Well here’s a twist: in TN, a recommendation to deny access to monoclonal antibody drugs to preserve supplies for the unvaccinated.

Comes after the federal govt resumed control over distribution of these drugs as use skyrocketed (particularly across the South) https://t.co/4kdiMxsWFu

— Meg Tirrell (@megtirrell) September 21, 2021

Definitely an interesting twist and my initial gut reaction agrees with the idea, in part.

I know the main goal is 100% vaccination but from what it seems to me....hospital burden is really our biggest issue that we are trying to cure with the vaccines (not to minimalize the loss of any life but really we just need hospital crowding to drop to ease stress).

If the hospital COVID patients are in fact 90%+ unvaccinated, it seems to reason to push the antibody treatment more and save it for when an unvaccinated person asks for it vs a vaccinated, who the science shows is basically prevented from death / severe disease.

I know several overweight (not obese) people in the late 30s / early 40s, fully vaccinated over the summer that recently got COVID (last 2 weeks) and also went in and got the monoclonal antibody treatment which seemed a bit strange but I am not going to be the one to shame them or question their decisions just found it interesting....basically saying through their actions they have no trust in the vaccine which does not jive with the science.

Prexys Moon said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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The problem is...i am not sure it will happen or at least not soon...but...in my opinion...the government should set a deadline for "free" stuff....free vaccines and free treatments need an end date. Maybe set it for next summer but at some point the handouts have to stop. Maybe insurance companies pickup the bill on COVID shots like many do for the flu shot but the government needs to get out of paying for everyone's treatment.

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not to mention the federal government paying hospitals for covid patient hospitalizations. You want to see those "covid hospitilization" numbers drop? Do that.

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For government payment on hospital stays....is that for anyone or is that just people without insurance?

I know i have heard about "coding COVID" for money purposes but does that mean all these people going to hospital and staying for 2+ weeks are getting a 'free' ride?

Just curious b/c I know you know the answer or i think you might at least....if some has insurance and goes to hospital for COVID for 3 weeks....are they paying anything?

planoaggie123 said:

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The problem is...i am not sure it will happen or at least not soon...but...in my opinion...the government should set a deadline for "free" stuff....free vaccines and free treatments need an end date. Maybe set it for next summer but at some point the handouts have to stop. Maybe insurance companies pickup the bill on COVID shots like many do for the flu shot but the government needs to get out of paying for everyone's treatment.

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It made sense for the government to pay for testing when they were enforcing quarantines and trying to prevent the spread of COVID. It also made sense for the government to pay for vaccines so we could open everything back up, get the GDP up and get tax revenues up. Now they are paying for monoclonal antibodies as hospitals are on the brink or sometimes past it, and insurance companies would rather roll the dice than pay for monoclonal antibodies.

I think once we get past this current crisis the gravy train gets shut off unless some other pressing public health consequence pops up

planoaggie123 said:

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Just curious b/c I know you know the answer or i think you might at least....if some has insurance and goes to hospital for COVID for 3 weeks....are they paying anything?

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They insurance or the person? The person isn't paying anything until recently. For most of the pandemic insurance companies have waived copays and deductibles for COVID patients, and FEMA has covered the ones whose insurances didn't. Recently several large insurers have come and out said they are going back to business as usual for COVID admissions, meaning copays, deductibles, and strict guidelines on who qualifies to be admitted.

ramblin_ag02 said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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Just curious b/c I know you know the answer or i think you might at least....if some has insurance and goes to hospital for COVID for 3 weeks....are they paying anything?

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They insurance or the person? The person isn't paying anything until recently. For most of the pandemic insurance companies have waived copays and deductibles for COVID patients, and FEMA has covered the ones whose insurances didn't. Recently several large insurers have come and out said they are going back to business as usual for COVID admissions, meaning copays, deductibles, and strict guidelines on who qualifies to be admitted.

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You answered my question perfectly. Thank you for that!

ramblin_ag02 said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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The problem is...i am not sure it will happen or at least not soon...but...in my opinion...the government should set a deadline for "free" stuff....free vaccines and free treatments need an end date. Maybe set it for next summer but at some point the handouts have to stop. Maybe insurance companies pickup the bill on COVID shots like many do for the flu shot but the government needs to get out of paying for everyone's treatment.

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It made sense for the government to pay for testing when they were enforcing quarantines and trying to prevent the spread of COVID. It also made sense for the government to pay for vaccines so we could open everything back up, get the GDP up and get tax revenues up. Now they are paying for monoclonal antibodies as hospitals are on the brink or sometimes past it, and insurance companies would rather roll the dice than pay for monoclonal antibodies.

I think once we get past this current crisis the gravy train gets shut off unless some other pressing public health consequence pops up

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I agree with everything stated. I am not a huge fan of big government but having them cover initial testing and initial vaccines i guess it is what it is...but soon it needs to stop.

If someone wants monoclonal antibody treatment in the near future (Q1 or Q2 2022??) it should come out of their own insurance / HSA account / bank account and stop being on the taxpayer dime.

I am ok with this with 3 caveats.

1)As long as the individual isn't unvaxinated due to the use of HEK cells lines in the testing and development of the vaccines.

2)it is still available to vaccinated people with 2 or more comorbidities.
3)the government isn't paying for it. At this point, the socialized medicine should stop at the vaccine.

Duncan Idaho said:

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I am ok with this with 3 caveats.

1)As long as the individual isn't unvaxinated due to the use of HEK cells lines in the testing and development of the vaccines.

2)it is still available to vaccinated people with 2 or more comorbidities.
3)the government isn't paying for it. At this point, the socialized medicine should stop at the vaccine.

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#1 is silly and unprovable.

#2 agree.

#3...at some point the free vaccine needs to stop. needs to be, at a minimum, handled like the flu shot. In my opinion no later than next summer.

bay fan said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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The problem is...i am not sure it will happen or at least not soon...but...in my opinion...the government should set a deadline for "free" stuff....free vaccines and free treatments need an end date. Maybe set it for next summer but at some point the handouts have to stop. Maybe insurance companies pickup the bill on COVID shots like many do for the flu shot but the government needs to get out of paying for everyone's treatment.

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Many Insurance companies are no longer waiving Covid CoPays but I suspect many unvaccinated are also uninsured so bottom line is, those who refuse a 30 dollar shot in favor of an ICU stay are costing the rest of us in spades.

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I think they should stop waiving if not now...by summer of 2022 at latest.

Those same uninsured already cost us money every year for many other things...COVID just another item to the unfortunate long list....

Right but strep in the ER is a vastly different expense then ICU for weeks. It's short sighted to compare common uninsured expenses to those related to Covid.

bay fan said:

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Right but strep in the ER is a vastly different expense then ICU for weeks. It's short sighted to compare common uninsured expenses to those related to Covid.

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Its not just strep...what about all the issues that come with Diabetes, heart disease, wounds from fights/guns, etc...

Duncan Idaho said:

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1)agree that objecting to the vaccine for religious reasons is silly. I'd like to see them ask why they refused the vaccine. Religious reasons, sorry no MCA's for you there is no religious argument that is against the vaccine that would be for MCA.. Didnt want an experimental treatment? Sorry MCA's are experimental. I don't want the health community to be responsible for these people violating their strongly held beliefs.

2)agree with your agreement


3)the shot is a fiscal net positive for the country. So I don't have a problem with the government paying for it.

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1) I dont want to get in a "he said / she said" thing....but...I honestly dont think many people have an actual issue with the vaccine for religious purposes. Many are stating that simply b/c its an easy way to get out of taking the vaccine which they do not want or do not trust and religious exemption is the most "safe" way to avoid that. Only a handful probably really care how it was derived as far as cells, etc.

Honestly, I don't "like" the idea of declining MCA treatment to vaccinated especially if they are paying for it, but our current issue is hospital capacity and the MCA can likely ease that burden....giving MCA to an unvaccinated is likely more beneficial....

2) woohoo

3) probably going to have to agree to disagree. can say the same with the flu shot. why doesnt government pay for that? again, i am fine for a while longer but within 12 months it has to stop in my opinion.

If there was a $30 vaccine for diabetes, you are damn right I would want the government to pay for it. Think of the money the VA, Medicare, medicaid, govment employee health insurance would save. Nevermind the drop on premiums that would happen if 95% of diabetes cases never became symptomatic

Uninsured is a huge cost to states……now Covid is a huge additional expense when there is a cheap shot people refuse.

Duncan Idaho said:

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If there was a $30 vaccine for diabetes, you are damn right I would want the government to pay for it. Think of the money the VA, Medicare, medicaid, govment employee health insurance would save. Nevermind the drop on premiums that would happen if 95% of diabetes cases never became symptomatic

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I think we had a good back and forth and agree on a few things but the over-arching issues with healthcare is too broad and too divisive to discuss on Texags...

bay fan said:

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Uninsured is a huge cost to states……now Covid is a huge additional expense when there is a cheap shot people refuse.

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100% agree.

Our government helps fund, through $$ benefits, a "helpless" portion of society through that refuses to better themselves (economically, health wise, etc). They were a drain on our healthcare before COVID and now just an even greater drain.

It is problem with our society...not just COVID...

To me it should depend on your comorbidities and chance for a bad outcome. 75 year old vaxxed person with symptoms yes. 30 year old unvaxxed with no comorbidities no.

Prexys Moon said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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The problem is...i am not sure it will happen or at least not soon...but...in my opinion...the government should set a deadline for "free" stuff....free vaccines and free treatments need an end date. Maybe set it for next summer but at some point the handouts have to stop. Maybe insurance companies pickup the bill on COVID shots like many do for the flu shot but the government needs to get out of paying for everyone's treatment.

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not to mention the federal government paying hospitals for covid patient hospitalizations. You want to see those "covid hospitilization" numbers drop? Do that.

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This is when I knew the COVID numbers were overstated.

Quote:

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Lindsey Rosales, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, confirmed to Just the News this week that the state is categorizing every inpatient in the state with a positive COVID-19 test as a COVID-19 hospitalization.

"The number of hospitalized patients includes patients with a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 even if the person is admitted to the hospital for a different reason," Rosales said.

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https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/texas-government-counting-every-covid-positive-hospital-case

aTm2004 said:

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Prexys Moon said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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The problem is...i am not sure it will happen or at least not soon...but...in my opinion...the government should set a deadline for "free" stuff....free vaccines and free treatments need an end date. Maybe set it for next summer but at some point the handouts have to stop. Maybe insurance companies pickup the bill on COVID shots like many do for the flu shot but the government needs to get out of paying for everyone's treatment.

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not to mention the federal government paying hospitals for covid patient hospitalizations. You want to see those "covid hospitilization" numbers drop? Do that.

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This is when I knew the COVID numbers were overstated.

Quote:

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Lindsey Rosales, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, confirmed to Just the News this week that the state is categorizing every inpatient in the state with a positive COVID-19 test as a COVID-19 hospitalization.

"The number of hospitalized patients includes patients with a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 even if the person is admitted to the hospital for a different reason," Rosales said.

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https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/texas-government-counting-every-covid-positive-hospital-case

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my 74 year old father had to call 911 and go to the ER for a panic attack a couple weeks ago. The paramedics gave him a covid test in the (&*(&^(*&^ ambulance. It's almost like the hospital was fishing for "covid hospitalizations". He was admitted for a day and if he had been positive, guess what, the liberal mayor of their town could say "omigod our covid hospitalizations are going up". such bs.