UnitedHealth Group is charging patients a markup for key life-saving drugs that could easily exceed their cost by a factor of ten or more, according to findings from the Federal Trade Commission.

OptumRx, the group’s pharmacy benefit manager, along with its two main peers, Express Scripts and CVS Caremark Rx, have pocketed an extra $7.3 billion over cost thanks to price gouging, according to the findings of a report by the Federal Trade Commission. CVS Caremark Rx blasted the findings for cherry picking certain drugs in an effort to push what it called an ‘anti-PBM’ narrative.

The report, which levels the same allegations at CVS and Cigna, is the latest indictment of America’s broken healthcare system and comes on the heels of last month’s shocking murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Continue reading →

The summer of 64 AD was a hot one in ancient Rome, and the evening of July 18th was especially warm. The air was dry, and harsh winds blew fiercely throughout the city.

So, when a fire broke out that night in the Cirus Maximus district, weather conditions were perfect for a major conflagration to spread rapidly. And that’s exactly what happened.

Flames raged in the city for a week and a half, and ancient sources estimate that over 70% of Rome was destroyed with at least 10,000 homes and other buildings burnt to the ground. Continue reading →

Healthcare Reform – It’s Need – NOW!

Problems with Medicare Advantage Plans Keep Mounting
Citing bureaucratic delays and difficulty collecting payments, dozens of health systems around the country are refusing contracts with particular Medicare Advantage plans or with any MA plans at all.

A survey of health systems by the Health Care Management Association revealed that 19% had stopped accepting one or more Medicare Advantage plans in 2023. And 61% reported that they were either considering or planning to stop accepting all Medicare Advantage patients within the next two years.

The problem is nationwide, but more acute in some areas… (Continue to full article)

UnitedHealth Units Ordered to Pay $165M for Misleading Consumers
Three UnitedHealth-owned insurance companies must pay more than $165 million for deceptive conduct that misled thousands of consumers into unknowingly buying supplemental health insurance in Massachusetts.

In a December order, Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Helene Kazanjian said penalties stem from marketing practices between 2012 and 2016 by HealthMarkets and its two subsidiaries, The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company and HealthMarkets Insurance Agency, which were found to violate the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act.

The ruling follows a non-jury trial to assess damages after the companies were already deemed liable… (Continue to full article)

Watch Out for the ‘Medigap Trap’
A bit of foresight can save you from the Medigap trap — yet one more rule to learn when navigating Medicare and Medicare Advantage (MA). In short, it’s a mistake to plan to enroll in MA when you’re relatively healthy, thinking you can just switch to traditional Medicare as you get older and sicker, says David A. Lipschutz , co-director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy.

MA can be attractive when first enrolling in Medicare for beneficiaries who aren’t worried about network restrictions on doctors or pre-approval requirements for high-level care.

Technically, people who choose an MA plan can change their minds every year during open enrollment and move to traditional government-run Medicare with its unrestricted access to providers who take Medicare. It may be tempting to think about switching when health declines or there’s a need to see providers not in the MA network. But it’s not that easy. Welcome to the Medigap Trap… (Continue to full article)

“They found a cure for gluttony. Now do narcissism.” ~ Peachy Keenan

Poor “Joe Biden” can’t help himself as the suns sets on his ignominious career. He ordered the American flag to fly at half-staff into January 20, inauguration day, to signal grief and distress at Donald Trump’s swearing-in — not realizing, apparently, that Mr. Trump’s first act in office will be to order the flags raised back up, signaling symbolically the end to America’s grief and distress under “Joe Biden.” Continue reading →

Health Insurance, My ASS!

Today I was introduced to the 2025 version of United Health Care, as I went to my Pharmacy to pick-up one of my heart related prescriptions. In January of 2024, a 90 day supply of 180 capsules cost me about $134.00. In April the same prescription cost me about $440.00. Tonight, it cost me $387.00 for a 30 day supply. That is enough to cause me another heart attack.

It has now become HELL INSURANCE! ~ Editor

American health insurance seems to frustrate everyone. Patients complain that it’s expensive and complicated. Providers say it buries them in paperwork and can negatively affect patient care.

Yet identifying a villain in our health payment story is no simple matter.

The American health payment system is a ramshackle structure comprising public and private insurance plans offered by a host of providers across multiple states. Here’s an overview of the symptoms affecting the health care payment industry, some root causes, and cures suggested by industry analysts. Continue reading →

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

“Property in a thing consists not merely in its ownership and possession, but in the unrestricted right of use, enjoyment, and disposal. Anything which destroys any of the elements of property, to that extent, destroys the property itself. The substantial value of property lies in its use. If the right of use be denied, the value of the property is annihilated, and ownership I rendered a barren right.” ~ Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Sanders

Without the right to property, we only have the right to our thoughts; all else will be controlled by others.

John Adams said, “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”

That is not an exaggeration. Without the right to property, we are slaves. Our founding fathers realized that and were careful to correct the original Constitution by adding the Bill of Rights, among other things. Continue reading →

“Everyday the future looks a little bit darker.” ― Alan Moore, Watchmen

We have become a nation adrift in a sea of government overreach, abuse and corruption.

The following is a sobering account of the challenges we faced in 2024, which were marked by the government’s never-ending power grabs and relentless assaults on our civil liberties. Continue reading →

UPDATED – January 1, 2025: UnitedHealth Group is not an insurer, it’s a platform. And it’s in the crosshairs as Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley propose breaking it apart, severing its pharmacy arm from the rest of the business.

Unfortunately, my wife and I both have United Health Care and have used them for a number of years. Moments ago, I phoned UHC to activate my annual card, but shortly before doing so – I came across the following letter enclosed with the card. Read it – and then what follows in this posting will make even more sense. ~ Jeffrey Bennett, Editor

The saga of the UnitedHealth Care CEO assassination has, as could be expected, now turned into a discussion of our health care system. Elizabeth Warren, for instance, is making the obvious point that people hate the health care system.

Then, productively, she proposed, along with Republican Senator Josh Hawley, legislation to split apart some of these monster companies from their pharmacy subsidiaries, thus reducing conflicts of interest in health care. While this legislation was in the works long before the killing, it didn’t stop Wall Street investors from saying that any discussion of health care reform was a de facto endorsement of murder. Continue reading →

…and it grows by the nano-second!

We have come to accept that we are permanently trapped in an endless cycle of debt and money creation. But the only reason why debt and money grow at an exponential rate is because that is what our system was designed to do. The Federal Reserve and other central banks around the globe were created with a purpose. The goal was to get humanity into as much debt as possible, and those holding that debt just keep getting wealthier and wealthier. Unfortunately, we have been trained to not even question this deeply insidious arrangement. Continue reading →

I would like to spend some time today discussing perspectives and opinions; with the first few pages being devoted to the differences between the two words. Perspective is most often used to describe a person’s viewpoint; the way they look at something. For instance, someone watching a baseball game from seats alongside the first base line would have a different perspective on the game that someone watching it from seats behind home plate, or way out in center field. The word is also by authors when writing novels; telling the tale from the first, second, or third person narrative. Continue reading →

When we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we are celebrating one of the most improbable miracles in all of human history. You see, the truth is that not just anyone could have showed up and claimed to be the Messiah. According to the Scriptures, the Messiah had to come from a very specific bloodline, the Messiah had to be born at a very specific place, and the Messiah had to be born at a very specific time. It was exceedingly unlikely that anyone would ever be able to fulfill all of those prophecies, but Jesus did. The prophecies about the first coming of Christ that we find in the Bible are powerful evidence for the reality of the Christian faith, and yet these prophecies are rarely taught in our churches today. Continue reading →

It’s a common misconception that Benjamin Franklin first proposed daylight saving time. He did recommend that people rise early to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. He knew it was biologically natural for humans to wake up when the sun rises and sleep when it sets.

President Woodrow Wilson officially signed daylight saving time in to law in 1918, which was another bad decision on his part. (He also got us into WWI and helped create the Federal Reserve). Continue reading →

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“Rights aren’t rights if someone can take them away. They’re privileges. That’s all we’ve ever had in this country is a ‘Bill of Temporary Privileges.’ And if you read the news, even badly, you know that the list gets shorter and shorter.” ~ George Carlin

Disguising its power grabs in the self-righteous fervor of national security, the Deep State has mastered the art of the bait-and-switch.

It works like this: first, the government foments fear about some crisis or threat to national security, then they capitalize on it by seizing greater power and using those powers against the American people. Continue reading →

Americans’ trust in institutions was further eroded this week. I’m referring to President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter. This one’s different.

Presidential pardons have been around since George Washington. But no president ever promised to not pardon someone – and then went back on his word and pardoned that individual. And no president ever gave such a blanket pardon as Joe Biden gave his son Hunter, one covering the 10 years that Hunter has either been convicted of crimes or that the Justice Department didn’t fully investigate. It’s unprecedented.

This comes after Biden framed his presidency around restoring trust in institutions after Trump spent four years sowing mistrust in them, including accusing the Justice Department of being “weaponized” against him. Biden echoed similar sentiments in pardoning Hunter. “Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.” Continue reading →

              “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter”

Most Americans tend to think of private property simply as a home – the place where the family resides, stores their belongings, and finds shelter and safety from the elements. It’s where you live. It’s yours because you pay the mortgage and the taxes. Most people don’t give property ownership much more thought than that.

There was a time when property ownership was considered to be much more. Property, and the ability to own and control it, was life itself.

John Adams said, “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Continue reading →