn’t get on vents or in the ICU. Seems fundamentally opposed to your new fixation… but I can’t find casual data, so I’ll leave the possibilities open. (The propofol comment is just clickbait though - millions of people undergo sedation with it for surgery yearly, safely.)
You fundamentally don’t understand the challenges and irrationalities of such polypharmacy (heh).
I don’t really know what to say. Sure they could’ve run XYZ trial. All prior evidence points heavily to XYZ trial failing but can’t rule anything out.
I’ll give you the chance to convince me of ONE trial to run, show me biochemical, mouse model, and/or observational data or, ideally, prior trials to support it. Tell me your patient assessment criteria, dosing plan and primary endpoints. We can hash out the details and see if it makes sense. You cannot propose 500 variations though!
Tell me you know nothing about medical billing without telling me you know nothing about medical billing..
When you submit a bill to an insurance company, you don't put in a word salad, you put in ICD-10 codes. You don't get "triple" if you put in additional diagnoses. There is no ICD-10 code for "COVID-related pneumonia" or "post-COVID pneumonia" so you can't bill for those, and you can't just "make up" medical terms to get "paid more".
There is a single code for "COVID", "COVID infection", "SARS-CoV2 infection", "COVID-19" and any different variation of those words. It defaults automatically to "U07.1" on a medical bill.
Please go on... and explain how you think insurance companies just blindly pay triple and quadruple because there are more random words included on a medical bill. After explaining that you unearthed the "conspiracy" of "NOW THEY'RE CALLING COVID PNEUMONIA!!!"
Pardon me for not quite getting the details right.
*******
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a slew of criminal charges against 18 individuals working in healthcare -- including doctors and nurses -- for allegedly stealing a total of $490 million in funds from federal health and COVID-related programs. Today's announcement marks the largest-ever coordinated law enforcement action in the United States targeting healthcare fraud schemes that exploit the COVID-19 pandemic, said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the DOJ's Criminal Division, in a press release. This action follows two other enforcement actions, in May 2021 and April 2022, which prosecuted similar fraud schemes. Those charged with the crimes took advantage of pandemic-era relief programs, including the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) COVID-19 Uninsured Program, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program, and the Health Care Fraud Unit's Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Initiative. They also billed Medicare fraudulently, and sold thousands of fake COVID vaccination cards. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) previously reported that pandemic relief programs were vulnerable to massive fraud, in part because they lacked appropriate controls to prevent, detect, and recover fraudulent and other improper payments. For the EIDL and PPP programs alone, the GAO noted that the government estimated improper payments totaling $36.7 billion in 2022.
Lab Testing Elder Scam
Lourdes Navarro, 64, of Glendale, California, operated the Matias Clinical Laboratory with her husband, Imran Shams. They performed COVID screening for residents of nursing homes, rehab facilities, assisted living facilities, and primary and secondary schools. Though court documents said Navarro and Shams were previously excluded from participating in all federal healthcare programs, they billed Medicare, the HRSA, and a private insurer for respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) testing, but are alleged to have fraudulently added claims for tests that their clients didn't order or weren't needed. They also reportedly told HRSA that some patients had been diagnosed with COVID when they hadn't been to get reimbursement for the RPP screening claims. Their superseding indictment alleges additional loss to the payers of $241 million, and reimbursement to the lab of an additional $39.9 million. From the bank accounts of Matias, they transferred money to themselves to use for real estate, luxury items, travel, and household expenses, court documents said.
False Billing for the Uninsured
Anthony Hao Dinh, DO, of Orange County, California, is allegedly behind a $230 million fraud using the HRSA uninsured program, which was meant to provide uninsured patients access to COVID testing and treatment. The owner of Elite Care Medical Group and two surgery centers was the second-highest biller in the country to this program, and reportedly submitted claims for treatment of patients who were insured, and billed for services that weren't provided or were medically unnecessary. According to court documents, Dinh billed the uninsured program for services allegedly provided to an entire command of National Guard soldiers who had insurance. The ear, nose, and throat doctor allegedly used much of the money for high-risk options trading. He allegedly lost over $100 million between 2020 to 2022, according to court documents. He also used the funds to buy a $1.1 million home, and transferred the property to his wife. Dinh is being charged with two others, who allegedly submitted 70 fraudulent loan applications to the PPP and EIDL programs to get $3 million in loans.
COVID Test Kit Racket
Latresia Wilson, MD, PA, 60, of Ocala, Florida, and Corey Alston, 45, the chief administrative officer of Heritage Pharma Group, are charged with illegally purchasing Medicare beneficiary identification numbers to bill the program for over-the-counter COVID test kits that weren't eligible for Medicare reimbursement. They allegedly submitted more than $8.4 million in Medicare claims for these test kits, regardless of whether Medicare beneficiaries actually requested the tests. Medicare paid more than $2.6 million based on the claims, court documents alleged, and Wilson funneled much of the reimbursement to Alston, and retained a portion of the Medicare reimbursement payments for her own use.
COVID Aid for Luxury Cars, Real Estate, and Vacations
Melissa J. Watson, DNP, 50, of Slidell, Louisiana, owned a primary care clinic and purported medical spa before the pandemic, and is alleged to have submitted false and fraudulent documentation to HRSA's PRF and EIDL programs in a scheme to get $1.1 million for these businesses, which she spent for personal use. The PRF was meant to provide funding to healthcare professionals delivering COVID treatments, and EIDL provided low-interest loans to small businesses affected by the pandemic. According to the DOJ, Watson used the funds to buy two luxury cars, thousands of dollars of real estate, a boat, a trailer, a time share, and multiple luxury vacations. Court documents noted that Watson also paid off a $15,000 truck loan for another person, and $32,000 to a probation office in court-ordered restitution for the same person. The government has seized $500,000 from Watson's bank accounts, as well as her boat, trailer, and Range Rover Sport.
Midwife COVID Card Scheme
Two certified nurse midwives who ran a practice called Sage-Femme Midwifery in Albany, Sharon Springs, and Saratoga, New York, were charged in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by distributing around 2,700 forged COVID vaccination cards. Kathleen Breault, CNM, 65, and Kelly McDermott, CNM, 61, enrolled their practice as a COVID vaccine administration site and became one of the busiest sites in New York state, outpacing large, state-run vaccination sites despite being a small midwife practice. Because they were enrolled as a vaccination provider, they received genuine COVID vaccination cards and forged them to indicate vaccinations had occurred when they hadn't. According to court documents, Breault and McDermott even held vaccination clinic days, met with individuals, and destroyed vials of COVID vaccines instead of administering them. They allegedly provided vaccination cards to minors who were ineligible for the vaccine and to non-U.S. citizens.
Online COVID Card Hustle
A Utah man allegedly manufactured and sold as many as 120,000 fake COVID vaccination cards to customers across the country, particularly in states with more strict COVID restrictions, such as New York. Nicholas Frank Sciotto, 32, of Salt Lake City, sold the cards largely through Facebook and charged $10 per card, and offered a discounted rate of $7.50 each for orders of 100 or more (plus shipping), according to court documents. Co-defendant Kyle Blake Burbage, 32, of Goose Creek, South Carolina, allegedly bought and resold several packages of cards from Sciotto. According to the DOJ, the defendants significantly undermined the CDC's COVID-19 vaccination program and other governmental health-and-safety regulations and protocols. They are charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. by obstructing the CDC's COVID-19 vaccination program.
You realize you’re making my point for me? The story you posted is of insurance fraudsters getting caught. Had nothing to do with “COVID pneumonia”. It’s very easy to catch insurance fraud.
It’s not by adding a medical word salad and getting paid ‘triple’. Every bill we submit has to have supporting medical documents, lab data and X-ray or CT results. An insurance company (usually Medicare) has the right to ask for supporting documents and perform random audits. They only pay about 40 cents on the dollar of what a Dr or hospital bills them anyway. Your story was of an ENT dr billing for $250 million of care. That’s just psychopathic, not to mention so stupid anyone can catch that. When someone who operates a ‘medical spa’ starts billing for millions of dollars, Medicare doesn’t just pay the bill. Takes half an hour to do that audit. As for people selling fake vaccine cards, that’s just old school crime. Criminals making conterfeits and selling them online has nothing to do with calling Covid “pneumonia”.
This post was edited 6 minutes after it was posted.
Shall we check in on Japan? Apparently a possible ground 0 for vaccine failure. Now it’s latest wave is completely over, restrictions abolished, and it sits at 5x less deaths per capita than the USA?
Walensky out at the CDC. Another victim of the vax mafia?
I hope she has a Come to Jesus moment and tells the truth about everything. If that happens, you and your gang are in big trouble.
She was crying.
Lift the weight off your shoulders, Rochelle. The truth will set you free.
"In an agencywide meeting, Dr. Walensky admitted to having mixed emotions about her decision and broke down in tears, according to people on a conference call with her."