Tag: health care

Patients go without needed treatment after the government shutdown disrupts a telehealth program

Bill Swick has a rare degenerative brain disease that inhibits his mobility and speech. Instead of the hassle of traveling an hour to a clinic in downtown Chicago to visit a speech therapist, he has benefited from virtual appointments from the comfort of his home.

But Swick, 53, hasn’t had access to those appointments for the last month.

The federal government shutdown, now in its fifth week, halted funding for the Medicare telehealth program that pays his provider for her services. So, Swick and his wife are practicing old strategies rather than learning new skills to manage his growing difficulties with processing language, connecting words and pacing himself while speaking.

“It’s frustrating because we want to continue with his journey, with his progress,” 45-year-old Martha Swick, a caregiver for her husband since his diagnosis three years ago, said during an interview at their home in Minooka, Illinois. “I try to have all his therapy and everything organized for him, to make his day easier and smoother, and then everything has a hitch, and we have to stop and wait.”

Their experience has become common in recent weeks among the millions of patients with Medicare fee-for-service plans who count on pandemic-era telehealth waivers to attend medical appointments from home.

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6 Reasons Congress Should Let The Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies Expire

After a series of scary headlines, prompted in no small part by fearmongering on the left, Obamacare’s open enrollment period is finally upon us. For those individuals about to explore their options on the Exchange, or those who just want to learn more about the issues behind the government shutdown, here are some fast facts about open enrollment and the enhanced Exchange subsidies currently scheduled to expire on Dec. 31.

1. Nearly half of all Exchange enrollees currently qualify for “free” premiums.

Under the original, circa 2010 version of Obamacare, all households had to pay at least 2 percent of their income toward a “benchmark” silver-level insurance plan. In theory, some households could qualify for a “skinnier” bronze-level insurance plan with no out-of-pocket premium (and a higher deductible as a result), but most households paid something for their coverage.

However, the Covid-era enhanced subsidies passed by the Biden administration allowed households with incomes below 150 percent of poverty to qualify for zero-dollar (i.e., “free”) premiums. Perhaps unsurprisingly, households reporting income below this threshold have risen to nearly half (45 percent) of all Exchange enrollees. While the left views this policy outcome as a feature, most taxpayers would likely consider it a bug, for the obvious reason below.

2. CBO and others have found millions of fraudulent enrollees, costing tens of billions of dollars annually.

The Congressional Budget Office found 2.3 million enrollees “improperly claimed [subsidies] via intentional overstatement of income” in 2025, falsely claiming income just above the poverty level to qualify for subsidies. Applying the average Exchange subsidy to this population results in estimated fraudulent spending of $13.9 billion per year.

A separate study from the Paragon Health Institute took a broader look at fraud, examining areas where enrollees have incentives to understate and overstate their income to qualify for the richest subsidies. (Disclosure: While I have done work for Paragon, I had no involvement with this particular report and am writing this article on my own behalf.) This broader examination of Exchange program integrity found 6.4 million potentially fraudulent enrollees in 2025, for which the federal government is paying $27.1 billion this year alone.

3. If the enhanced subsidies expire, the federal government will still pay 75-80 percent of enrollees’ premiums on average. 

No, that’s not a typo. A graphic from the leftist think tank KFF (formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation) admits as much. 

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RFK Jr. Says Officials Exploring Feasibility of Breaking Up MMR Vaccine

Federal officials are looking at separating vaccines for the measles and several other diseases into individual shots, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Oct. 29.

“We’re looking at the feasibility of that now,” Kennedy told reporters in Washington after being asked about breaking up the combination measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Kennedy did not offer more details.

“Immunizations for measles, mumps, and rubella would be best administered as three separate vaccines,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told The Epoch Times in an email. “Standalone vaccinations can potentially reduce the risk of side effects and can maximize parental choice in childhood immunizations.”

President Donald Trump, in September, called for people to take separate shots against measles, mumps, and rubella. No individual shots against those diseases are currently available in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is part of HHS.

After Trump, on Oct. 6, again said on social media that the MMR vaccine should be given in separate shots, acting CDC Director and Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill boosted the post and urged vaccine manufacturers to act.

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Dallas Doctor Surrenders License After Texas AG Sues For Prescribing Gender Transition Drugs To Minors

A Dallas-based doctor has surrendered her medical license following a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2024, accusing her of illegally prescribing gender transition drugs to minors.

Paxton announced on Oct. 24 that Dr. May C. Lau has given up her state medical license but that the legal case over her alleged violation of Texas’s ban on gender transition treatment for minors is still ongoing.

“May Lau has done untold damage to children, both physically and psychologically, and the surrendering of her Texas medical license is a major victory for our state,” Paxton said in a statement.

“My case against her for breaking the law will continue, and we will not relent in holding anyone who tries to ‘transition’ kids accountable.”

Records from the Texas Medical Board indicate that Lau’s medical license was “canceled by request” earlier this month.

Her attorney did not respond by publication time to a request for comment.

The lawsuit, filed by the state of Texas in October 2024, alleged that Lau prescribed high-dose cross-sex hormones to 21 minors for the purpose of gender transitioning.

The case falls under Senate Bill 14, a law that took effect in September 2023 and was upheld by the Texas Supreme Court in June 2024. The legislation prohibits gender transition medical procedures for minors, including surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones.

The law also mandates that the Texas Medical Board shall revoke the medical license or other authorization to practice medicine of a physician who violates its provisions.

According to the lawsuit, Lau allegedly prescribed testosterone, which is a controlled substance, to female minors as part of treatments intended to alter their gender or affirm a gender identity different from their biological sex.

The lawsuit further alleged that Lau falsified medical and billing records “to mislead pharmacies, insurance providers, and/or patients” into believing the testosterone prescriptions were for other medical reasons.

Lau entered into a Rule 11 agreement with the state of Texas earlier this year, which prohibits her from practicing medicine on patients entirely while the case is still ongoing.

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Obamacare’s Underused Free Preventive Services Expose A System Rife With Fraud

Obamacare failed to make health care more affordable. Every day the government shutdown lumbers on, more Americans are looking more closely at health care costs and learning just how damaging the impact of Obamacare has been.

The latest evidence comes from the Obamacare exchanges which have seen a spike in “zero-claim enrollees.” Because of irresponsible Biden-era policies, federal subsidies were increased during Covid. Health insurers received payments on behalf of 35 percent of enrollees—and 40 percent of fully subsidized enrollees—who did not use a single service for the time period they were covered. Zero-claim enrollment, which is more than double the rate in a typical health insurance market, is consistent with evidence of widespread fraud.

Some people have claimed that the improper enrollment claim is exaggerated. Even if that were the case (and I find the evidence of mass improper and fraudulent enrollment overwhelming), it would show that Obamacare is failing on another one of its key promises—having people access regular and preventive health services. The new data also shows that Obamacare coverage increasingly does not equal care. 

The premise behind Obamacare’s preventive services mandate was straightforward and optimistic: By eliminating cost‐sharing for evidence-rated preventive services (those graded “A” or “B” by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force), patients would seek timely screenings, counselling, and “wellness” visits. This in turn would reduce emergency care, lower hospitalizations, and improve health. Under Obamacare’s mandate, the services covered without copays include annual check-ups (well visits), mammography, pap smears, colorectal cancer screening (including colonoscopy), and immunizations.

Research generally concludes that Obamacare’s mandate slightly increased preventive care. However, research generally does not distinguish Obamacare exchange enrollees from the commercially insured population (which also incurred the mandate).

But despite mandates for preventive services with zero cost-sharing, a large and growing share of ACA exchange enrollees never submit a claim, meaning they apparently use none of the services their policies cover—preventive or otherwise.

Since Obamacare eliminated potential financial cost barriers to preventive services, why would so many covered individuals never obtain any services at all—not even a well-visit or screening?

When someone has coverage with “first-dollar” preventive services but makes no use of the system, some possible explanations arise. They may be healthy and have no need for care in that year. Or they may lack access (such as provider network issues) or awareness that preventive services are free. Finally, we have to consider whether they are improperly enrolled, or a phantom enrollee.

In either of the latter two cases, Obamacare’s assumption—that coverage leads to preventive care uptake, better health, and lower costs—is significantly undermined.

Personally, I have been enrolled in an Obamacare plan, bought using an individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement for four years now. My insurer aggressively advertises the free preventive services and wellness visits. I receive letters, emails, and text messages for an annual physical and the flu shot. Obamacare insurers have probably ramped up these efforts in recent years out of concern around a low medical loss ratio (that would force higher payments to providers or rebates) as well as their internal concern about a growing number of zero-claim enrollees and the public perception problem of useless coverage that creates.  

The main explanation for the rise in zero-claim enrollees is the tremendous amount of fraud and abuse endemic to Obamacare. The data does not lie. In 2025, there are more than 6.4 million ineligible people enrolled in a fully subsidized Obamacare plan—and in 15 states there are more than twice as many people enrolled in fully subsidized plans than are eligible. And the examples of the fraud are overwhelming, as a huge money-making apparatus from lead generators to unscrupulous agents and brokers to insurers made massive profits from the fraud. Millions have been enrolled without their consent or knowledge, falling victim to fraud schemes. 

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Why Does Tylenol Cause Chronic Illnesses Like Autism?

The Presidential Announcement

September 22, 2025, President Trump held a press conference about the potential causes of autism. Shortly beforehand, the press became aware that Trump would focus on the link between Tylenol and autism, resulting in the national media collectively ridiculing that link immediately before the press conference.

In that press conference, Trump stated he had felt very strongly about bringing attention to vaccines and autism for 20 years, that he felt we were giving too many shots too quickly, and that they needed to be spaced out. There was no reason to give the hepatitis B vaccine prior to children being 12 (which, as I showed here, is true), and Tylenol increases the risk of autism, so if possible, it should be avoided during pregnancy, and you should not give it to infants.

Secretary Kennedy added that some 40% to 70% of mothers who have children with autism believe a vaccine injured their child, and that President Trump believes we should be listening to these mothers instead of gaslighting them.

Note: Regrettably, to show they believed in “Science,” pregnant mothers began quickly posting videos of themselves taking large amounts of Tylenol (which I compiled on 𝕏 here — including one tragic overdose1).

Over-the-Counter Pain Management

Because of how uncomfortable pain is, pain treatments have long been a core market in medicine. Remarkably, however, most standard pain therapies have serious issues and often lead patients to needing more and more severe interventions.

Typically, the first-line treatment for pain is an over-the-counter medication, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin), naproxen (Aleve), aspirin, or topical diclofenac (Voltaren gel). Unfortunately, these medications all have dose-dependent toxicity and typically only elicit partial improvement in pain. Many consider NSAIDs (ibuprofen and naproxen) among the most hazardous drugs in the U.S. because:

•They are the leading cause of drug-related hospital admissions — Often due to heart attacks, strokes, bleeding, and kidney failure2 (e.g., at least 107,000 Americans are admitted to hospitals each year for NSAID GI bleeds).3

•Kidney damage is a significant risk — One study found a 20% increased risk of kidney disease from NSAIDs;4 others found up to 212%.5 Amongst kidney failure patients, 65.7% were found to be chronic NSAID users.6

•NSAIDs raise cardiovascular risks — NSAIDs also increase the risk of heart attacks and death (e.g., extensive studies have found between a 24% to 326% increase7,8,9). Two of the worst ones, Vioxx (Merck)10 and Celebrex (Pfizer),11 were designed to reduce stomach bleeding but instead caused heart attacks and strokes.

Merck hid data on Vioxx’s risks; eventually it was withdrawn after an estimated 120,000 deaths.12 Celebrex, still on the market, has been linked to 75,000 deaths.13 Merck’s handling of Vioxx14 later informed how pharma pushed the HPV vaccine and mRNA vaccines.15

•Gastrointestinal bleeding is common and often fatal — In 1999, over 16,000 Americans died from it.16 NSAIDs also cause small bowel damage in over 50% of chronic users17 — often undetected — leading to “small bowel enteropathy” and possibly chronic illness through gut permeability.18

•They impair healing, especially of ligaments, creating long-term re-injury risk.19

Note: The dangers of NSAIDs are discussed further here.

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The 15 Most Devastating Truths About the PSA Screening Disaster

The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test has screened 30 million American men annually for over three decades. The man who discovered PSA in 1970, Richard Ablin, now calls mass screening “a public health disaster.” Two landmark 2012 studies found no survival benefit from radical surgery compared to watchful waiting. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded PSA screening does more harm than good. Yet the $3 billion annual industry continues largely unabated.

These revelations emerge from three insider accounts: Ablin’s The Great Prostate Hoax, urologist Anthony Horan’s The Rise and Fall of the Prostate Cancer Scam, and oncologist Mark Scholz’s Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers. Together they document how a test meant to monitor existing cancer patients became a screening juggernaut that has left millions of men incontinent, impotent, or dead from unnecessary treatment.

The numbers are staggering. Since 1987, when PSA screening exploded nationwide, over one million American men have undergone radical prostatectomies. Studies show 40 to 50 men must be diagnosed and treated to prevent one death from prostate cancer. The other 39 to 49 men receive no benefit but face permanent side effects. Medicare and the Veterans Administration fund most of this treatment, pouring billions into a system that prominent urologists privately acknowledge has failed.

What follows are the most damaging truths about how PSA screening became entrenched despite overwhelming evidence of harm, why it persists against scientific consensus, and what this reveals about American medicine’s inability to abandon lucrative practices even when they damage patients.

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The Dark Side of Modern Medicine

A Century of Missteps, Manipulations, and Misdeeds. Medicine must be reclaimed as a public good, not a marketplace of manipulation.

The past century has seen astonishing medical advances, from antibiotics to organ transplants and precision diagnostics. Yet behind the celebrated breakthroughs lies a shadowed record of harm, deceit, and systemic failure.

The history of modern medicine is not only a story of progress but also one of unethical experimentation, corporate manipulation, regulatory capture, and public betrayal. I have witnessed this firsthand in my own career: when I proposed nutritional medicine approaches to prevention and early treatment, I was attacked by medical boards, chastised by medical colleges and silenced by bureaucracies beholden to pharmaceutical interests.

My work on vitamin C, cancer, and AIDS brought harassment from authorities, culminating in legal battles I was forced to fight—and win in the Supreme Court —at great personal cost. During the COVID-19 pandemic, my pleas to government leaders to adopt simple, life-saving measures like vitamin D, C and zinc were ignored, while experimental genetic injections were pushed on the public without transparency or informed consent.

Over decades I have seen colleagues censured, evidence suppressed, and patients left to suffer—all because profit and political control took precedence over genuine health and healing. Its still happening and patients are dying unnecessarily from the turbo cancers caused by the mRNA vaccines.

The pattern begins with unethical human experimentation and consent failures. In certain landmark cases over the past decades we find medical science mis-stepping into exploitation — from the decades-long denial of treatment in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, to more recent oversight-failures in clinical trials in low-income countries when pharmaceutical firms prioritised expedience over ethics.

I have observed similar dynamics in my own work: when simple nutritional protocols were sidelined, when investigative treatment options were blocked on the grounds of “non-standard care”, even though patient welfare was at stake, and when regulatory and board actions were taken not for patient safety but to suppress dissenting therapeutic voices.

Next comes the distortion of data, selective reporting and publication bias. The re-analysis of Study 329 revealed that the antidepressant paroxetine was neither safe nor effective in adolescents, despite original favourable publications.

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People Taking Medical Advice from AI Chatbots Are Ending Up in the ER

The growing reliance on AI-powered chatbots for medical advice has led to several alarming cases of harm and even tragedy, as people follow potentially dangerous recommendations from these digital assistants.

The New York Post reports that in recent years, the rise of generative AI chatbots has revolutionized the way people seek information, including health advice. However, the increasing reliance on these AI-powered tools has also led to several disturbing instances where individuals have suffered severe consequences after following chatbots’ medical recommendations. From anal pain caused by self-treatment gone wrong to missed signs of a mini-stroke, the real-life impact of bad AI health advice is becoming increasingly apparent.

One particularly shocking case involved a 35-year-old Moroccan man who sought help from ChatGPT for a cauliflower-like anal lesion. The chatbot suggested that the growth could be hemorrhoids and proposed elastic ligation as a treatment. The man attempted to perform this procedure on himself using a thread, resulting in intense pain that landed him in the emergency room. Further testing revealed that the growth had been completely misdiagnosed by AI.

In another incident, a 60-year-old man with a college education in nutrition asked ChatGPT how to reduce his intake of table salt. The chatbot suggested using sodium bromide as a replacement, and the man followed this advice for three months. However, chronic consumption of sodium bromide can be toxic, and the man developed bromide poisoning. He was hospitalized for three weeks with symptoms including paranoia, hallucinations, confusion, extreme thirst, and a skin rash.

The consequences of relying on AI for medical advice can be even more severe, as demonstrated by the case of a 63-year-old Swiss man who experienced double vision after a minimally invasive heart procedure. When the double vision returned, he consulted ChatGPT, which reassured him that such visual disturbances were usually temporary and would improve on their own. The man decided not to seek medical help, but 24 hours later, he ended up in the emergency room after suffering a mini-stroke. The researchers concluded that his care had been “delayed due to an incomplete diagnosis and interpretation by ChatGPT.”

These disturbing cases highlight the limitations and potential dangers of relying on AI chatbots for medical advice. While these tools can be helpful in understanding medical terminology, preparing for appointments, or learning about health conditions, they should never be used as a substitute for professional medical guidance. Chatbots can misinterpret user requests, fail to recognize nuances, reinforce unhealthy behaviors, and miss critical warning signs for self-harm.

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OUTRAGEOUS: Trump CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz Uncovers Over $1 BILLION in Fraudulent Healthcare Spending for ILLEGAL ALIENS Including Murderers and Rapists

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Trump-appointed Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), just dropped a bombshell on national television, exposing over one BILLION dollars in fraudulent healthcare spending for illegal immigrants.

Appearing on Mornings with Maria on Friday, Oz revealed that his agency uncovered billions of taxpayer dollars funneled to illegal aliens in Democrat-run states, a direct violation of federal law.

“Maria, just in the last few months, in the few states that we’ve examined—less than half a dozen—we’ve identified more than a billion dollars, with a B, of federal tax dollars that have gone to illegal immigrants. We’re actually calling that money back from those states now.

But the fact that this could still happen is very frustrating to all of us. Why would you want to repeal that after all the work that was put into ensuring that these programs, which work so well for vulnerable populations, would remain intact financially?”

During a “Fox & Friends” interview with Ainsley Earhardt last week, Dr. Oz blasted Democrat-led states for abusing taxpayer funds while gaslighting Americans about the extent of fraud within the Medicaid system.

According to Oz, CMS investigators discovered that Democrat-run states like California, Illinois, New York, and Minnesota have been using federal Medicaid dollars to provide full dental, vision, and comprehensive healthcare to illegal immigrants, services that even Medicare recipients don’t receive.

Oz said the Trump administration’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” was designed to block this very abuse and claw back stolen funds. But now, Democrats in Congress are trying to repeal the bill, which would reopen the floodgates for illegal spending.

The $1 billion figure may just be the beginning. Oz said his agency has only reviewed a fraction of states so far, and the full amount of misused funds could be “significantly higher.”

He revealed that some states have already started returning funds, acknowledging their wrongdoing as CMS tightens audits.

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