Offtopic
07 Apr 2021, 3:00pm
07 Apr 2021, 4:47pm
07 Apr 2021, 6:27pm
BurstarOtohaBurstar For completeness, also in the article:
"Ask FactCheck's conclusion: "Recent legislation pays hospitals higher Medicare rates for COVID-19 patients and treatment, but there is no evidence of fraudulent reporting."
"Jensen didn't explicitly make that claim. He simply suggested there is an "avenue" to do so"
They can though, to immediately assume it's just not happening, to give humanity that benefit of the doubt is naivete of the highest degree. Cuz nobody in America has ever been caught lying on medical documentation to make extra money. Not saying you said that, but you have to conclude either it's happening or its not. It's happening, the question is just how much
And this class, is called the fallacy of Argument from ignorance
One must question the methodology of qualifying a virus case... does that mean, merely testing positive for the virus antibodies even if that person is asymptomatic? If so, merely getting one or both vaccines would give such a result.
One might say, the results of such a positive test, not even taking into account false positives & negatives, is generally (variable according to the area governing authority) a 2-week quarantine at least. If that person is asymptomatic, what motivation aside from simple altruism would there be to undergo such a test? The total numbers are affected by that as much as they are if a person gets tested positive & that is counted as a virus case, even if they're asymptomatic.
I'm inclined to concur with Saka & Otoha, in that it is indeed the epitome of naivete to assume, given human nature, & more importantly, regardless of the Hippocratic oath, hospitals are a place of business & simple economics & even our basic financial structure across the globe that they must be, that such impetus to up-code does not exist &/ does not happen.
There is the example of the proverbial aspirin tablet, which one may buy for a matter of a few cents in a local pharmacy, costs many times, on the order of perhaps hundreds, if supplied by the hospital itself to a patient. A similar disparity is the cost of the proverbial toilet seat or hammer listed in a gov't accounting - items that might be purchased for ~$20 found to be costing ten times as much.
That the sad truth is that, at least here in the USA, the medical community (staff, practitioners, hospitals, etc) gets reimbursed at an (often) small fraction of their standard billing rate when dealing with any insurance arrangement, & why those un-insured & self-pay will be charged a far higher rate. Blame the accountants & bean-counters... that's a simple economic necessity, & despite the fact that deliberately up-rating/up-coding patients who may merely be suspected of being positive with the virus would result in severe consequences, at the other end of the rope is the equally strong tug of having to pull in as much money as possible, especially as most if not virtually all elective procedures (the medical community's main-money-maker) have been suspended.
To believe otherwise based on merely the absence of any direct evidence, despite full knowledge of the human propensity for corruption & the professional & financial motivation to cover that up, is akin to believing that the Moon is made of green cheese & vanishes as soon as it dips below the horizon simply because of the lack of any immediate evidence to the contrary.
I can understand why some seem to be inclined to swallow the current agenda hook, line & sinker, & then wash it all down with several large gulps of kool-aid, based simply upon the kind of society & gov't under which they were raised & to which they have grown accustomed.
It is my custom to question everything, especially that which is issued by 'The Establishment'. Others may feel more comfortable being sheeple & following along with the 'chicken little syndrome'.
07 Apr 2021, 7:15pm
Synthya Wylder...
What a surprise, the individual that calls it the 'China Virus' is sympathetic to Oto's conspiracy theory. What a surprise. Here's the thing:
You are all arguing from a 'the absence of evidence is proof'. Yeah nah mate. To discredit case numbers based on the possibility that professionals would throw away their careers by committing fraud in an extremely scrutinized field, and to say 'yup they are definitely untrustworthy' when their entire job requires the deepest of trust from their patients is ridiculous.
Is it right to acknowledge the possibility of fraud? Yup. Probably should be a body or two of professionals that look into that sort of thing... hmm. I wonder what insurance adjusters and the police are for? Nah. The medical community are definitely criminals in on the whole 'gotta keep people locked in their homes so we can trash the economy for reasons as base as triple the payday for their corporate overlords' conspiracy. You know what, I'm sold. Where do I pick up my tin foil hat, or do I just pick it up on the way to teh 'election was rigged' party?
As for the American health billing system. It's terrible. Get a NHS like almost everyone else does. I will say though that I'm pretty sure that while Insurance deals get them significant contractual discounts on some things they get hosed on everything else and anyone paying out of pocket with no insurance simply just needs to argue the ridiculous prices for them to come down. See, businesspersons can acknowledge when their pricing scheme is stupid and will reduce them to get some money rather than none. Any fool can see this simple observation of possible human behaviour is a hard concrete fact that definitely applies to 100% of all billing cases /s
07 Apr 2021, 9:52pm
08 Apr 2021, 12:36am
Rebecca HailJust waiting for another "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." coming around the corner.
08 Apr 2021, 12:53am
08 Apr 2021, 1:02am
It's almost disappointing that this virus didn't come from a lab, because if it did, you'd have to marvel at its genius. Sealing off Hubei province but allowing air traffic to the rest of the world to continue? Again, stroke of genius. Ah, but let's not call it the China Virus. That would be insensitive.
Some scientists believe cross-protective immunity (or absence thereof) to be the reason why 75% of COVID-19 case fatalities occurred in the West -- and only 9% in Asia. Looks like someone has found our Achilles heel.
While the West locks itself down into economic collapse, China is preparing to take over Taiwan. And why wouldn't they? With the West both outgunned and outsmarted, the timing could not be better.
08 Apr 2021, 1:03am
Clover ShawI, for one, have 100% faith in the honesty of government, media, and medical corporations. They've never lied to us before, right...?
Humans lie often (obviously I realize you're being sarcastic), it is the way of things. We're a barbaric/warring species, the real universe equivalent of the Orcs. We were never going to be anything different, as we descended from Apes. Many of their behaviors persist in us to this day. My issue with humanity has always been that so many of you deny who or what we are, in order to worship false idols and put humanity on a pedestal, as if the universe is anything other than indifferent.
I prefer to live in an unfiltered reality. No Faith, No Belief, No God. Just my own two hands, my own desires, my own strength of will. If I see a problem I can fix, I fix it. A nice and simple way to live.
Last edit: 08 Apr 2021, 1:10am
08 Apr 2021, 1:24am
OtohaSecond time dude has tried to low key insult my intelligence but me dragging that obvious ego complex into the light gets deleted, alright then
Address the argument, not its author.
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But, generally, I think it will be better to let this topic go. I don't see there is any good outcome from such discussion.
08 Apr 2021, 1:52am
Also leftists: Hospitals trying to maximize profits during the pandemic? That's just an alt-right conspiracy theory!
08 Apr 2021, 5:28am
08 Apr 2021, 7:58am
Sakashiro
Some scientists believe cross-protective immunity (or absence thereof) to be the reason why 75% of COVID-19 case fatalities occurred in the West -- and only 9% in Asia. Looks like someone has found our Achilles heel.
Or it is due to the piss poor reaction of the western world when it came to the virus, which in itself was mostly caused due to an unwillingness of locking down in the first place.
While the West locks itself down into economic collapse, China is preparing to take over Taiwan. And why wouldn't they? With the West both outgunned and outsmarted, the timing could not be better.
They're testing response times. That's a pretty normal thing to do and does not mean that an attack is imminent. Since the Taiwanese ADIZ covers part of mainland China, ADIZ violations should be expected.
Also the West is outgunned and outsmarted by China? Hardly. China's biggest economic partners are the EU and the US, it can't afford to break with them, not even over Taiwan.
