There is no guarantee to herd immunity.

June 17, 2020
By Andrew Joseph

The U.S. is now confronting what public health experts (click here) have been warning about but many in the public had not absorbed: the coronavirus pandemic will be with us for many months, and lapses in vigilance will lead to more sickness and death.

The country as a whole is tacking on about 20,000 new Covid-19 cases to its 2.1 million infection tally each day, a clip that’s been steady for weeks, according to STAT’s Covid-19 Tracker. But cases are surging in about half of states, some of which dodged major outbreaks in the spring as the Northeast and other pockets like New Orleans became inundated. The local outbreaks are leading to increasing hospitalizations in Arizona, Texas, Alabama, and the Carolinas — raising concerns about capacity when the original rallying cry of “flatten the curve” was meant to prevent overwhelming health care systems.

Experts had envisioned localized ups and downs as the U.S. epidemic dragged on. But the new bursts of cases have not galvanized a commitment to rein in the spread and steer those rises into downturns. Instead, there is fading attention in Washington, and many Americans seem inured by the steady stream of 800 daily Covid-19 deaths and desperate to return to work and daily life....

Beaumont has been struggling. I don't consider any of this good news for American health care.

Capitalism "models" whereby hospitals are downsized to create a profit paradigm is the worst model possible for American healthcare.

April 17, 2020

By John Commins

Beaumont Hospital, Wayne "temporarily paused" (click here) this week in anticipation of a "second surge" of COVID-19 patients that the health system said could occur if social distancing restrictions are eased.

"Beaumont Hospital, Wayne is important to Beaumont Health and is not permanently closing. Rumors to that effect are false," the Royal Oak, Michigan-based health system said.

Wayne's "few remaining patients" were either discharged or transferred from the 185-bed, acute-care hospital this week, and staff were redeployed to other Beaumont hospitals or temporarily laid off....

Fifteen people are going to decide health care policy for the majority of populations of three states. That is ridiculous. The hospitals will lose the pulse of the local communities. Back in the day when the Hill-Burton Grant Act built hospitals all over the country, they were local hospitals to serve the underserved as well as those that had health insurance. Anyone who believes there won't be hospital closures in time is kidding themselves.

June 17, 2020
by JC Reindl

Beaumont Health (click here) announced Wednesday that it is considering a merger with a large out-of-state hospital system, a deal that Beaumont says isn't expected to result in layoffs and will give it the safety of bigger size amid uncertainties in the health care business.

Beaumont said it has signed a nonbinding letter of intent with Advocate Aurora Health, a 28-hospital system in Illinois and Wisconsin that was formed by a 2018 merger of suburban Chicago-based Advocate Health Care and Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care.

Combined, the organizations would form a massive $17-billion nonprofit hospital system with dominant presences in three states.

The deal is not a sale, but rather an asset merger of the hospital systems under the control of a single, 15-member board of directors that would have equal representation from the legacy Beaumont, Advocate and Aurora systems.

Beaumont would keep its brand name and a regional headquarters in Michigan. The new parent organization would have its own name — still to be determined....             

"Winning is everything"Trump's motto. It is a corrupt motivation for a presidential campaign.

When conducting a campaign against Donald J. Trump realize there is a great deal of corruption at work, in that, his message is not about policy he will pursue, but, based on populous opinion. He is a liar. Everyone knows that. He is at ease with lying to voters and he seeks information from them in order to lie well.

One of the techniques the Trump campaign relies on is opinion surveys. In Michigan, in 2016 the campaign MAILED surveys to voter rolls. He won Michigan by about 2 votes per district. The way he eeked out that 2 votes per district was to receive surveys back from every district and then CUSTOMIZING his message to them according to the survey results. It is ruthless and cruel to the voters, not in seeking their opinion, but, to lie them based on the survey results.

The Michigan opinion survey looked like a ballot. It is on this blog. There were columns whereby Hillary's picture was at the top to the right of Trump's picture. Then the voter filling out the survey was told the positions of the two candidates in a column on the left margin. The voter was to check off the candidate they liked best for all the issues presented in that left column. I don't recall any "asks" for a donation, so the voter when mailing back their survey was left to wonder what candidate asked for their opinion.

Trump's campaign is very manipulative. "Fake News" was actually a statement made by Clinton. It served Trump's best interest in creating his own communication network and he adapted it to his campaign. He is a "Trickier Dick" then Richard Nixon.

One of Trump's many MODIFICATION surveys: (click here) 

"Dreamers" future is highly ethical.

On its face it is wrong to remove people from the only home they have ever known.

Former President Obama is a legal scholar. Questions?