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New Paragraph00;00;01;14 - 00;00;06;14

Announcer

And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.

00;00;06;16 - 00;00;23;22

Cary Hall

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate, Show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. My producer, Mr. Darren Willhite. Behind the camera is my producer, Mr. Dave Thiessen. We are on 14 podcast channels all across the podcast networks out there and on YouTube. If you want to listen to one of these shows up there.

00;00;23;22 - 00;00;41;20

Cary Hall

Also, 221 affiliates across the country broadcast his show on there. AM and FM stations. So today is one of my Multi-Topic shows. We're going to get right to it. This is where I talk about a number of different issues that I go through and find that I think may be of interest to you that you may not have heard about.

00;00;41;23 - 00;01;08;08

Cary Hall

Hopefully you haven't and this is good information for you. So I'm going to start with the first one. And this one I found kind of interesting came out of the Wall Street Journal. You may know this. You may not know it. The two people who advanced the mRNA protocol that advanced it to the point where it could be used by Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson Johnson in in the COVID 19 vaccines were awarded the Nobel Prize.

00;01;08;08 - 00;01;32;06

Cary Hall

It's a fascinating story, and I thought I'd share it with you. First of all, the first one of these two that were awarded the were the prize was Caitlin Kerrigan, and she is a refugee. She was a refugee from an immigrant from communist Hungary who came to this country. And she worked at the University of Pennsylvania and she was working on this particular project.

00;01;32;07 - 00;01;51;14

Cary Hall

The project was, you know, this is something I think's interesting. You know, you hear a lot about we're behind China and our innovation is not this, our innovation is not that. And you listen to people like Ray Dalio, who you know, is the big hedge fund manager for Bridgewater and who claims that, you know, China is going to overtake the United States.

00;01;51;14 - 00;02;24;29

Cary Hall

It's only a matter of five years from now. Well, that tune's kind of changed now that China's kind of in the tank financially and economically. But nonetheless, you know, we keep hearing all this nonsense. Well, when it comes to medical and biology, medical biomedicine, technology, we're still the leaders, folks. And so here's the story about Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, who was her partner who helped do this breakthrough for their contributions to the EMR in a platform that became the basis for COVID 19.

00;02;25;02 - 00;02;54;23

Cary Hall

So human cells naturally synthesize the messenger RNA from DNA, and RNA delivers the genetic code, instructing the cells to create proteins. That was what made the COVID 19 vaccines work. All right. All right. So many illnesses are caused by proteins and their absence. Scientists had long tinkered with, synthesizing many that could instruct cells to make proteins that could essentially self-heal.

00;02;54;23 - 00;03;17;24

Cary Hall

That's what this was all about. Mrs. Kariko, An immigrant from communist Hungary, worked on designing the mRNA coding for proteins that could prevent. The purpose of this, when she started, was to prevent blood cells, blood clots after heart bypass surgery. That was the reason why she started doing this, was to be able to prevent that, to dilate the blood vessels and to relieve a hemorrhage.

00;03;17;25 - 00;03;40;06

Cary Hall

That's what she was trying to accomplish here. Well, you know, out of that, she happens to meet a mr. Weiss, a Weissman, rather, Drew Weiss at a water cooler in the office, and they start having a conversation. Well, so the University of Pennsylvania thinks what she's doing is total nonsense. This isn't in the article. I just happen to know this because I read the whole story.

00;03;40;08 - 00;04;01;10

Cary Hall

They kick her out and out of the university. She goes to an offsite office someplace in a basement, and she starts working, then with Drew Weissman, and they come together and they put together the mRNA process. You know, this is fascinating because the university shunned them. They didn't see any value in what she was doing. She was determined to do this.

00;04;01;11 - 00;04;28;19

Cary Hall

She said, if I saved one person's life by creating what she thought was this anti-clotting program that was going to save people's lives, then she felt it was worthwhile. What wound up happening was she created the codes that allowed them to create the COVID 19 vaccine that saved an enormous number of people's lives around the world because our vaccines, the Pfizer vaccine the Moderna vaccine, the Johnson Johnson, they worked the ones from China, not so much.

00;04;28;20 - 00;04;51;23

Cary Hall

Okay. But but the ones that we invented here in this country work, and they've become the standard around the world. So I thought it was a fascinating story that they did this. But let's go on. So they win the Nobel Prize. and by the way, the University of Pennsylvania, who licensed this this this protocol to make it available to the pharmaceutical companies, makes a fortune off of this.

00;04;51;28 - 00;05;17;03

Cary Hall

Okay. Because it came through their university's science programs. So they made a fortune off of it, even though they had shunned her and thought it was never going to work. Kind of interesting, isn't it? I guess it's a real testimony to somebody with tenacity that believes in what they believe in. So anyway, now what they're finding is that they can use this mRNA formula of this ,RNA protocol for other kinds of illnesses.

00;05;17;03 - 00;05;35;22

Cary Hall

So we go on. Okay. So they talk about the fact that this could now become an issue where they're going to use this as an antigen that creates the immune response. Now they're going to start using it for cancer and they're going to use this to be able to target a specific cancer and cancer cells and go in and kill the cancer cells.

00;05;35;29 - 00;05;59;21

Cary Hall

So now they're morphing this m RNA into a cancer protocol that's going to be able to save people's lives. It is remarkable and you've heard me say it on this show many, many times, the leaps that we keep taking scientifically, they keep changing the way that medicine, health care is delivered in this country. And for all the complaints and the bitching and moaning about our health care system and everything else, this country.

00;05;59;26 - 00;06;26;02

Cary Hall

This is the kind of thing that proves we're still doing it better than the rest of the world. And this is proof positive for that. Okay, so this is interesting because he goes on to talk about them and what they did and how it works. They said relentless, experimental patient led her to Dr. Weissman and it was an epiphany for him swapping out the the uradyne in which was this this protocol, the protein that allowed them the mRNA component to work.

00;06;26;02 - 00;06;52;19

Cary Hall

Okay. And out of this came a chemically similar compound. And I'm not even going to try to pronounce this. Okay. That naturalized the inflammatory response and modification and enabled mRNA human cells to boost the protein production which then created the immunization that the COVID 19 vaccines did. So, you know, I just think it's amazing that they were able to do this and what they accomplished by doing it.

00;06;52;19 - 00;07;17;19

Cary Hall

And like I said, you know what? I listen to people like Ray Dalio and the rest of them talking about China is going to lead the world, okay. Both scientifically and medically and everything else. Maybe maybe it's time that they step that back a little bit. Okay. Again, these two folks won the Nobel Prize for this and they richly deserved it, especially in the face of all the adversity that they faced when they were trying to do this.

00;07;17;20 - 00;07;43;09

Cary Hall

So I thought it was a great story and the risk taking that they did to bring this to the forefront and create the COVID vaccine now being used, you're going to see this start to appear in many, many different places now that they figured out how to code this so that it can go into the cellular structure of the human body and teach it how to naturally fight and kill things like the melanoma and other types of cancers that we're going to see coming about.

00;07;43;16 - 00;07;59;22

Cary Hall

All that from two people who didn't think they had a chance to make this work. All right. Our second story here as we go through the segment is that, you know, we're starting to be in the winter season. And we I've been talking about this. We have surges in influenza, we have RSV, we have COVID and we have flu.

00;07;59;25 - 00;08;18;03

Cary Hall

Well, here's it's important to know right now that there is an RSV vaccine and I've talked about this before. I've had doctors on and talk about it. I'm reiterating it again. If you've got children younger than two years of age, they need to get this RSV vaccine because if they get RSV, it is it becomes a it's a pulmonary issue.

00;08;18;07 - 00;08;36;01

Cary Hall

I had it. I got it from my grandchildren. It knocked me down for at least six weeks. It was not fun. You can't sleep. You're coughing. You've you know, it's a brutal process to go through. There is a vaccine for it now. And I've gotten the vaccine. And I would urge you, especially if you have children that are under the age of two.

00;08;36;02 - 00;08;55;17

Cary Hall

All of my grandchildren are getting it. Okay. My grandchildren grow up to age 14 and they're all getting it okay because, you know, they go to school and they're infected with this stuff and then they pass it around, okay? And then everybody gets it. So the RSV vaccine is out there. There's also a huge surge now, what's called strep A infections.

00;08;55;19 - 00;09;16;20

Cary Hall

And these strep infections are much worse than the ones that we've seen in the past. So once again, they're telling us CDC and other folks are telling us that this is something that needs to be looked at and you need to make sure your kids are doing everything they can not to get the strep. And if they get it, that needs to be treated right away because this is really a bad one.

00;09;16;20 - 00;09;43;24

Cary Hall

There is a surge in this. We had 9,300 of hospitalizations in the last couple of months. We had 150,000 hospitalizations overall as a result of this RSV and some of the other issues that are floating around out there. So I'm urging you, if you have the opportunity to get the vaccines, also be on the lookout, especially if you're a little children are bringing home all these goodies from school.

00;09;43;27 - 00;09;56;27

Cary Hall

You might want to be taking some precautions with that. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate. Broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to coast across the U.S., we've got more.

00;09;57;00 - 00;10;30;05

Steve Kuker

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00;10;30;08 - 00;10;58;08

Steve Kuker

If you're looking for someone who can provide you experienced and objective guidance when searching for a senior care community, reach out today and discover the services of Senior Care Consulting at 913 945 2800. Know your options and choose with care at seniorcareconsulting.com.

00;10;58;10 - 00;11;18;09

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. If you want to reach out to me, go to America's Healthcare Advocate dot com, send me an email. I am happy to help you regardless of what the problem may be. A young man with cancer. The other day a friend of his reached out to me so we can help him with his health insurance coverage.

00;11;18;09 - 00;11;39;20

Cary Hall

He's been kicked off the plan by his employer, which was kind of interesting. And we're going to help him get coverage through the ACA. So once again, if I can help you. America's Healthcare Advocate dot com that's what I'm here for. All right. So this was an interesting article that I ran across and I thought it was fascinating because I actually had a neighbor of mine who turned out to be a good friend of mine who died recently.

00;11;39;22 - 00;11;59;25

Cary Hall

He was 87 years old and we spent a lot of time with him. We would bring him we lived right across the street from us. And when we moved out to the country, I would go pick him up or have him Uber from his home to our home, and we would host him for Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve. He was a bachelor confirmed bachelor all of his life, had a brother, but he had no other family.

00;12;00;03 - 00;12;19;08

Cary Hall

Okay? And I always was concerned that Mike was going to be lonely or by himself during these time periods. So Lori would make these great dinners. He would come to the house and I would have his martini ready when he got there. So this is kind of a little bit of a tribute to Mike. So this is an article about “Loneliness Tied to Death Risk”, study finds.

00;12;19;11 - 00;12;50;28

Cary Hall

So basically what they're saying here in this article is loneliness and social isolation were linked to increased risk of death, according to a new research study. This includes missing out on seeing loved ones, not having weekly group activities like a book club or getting together with people and just basically feeling lonely. Now, this is this particularly affects people that are, you know, chronically physically challenged, as I like to say, those of us that are senior citizens, especially this time of year.

00;12;51;00 - 00;13;04;25

Cary Hall

Okay. You know, you're not doing barbecues outside and people coming over and, hey, you know, we are having a neighborhood block party or whatever the case may be. You know, you're here in the Midwest. This isn't you know how it works in California, but it's how it works here and it's how it works on the East Coast as well.

00;13;04;25 - 00;13;30;20

Cary Hall

Even in southeast, You know, when when the weather gets like this, people tend to be in their homes a lot. And, you know, if you're if this becomes an issue, especially with people that are widowers, single, living by themselves, whatever the case may be. And again, you know, for older people, this whole loneliness thing becomes pretty serious. And what what this study showed was that there was an increased risk of death.

00;13;30;23 - 00;13;54;19

Cary Hall

You know, it said it's hard to think of health condition that is not impacted by loneliness. This is according to Dr. Clara Peppersclum. She says that the geriatric in palliative care physician and she's at the University of California in San Francisco said those who aren't involved are most likely to have this issue. And there is a 39.

00;13;54;22 - 00;14;17;29

Cary Hall

Listen to this, because this is really quite remarkable. There's a 39% higher risk of death with people that are dealing with this loneliness issue. And here's what winds up happening. So, you know, they've been married for 30, 40 years. I'm married 39 years now. Okay. Thank God. And I have a wonderful wife. Now you lose your partner, okay?

00;14;18;04 - 00;14;43;08

Cary Hall

And you start to pull in. Okay. You know, you're grieving. You're without if you don't have family around you, maybe, you know, in today's world, you may have children that live clear across the country. Okay, maybe you're fortunate enough to have children live close to you. We are. But that's not the case with everybody. Okay. Or maybe you're somebody like Mike who really doesn't have the one other family member and he's his brother, who's only a couple of years younger than he is.

00;14;43;11 - 00;15;07;19

Cary Hall

They do get together. But that's not you know, that that kind of interaction is not good. Okay. I mean, it's not good when you don't have that kind of interaction. So what winds up happening is people regress further and further and further into themselves and they become more, you know, addicted to staying home, watching television. The only time they go out is maybe go to the grocery store, pick up their prescription drugs.

00;15;07;19 - 00;15;34;27

Cary Hall

Okay. And so this thing, this loneliness issue sets in and it's pretty serious. This was in the Journal of American Medicine on neurology, and this was done in October of this year. Other research implicated loneliness, increasing higher blood pressure, stroke, depression. And one study even found that adults living alone might be have increased risk of dying from cancer.

00;15;35;00 - 00;15;56;28

Cary Hall

That all sounds pretty preposterous, Does it? But it's not. Okay. You know, so this is a pretty significant study. Okay. People can have different preferences on how they want to socialize, researchers said. And and a number of social connections that someone is and this isn't being on Facebook, you know, 15 times a day. Okay. This is actually interact with people.

00;15;57;02 - 00;16;21;11

Cary Hall

This is this is going to, you know be a club going out to dinner, getting together with your friends, getting together with your family, whatever the case may be. If you've got relatives in your family or you've even got a neighbor like we had with Mike. Okay. And we recognize that he lived by himself and and he spent a lot of time up on his second floor.

00;16;21;11 - 00;16;38;00

Cary Hall

He had a three second three storey house on second floor where he had his bedroom, had a little kitchenette up there. And oftentimes he would even come downstairs for a couple of days. And, you know, we as we got to know, when we first moved in that neighborhood, he was more active. He came less and less active as he grew older.

00;16;38;03 - 00;16;54;26

Cary Hall

And that's why we drew him out. We'd have him come over to the house for dinner, we'd have barbecues, whatever the case may be, and we moved away. And we live, you know, on the other side of town, out in the country, in Kansas, I would go get him, OK or I would have him picked up in an Uber and brought to the house so that he could spend time with us.

00;16;54;26 - 00;17;13;07

Cary Hall

And he loved those opportunities. So when I read this, I thought, you know, I don't think people really realize that this is your grandmother or your or, you know, or your uncle or your aunt or somebody you're close to. And, you know, this is going on. Reach out. Okay? Try to spend some time with them, even if it's pick up the phone and call them.

00;17;13;07 - 00;17;33;04

Cary Hall

But the point is, you know, if they're if they're if they start to regress like this and they draw themselves more and more away from everybody and more and more away from socializing, this is what happens. Okay? And amazingly enough, it impacts everything, as they said here from blood pressure. I can see depression. You can see clearly how that would cause a state of depression.

00;17;33;09 - 00;18;09;16

Cary Hall

But when you start talking about things like people being alone might even increase their risk of cancer. Okay. I mean, loneliness and the risk of that. That's amazing. Okay. And if they do have an issue like this, then how much more difficult is it for them to recover? So I guess the thing that really set out to be here was this if there is significant loneliness and they are not interacting like with other people and getting out, going to dinner, maybe going to a social club or to a social event, whatever the case may be, there's a 39% higher risk of them dying because they're not interacting.

00;18;09;18 - 00;18;27;08

Cary Hall

So I thought it was interesting and it's something that I want to bring to people's attention, especially, you know, this time of year. As I said, you know, this is a time of year when, especially here in the Midwest and on the East Coast, we tend to withdraw a little bit because we're inside. It's cold outside. You know, there's not a lot going on.

00;18;27;08 - 00;18;43;18

Cary Hall

It's not quite the same as it is in the summer months and in the spring months and even in the fall, it's a little different. So if you have if you have somebody in your circle who that amounts to, maybe it's in your church group, whatever the case may be, take a moment. Okay? Reach out. Okay. You might be surprised.

00;18;43;18 - 00;19;05;13

Cary Hall

You might also be surprised how gratifying it is. I remember those dinners with Mike really well, and we talked about everything from how to butcher a hog. He grew up on a farm. We got to hear all of it. Okay. To what politics was like here in Kansas City in the 1920s when we had a lot of mob violence and other things going on that were pretty interesting.

00;19;05;13 - 00;19;22;23

Cary Hall

So it was kind of a history lesson and we really enjoyed his time. And it was a it was a lot of fun being with him. So this is a tribute to Mike. And hopefully if you know somebody like that in your family or in your neighborhood or in your circle, take the time, reach out. Might be surprised at how much they appreciate that.

00;19;22;26 - 00;19;38;13

Cary Hall

You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network Coast to Coast across the USA. We'll be right back after a break. We're going to talk about Nikki Haley touching the third rail of health care. Oh boy.

00;19;38;16 - 00;19;51;18

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the U.S. If you are looking for Medicare coverage and you're chronologically challenged like I am, give the folks at RPS Benefits by Design a call.

00;19;51;24 - 00;20;17;05

Cary Hall

You can call Carolee Steele 877 385 2224. Or if you're looking for group or employer sponsored health care, give Maria Ahlers a call. She will be happy to help you and show you some things you may not even know are out there. 877 385 2224 Maybe you got one of those 21 or 23% premium increases and you've got a small group.

00;20;17;05 - 00;20;36;24

Cary Hall

We've got five, ten, 15, 20 employees. They can help you. They can show you a better way to do that. Give them a call. 877 385 2224 All right. In this segment, we're going to talk about something interesting. You know, politicians basically refuse to touch entitlements. We're not going to talk about Social Security. We're not going to talk about Medicare.

00;20;36;27 - 00;20;57;25

Cary Hall

We're not going to talk about any of this. We're talking about Obamacare. And they are the largest portion of our federal budget. The entitlement programs eat up more of our budget than any other part, including defense for the military in this country. Well, Nikki Haley kind of broke the mold. She seems to be breaking the mold on a few things.

00;20;57;27 - 00;21;17;15

Cary Hall

And so, Nikki Haley, this is a fascinating article that I read, and I've actually followed her and watch some of the things that she's doing. She seems to have the ability not to be afraid to do things that other people are. I've always called this the third rail of politics because nobody wants to touch the entitlements. And, you know, there's I've talked about it.

00;21;17;18 - 00;21;44;03

Cary Hall

Social Security and Medicare will be insolvent if we don't make some changes. It's a matter of when. Okay. We'll talk about that a little later. But there's a reason why these things need to be talked about. So Nikki Haley is one of the few politicians willing to discuss entitlements these days. Nikki dared to do so in a recent debate on Medicare, and a new study shows her pitch to expand Medicare Advantage program could lower costs and improve care.

00;21;44;05 - 00;22;17;25

Cary Hall

Medicare Advantage programs, not Medicare. And this is what she contrasts. She contrasts. And she uses a study here contrasting Medicare Advantage, the efficiency of Medicare Advantage administered by private health insurance companies. Okay. With Medicare administered by the federal government, remember, not more than a couple of weeks ago, I had Claire Bensen on the show and we talked about government sponsored health care and the hell that she went through with her Obamacare policy when they inadvertently canceled it and she went through months with no coverage trying to fight with these people.

00;22;17;28 - 00;22;39;05

Cary Hall

Let me go on. Okay. Medicare Advantage plans are growing rapidly and cover about half the entitlements of beneficiaries and private insurance companies administer these plans on behalf of Medicare. Well, they do it more efficiently. Okay. And now that they're offering the zero premium plans, you've got over 50% of the people in this country are covered by Medicare Advantage plans.

00;22;39;05 - 00;22;59;22

Cary Hall

And why not? I mean, you see the ads ad nauseum on television, zero premiums and all the rest of it. Okay. But the plans work and the satisfaction rate with them is somewhere around 90% because people really like them once they get on. The first of all, they're not paying a premium. Secondly, there are all kinds of benefits that come from these that are not on Medicare.

00;22;59;25 - 00;23;18;09

Cary Hall

You don't get a dental benefit, you don't get a hearing aid benefit, you don't get you know, meals service in your home. If you're if you're recovering from an illness, you don't get trips to the doctor with with an Uber or a medical service that transports people back and forth. These are all additional things that come with these Medicare Advantage plans.

00;23;18;16 - 00;23;47;05

Cary Hall

That's the way they were designed. So there's competition between the carriers. Nikki Haley goes on. Lower premiums have made Medicare Advantage plans popular, particularly among low income seniors. Plans are able to offer more benefits. I just described that at a lower cost by reducing unnecessary care and expensive hospital stays, reducing unnecessary care and expensive hospital stays. That doesn't mean denying people coverage, okay?

00;23;47;11 - 00;24;07;25

Cary Hall

It means that by being proactive, okay, if you're a type one diabetic or a type two diabetic, the Medicare Advantage plan has as a nurse or a care guide who's going to be reaching out to you, going, did you get your A1C done? Did you get your insulin levels checked? Do you need an insulin pump? Do you need an insulin pen?

00;24;07;28 - 00;24;31;16

Cary Hall

Maybe you need one of those Medtronic insulin pumps or maybe you need that Medtronic insulin pen. We're going to take care of that for you. What are they doing when they do that? They're employing preventative medicine to keep you from having a stroke or a heart attack. Okay. Because you're higher risk because of this particular issue that you have with diabetes or maybe to keep you from losing your toes on your feet.

00;24;31;19 - 00;25;00;08

Cary Hall

Okay. Because you're a Type one diabetic and you're not getting proper medication. So that's the reason that these Medicare Advantage plans are lowering hospital stays and expensive medical treatments, not because they're denying anybody anything, but because they're managing the care better. Article goes on to say, Alvaro, a health concern consulting firm, analyzes utilization rates in traditional Medicare versus Medicare Advantage after adjusting for disease demographics.

00;25;00;10 - 00;25;27;29

Cary Hall

Alvaro found that fee for service utilization was 12% higher, 12% higher on the Medicare side than it was on the Medicare Advantage side. Hospital in patient care was 37% higher on original Medicare. Now, you know, this hearkens back to a day when I had a debate with the then senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill, who was pitching Obamacare. And doesn't everybody love Medicare?

00;25;28;03 - 00;25;48;25

Cary Hall

Is it Medicare? Wonderful. And I came back and said Medicare is good, but Medicare Advantage is better. Now, unfortunately, the good people in the Democrat Party and on the progressive left don't believe that because they hate the insurance carriers. But the insurance carriers are doing a better job. They're doing a better job of administering. We can go on and talk about a little bit more about this.

00;25;48;27 - 00;26;15;03

Cary Hall

Here's the other part that's fascinating. Okay. Fraud and abuse. Fraud and abuse on Medicare runs about 8% of the total budget, which, by the way, just happens to about $50 billion a year. That is pissed away. I don't know how else to say this. Okay. By the good people at Medicare because of their inefficiency and inability to administer, would you like to know what it is on the Medicare Advantage plans?

00;26;15;06 - 00;26;37;03

Cary Hall

It's about 1%. About 1%, because they do a much better job of monitoring it. Okay. Which means what? It means those dollars are there for them to do other things with that money. Okay. That improve. Why do you think that these Medicare Advantage plans continue to add benefits? Meal service. That wasn't around four years ago, three years ago.

00;26;37;06 - 00;27;06;18

Cary Hall

Hearing aid benefits, expanded dental benefit. You've got a dental benefit right now on a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan here in Kansas City. That is $2500 that you can have for dental benefits by being on their Medicare Advantage plans. I mean, it is really quite remarkable when you think about it. Well, the money that they get by saving and it efficiency of what they produce allows them to offer these benefits and do a much better job.

00;27;06;19 - 00;27;35;05

Cary Hall

Now, here's what's interesting about this. Okay. Well, this is going on. Okay. And the Medicare Advantage plans are growing, growing, growing, growing every year. Satisfaction rates are up around 90% with people that have them. What is the Biden administration doing? They're doing everything they can to push down the Medicare Advantage plans. I'll give an example. So they decided they were going to cut reimbursements to the carriers by 3% this year.

00;27;35;07 - 00;28;03;02

Cary Hall

They didn't do that because the outcry from all kinds of constituents and people in Congress that they were going to cut 3%. They revamped it and decided they would do 1% a year. They're still going to cut 3%. Okay. They're not cutting 3% off the Medicare side. They're cutting 3% off Medicare Advantage plans. And they're making it harder and harder and harder for the brokers agents that people involved in selling these to message what they're trying to do.

00;28;03;05 - 00;28;23;07

Cary Hall

And I can tell you from working in this field for 20 some years, and I don't do it anymore, but, you know, the hoops that you have to jump through to be able to sell these products and be out there in the marketplace with them, 21 hours of training every year and another X number of hours by each carrier to be certified with their products.

00;28;23;12 - 00;28;41;10

Cary Hall

I mean, it's really quite remarkable. Contrast that, by the way, with that show a couple of weeks ago about with Claire Benson and the amount of training that that that navigator had when she cancelled her policy 10 minutes into the call. You get a drift to where I'm going with this. Okay. So the point is that what what?

00;28;41;15 - 00;29;06;27

Cary Hall

What Nikki Haley is saying is, let's expand these programs. Let's give more people this is actually a program that works. So, by the way, just in case you're wondering, that program was put in place and signed into law by William Jefferson Clinton in 1997. Okay. So, you know, this program was put in place by a Democrat. Okay. In 1997, yet it's the Democrats on the progressive side that are trying to kill it.

00;29;06;29 - 00;29;25;28

Cary Hall

Okay. And make it more difficult. Well, that's not going to work, obviously, because people love the plans and they're going to keep using these plans and they're going to keep growing, but they keep throwing impediments in front of them. Maybe instead of investigating insurance companies and trying to where they claim there's fraud and waste, they should take that money and start investigating Medicare.

00;29;26;01 - 00;29;47;05

Cary Hall

Maybe that's what they should do. Maybe they should give that some serious thought, because it appears to me that might make a big difference. Here's an interesting contrast, by the way. The way they're running Medicare right now, the fund will run dry by 2031. Medicare Advantage. On the other hand, if they were running the fund and the fund were being run, according to Medicare Advantage, protocols would stay solvent until 2048.

00;29;47;07 - 00;30;09;26

Cary Hall

So ask yourself a question that didn't come, by the way, from some right wing group or some Republican group that came from the folks that conducted this study. So under the current process, Medicare will run dry the fund by 2031. The Medicare Advantage plan. On the other hand, if that protocol were in place, 2048, it appears they might be doing a little better job on Medicare Advantage.

00;30;10;03 - 00;30;18;28

Cary Hall

They are on Medicare. Stay tuned. We'll be right back after the break with more. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate.

00;30;19;00 - 00;30;44;25

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocates Show, broadcasting coast to coast across USA here on the HIA Radio Network. By the way, if you want to tell somebody about these shows, they say that this is going to be interesting. Episode 14 podcast platforms. And we are on just about everyone now there. I think you can name unless Dave finds another one and YouTube and we got about 63,000 downloads on the podcast side.

00;30;44;27 - 00;31;09;26

Cary Hall

So far this year and we've got about 250 some thousand views on YouTube and another, I don't know, 87,000 downloads or something. So the show is certainly popular on the podcasts and YouTube and 221 affiliates across the country, which we are very happy to be on and look forward to adding more affiliates to that. So second, the last segment today, I'm going to talk about you know, I talk about this often, okay.

00;31;09;28 - 00;31;31;25

Cary Hall

Exercise, especially for those of us, as I say, that are chronologically challenged. Now, that doesn't mean if you're 40, you can sit on your rear end and not do anything. I've got two business partners that are younger, considerably younger than I am, one of whom happens to be exercising regularly, the other one doesn't. And his wife and I are constantly on his rear end to do it because it impacts everything.

00;31;31;25 - 00;31;56;11

Cary Hall

But this is a story that says regular exercise helps mitigate the effects of COVID 19. Now, that's not really hard when you think of it to understand. Helps mitigate the effects of COVID 19, this study suggests people who exercise regularly have lower rates of hospitalization and death from COVID 19. Published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. This is a study that just came out okay.

00;31;56;14 - 00;32;27;19

Cary Hall

It has shown an association between exercise and better COVID 19 outcomes. It seems kind of elementary, doesn't it? I mean, you know, if you do work out and you and you're not a couch potato, you know, sitting there eating a bag of those potato chips and drinking a beer of that, you might find working out, you know, doing exercise once a day, you know, could make a big difference in terms of how quickly you're going to recover from a COVID or an RSV or the flu or any of these other things that are out there floating around.

00;32;27;21 - 00;32;58;05

Cary Hall

Okay. So it goes on to say higher amounts of physical activity were associated with lower rates of death and hospitalization, COVID across nearly all demographics. So it doesn't matter. Okay. We talk about age. It doesn't matter what the age is across all demographics. A very active 70 year old. Yes, I'm 74. A very active 70 year old, had a higher risk of COVID related complications than did a similarly active 40 year old.

00;32;58;05 - 00;33;20;27

Cary Hall

But the exercise in both groups had hospitalization rates that were significantly lower than people who did not work out. Okay. Now, this is a study done on 200,000 adults. So it just wasn't some random thing. They did this on 200,000 adults. He goes on to say, you don't have to sweat and you don't have to go run every day.

00;33;20;28 - 00;33;40;05

Cary Hall

Okay. But what it says is you get up and you get out and you walk at the very least, okay, you get up. And so I have this thing on my phone called the tracker. Okay? And every morning when I get up, I take Twigs, my Pembroke Welsh Corgi out and we walk. We do a half a mile every morning, okay?

00;33;40;10 - 00;33;56;26

Cary Hall

And I work out three times a week. I do a mile and a half on the treadmill. I do. I've got a pilates reformer that I work out on, and then I do some free weight work and I do this three times a week. Sometimes I try to do it more, but at least three times a week. I'm 74 years old, okay?

00;33;56;28 - 00;34;17;16

Cary Hall

And I move around and work at a pretty significant pace. The exercise I've talked about this for, I've had Dana Goodell, my pilates instructor on this show, I don't know how many times talking about this. That exercise is critically important. If you don't do this. Okay, And then you get an illness, your recovery times are going to be significantly more.

00;34;17;24 - 00;34;37;24

Cary Hall

Okay. And you're going to have a harder time getting over these things, whether it's COVID or whether it's like RSV or bronchitis or flu or any of it. If on the other hand, you exercise as you have a tendency to throw this stuff off a lot better. And here, you know, as the article says, you do not have to get out and go running every day.

00;34;37;27 - 00;34;58;22

Cary Hall

Okay. You know, nobody's telling need to go do a marathon or a 5k, But they are telling you that getting out and walking, just doing something as simple as going for a walk sometimes is difficult to do, you know? You know, we all laugh at the mall walkers, right? Well, maybe they got it figured out. Okay, you're here in the Midwest and it's 27 degrees outside.

00;34;58;28 - 00;35;26;13

Cary Hall

You may not feel like going out for a walk. Okay. On the other hand, you know, and these people you see in the mall that everybody and those are always seasoned citizens, you know, they're always those of us that have the white hair right there in the mall. Maybe they figured something out everybody else had to really think about, because it appears that that that amount of exercise that they do on a biweekly three times a week, whatever it is basis, probably has a lot to do with why they're feeling a lot better than a lot of the rest of the folks are.

00;35;26;20 - 00;35;45;09

Cary Hall

And also how quickly you're going to recover from an illness if you happen to get one. And as you know, this this time of year, we're in the winter, you know, the season goes on for quite a while. And this is the time of year when the RSV this again this year, you know, there was no vaccine last year.

00;35;45;09 - 00;36;02;16

Cary Hall

There is this year. But RSV is a nasty you do not want to get this. You know, it gets in your lungs. It's a pulmonary issue and it's very difficult to get rid of. You know, again, you know, use your head. You know, I still sanitize my hands every time I go in and out of a public building.

00;36;02;23 - 00;36;21;06

Cary Hall

And I still use Triolgy. Remember all the shows they did on Trilogy, I still have that little bottle in the car and I sprayed it in my mouth every time I'm out in public because that's how this stuff enters your body. So try to be cognizant, try to be aware of these things and get off your butt and get out and walk.

00;36;21;13 - 00;36;46;22

Cary Hall

At the very least, get out and walk. Maybe, you know, think about getting into one of those pilates classes. I even actually got my partner, the one I was talking about who doesn't do a lot of exercise, he's actually going to a yoga class once a week with his wife, which I couldn't believe it. So yeah, it does it does impact your well-being and it does impact, you know, if you're married, it impacts your spouse and it impacts your family.

00;36;46;22 - 00;37;15;14

Cary Hall

So, okay, as I close it out, we have 62,172 plays on the podcast so far this year. it is quite amazing. And the podcast channels are Amazon Music, Odyssey, Overcast, Pandora, RSS Podcast Feed, Stitcher, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Rumble. That was that was a brand new one. Dave added. Speaker SoundCloud and tune in also on YouTube.

00;37;15;17 - 00;37;30;26

Cary Hall

And by the way, all the shows are videotaped down, they're posted up. There are some of the podcast channels are letting us post videos, so they're all up there on the podcast channels and on the YouTube channels. They are becoming quite popular with our topics. Feel free to go for. Look, if you want to tell us about the show, do that.

00;37;31;03 - 00;37;49;11

Cary Hall

And now I'm going to close out with this thought from Thomas Sowell. And it reads this way People in the left believe they would do what God would do if only he was as well-informed as they are. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast across USA. Goodbye, America.