Dr. Paul Christo is on the front lines of pain management and has seen first-hand how the lockdowns impacted those in recovery and may be responsible for creating new cases. Deaths from opioid overdose began declining in 2018 in part to a variety of measures, including clampdowns on marketing of prescription opioids and more public attention and support for treatment. There were 623,331 drug overdoses between 1999 and 2016 according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and over 70,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017, half of which likely involved opioids.  In 2018, drug overdose deaths dropped to 67,000. Christo believes this will jump 30 percent when numbers for 2020 are released.

Schieber and Christo discuss the following:

1.  That CDC data…the time lag on opioid/overdose deaths…when and why does it take longer than other diseases

2.  Why Christo suspects the overdose numbers will soar 30 percent

3.  How have the lockdowns impacted the illicit drug market

4.  Brief history of the crisis… the phases, where we’ve been, where we’re at, and where we are going

5.  Will the lockdowns create new cases of addiction

6.  Advise for the next administration

Melinda Gates did an interview with the NYT on December 4 in which she states she and her billionaire husband Bill Gates didn’t anticipate the economic fallout from the lockdowns.  This infuriated Jeffrey Tucker where he was compelled to write an article about it. “How did Bill and Melinda become the de facto in charge of virus response?” asks Tucker, who says most of the Gates’ responses on the pandemic show a lack of sophistication of how viruses work and how we have historically managed them.  Tucker describes the lockdowns as a “sadistic social experiment” and predicts in 2021 that Americans will open their eyes up to the fear mongering in a way that will be revolutionary. “Governors who locked down are going to go away in disgrace,” says Tucker.

Tucker and Schieber cover a broad range of issues related to the lockdowns: 

- Gates Foundation’s focus on “health care” for solving world’s problems

- Gates says “making sure the whole world gets the vaccine,” Are mandates next?

- Disinformation and conspiracy…new favorite words of the left?

- Predicting in March how lockdowns would cause devastation

- Why have Americans so willingly accepted lockdowns. Does anyway care about liberty anymore?

- Could government pull of this “sadistic social experiment” again?

The Food and Drug Administration has given emergency use authorization to two COVID-19 vaccines in December, one by Pfizer/BioNTech and the other by Moderna. Trials have shown the vaccines to be extremely effective but there are considerations as to who should get one. For one, supply is limited and second, there is no long-term safety information available as the vaccines have only been in development for a few months.  Chad Savage, M.D. discusses who would be the best candidates for vaccines and whether the vaccine will eventually eradicate the COVID-19 virus.

Specific topics of discussion include:

1. How Chad Savage, M.D. is advising patients

2. The vaccines, will they eradicate the virus?

3. What about virus mutation, vaccine someday obsolete?

4. Natural immunity, should these people not get vaccine

5. Vaccine side effects, Bells Palsy, allergic reaction

6.  Vaccine trials, so few got COVID for end point

7. Early at home treatment, patient interest, physician obstacles

Andy Singer, digital media manager at The Heartland Institute, interviews Christina Herrin, government relations manager of health policy, on the future of health care. What will health care look like in 2021? How has COVID-19 exposed policy flaws and how to address needed reform? The discussion focuses on the recent vaccine approval via operation Warp Speed, and the potential to apply similar expedited processes to other disease groups. What should states look to address in the upcoming session? Biden care has been a topic of discussion and one we need to consider combatting in 2021. 

Our whole public response on COVID is based on the presumption that we are all walking petri dishes of this virus. Some say that we carry it and can make others very sick even though we may not have a single symptom. 

Early in the summer, an expert at the National Institutes of Health stated asymptomatic spread is unlikely.  It got out in the media, and then she walked it back. A study in Nature, which took a closer look at 300 asymptomatic positive cases in China, could not find any presence of the virus that would be transmittable. The researchers then followed 1,200 close contacts of the asymptomatic people and found none of them got sick.

Is this proof that you cannot spread the virus if you don’t show symptoms?

Erwin Haas, M.D. joins the show to talk about the increased PCR testing for COVID-19 and how this may be giving the public a skewed picture of spread.  Haas says Florida has the right idea in demanding labs reveal the “cycle threshold” numbers of sample processing, as there is belief that this practice could be revealing more false positive results.  Anthony Fauci will be heading Biden’s COVID team. Haas talks about Fauci’s career as a government administrator and why individuals who are on the front lines of actually treating COVID-19 might offer a more realistic response.

The Trump Administration made several changes to be more responsive to health care needs amid the pandemic. Bill Sweetnam, the legislative and technical director of the Employees Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC), talks about why Congress needs to act on HR 8450, a bill that will allow more items to be deducted from tax free health savings accounts, like masks, hand sanitizers, and personal protection equipment.  The discussion moves towards expanding such accounts to allow for more dependent care, like taking care of sick parents or relatives and how Congress will be positioning for health care once the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of Obamacare.

Sweetnam also introduces listeners to a new tool ECFC has created to help consumers navigate the numerous benefit changes under COVID-19 legislation. 

HR 8450 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/8450?s=1&r=20&fbclid=IwAR0yxrATnBZ0lsc9MitFehRAdcnRuuzqH3O9MbEL1Np4DunJYrQ6Hz5j6I4

In this episode of The Heartland Institute's Health Care News Podcast, Vice President Jim Lakely and Health Care News Managing Editor AnneMarie Schieber let out some frustrations about the way the media and government are mask-shaming the public, locking down our economy again, and giving mixed messages on vaccines and other treatments for COVID-19.

Read all of Heartland's COVID coverage at Health Care News.

Christina Herrin, government relations manager of health policy, interviews AnneMarie Schieber, research fellow and managing editor of Health Care News, Heartland's monthly newspaper for health care reform. The discussion revolves around COVID-19 lockdowns, potential vaccines, and upcoming federal hearings for early at home COVID treatment.

Watch the live Senate hearing here: https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/early-outpatient-treatment-an-essential-part-of-a-covid-19-solution

In early October, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders were in violation of the state’s constitution and ordered her to stop. The governor is restricting rights using the state’s public health code. Attorneys David Kallman and Erin Mersino say the code does not allow the interference with private business practice. Kallman and Mersino are prepared to take their cases to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kallman represents Semlow Peak Performance Chiropractic in Grand Haven, MI. They want to allow employees to decide for themselves whether or not they want to mask up. The state has shut down the practice. Mersino is filing her case in federal court on First Amendment grounds on behalf of Resurrection Catholic School and parents of students.  The state requires the school to discipline students for not wearing masks. One student has a breathing disability and the others, siblings, have speech challenges.  The children are not allowed back in school unless they agree to wear masks for the 7-hour day. Mersino says the statute violates freedom of religion and interferes with the children’s right to an education.

Donate to support their work: https://greatlakesjc.org

Rebekah Bernard joins the show to discuss her book Patients at Risk:  The Rise of the Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant in Health Care. Bernard examines the death of a patient who died after a misdiagnosis by a mid-level practitioner at a multi-billion-dollar health care facility.

More and more, health care operations are relying on providers who receive less than half the clinical training and education than physicians.  Some hospital systems have fired physicians and replaced them with nurse practitioners and physician assistants.  While this is intended to improve access and drive down costs, Rebekah Bernard argues that has not been the case and, in some cases has put patients at risk.

Rebekah Bernard discusses:

1.  What her book is about and why she wrote it

2. The American Medical Associations efforts to keep competitors out

3. Underserved areas, rural, urban

4. What is “full practice authority” and the fees nurse practitioners must pay. Is it fair?

5. What about physicians’ assistants?

6. Should physicians be doing the more complicated care?

7. Is there any role for nurse practitioners in a free market?

8. Transparency of hospital prices… does this sound like a similar argument?

9. In a free market, would we be having this discussion?

10. Physicians for patient protection website:  https://www.physiciansforpatientprotection.org