TONIGHT BREADLINES IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY AND THEY ARE GROWING COUNTRY’S RICHEST COUNTY.
THE STATE OF THE NEW YORK OFFICE FOR PERSONS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES WAITING LIST AND GOVERNOR HOCHUL’S 5 YEAR PLAN. FOR GRAPPLING WITH THE NEED TO HOUSE DISABLED ADULTS WHOSE PARENTS CAN NO LONGER HANDLE THEM THE ASTRONOMICAL COST OF HOUSING THE DISABLED
WESTCHESTER’S WISH LIST FOR ALBANY
JOHN BAILEY AND THE NEWS
EVERY WEEK ON WHITE PLAINS WEEK
SINCE 20O1 A,D,
WPCNR FBI WIRE. From The Federal Bureau of Investigation. FEBRUARY 23, 2023:
A federal grand jury in New Jersey returned a superseding indictment Wednesday, charging a medical doctor with allegedly engaging in a health care fraud and illegal kickback scheme that involved the submission of over $20.7 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for laboratory tests, including cancer genetic tests.
According to court documents, Alexander Baldonado, 68, of Queens, New York, allegedly received cash kickbacks from a laboratory representative and others in exchange for approving orders for laboratory tests billed to Medicare. As part of the scheme,
Baldonado also allegedly participated in COVID-19 testing events at which he authorized COVID-19 tests as well as expensive and medically unnecessary cancer genetic tests that patients did not request, that were not used in the patient’s treatment, and for which the patients rarely received the results. Baldonado also allegedly billed Medicare for lengthy office visits that he never provided to these patients.
In addition, Baldonado allegedly engaged in a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid by soliciting and receiving cash kickbacks and bribes from an owner of a durable medical equipment supply company in exchange for ordering orthotic braces that were medically unnecessary and ineligible for reimbursement.
Baldonado is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, six counts of health care fraud, two counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive health care kickbacks, and one count of soliciting health care kickbacks.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, and soliciting health care kickbacks, and a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive health care kickbacks. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent in Charge Naomi Gruchacz of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), and Assistant Director in Charge James Smith of the FBI New York Field Office made the announcement.
HHS-OIG and FBI are investigating the case.
Assistant Chief Rebecca Yuan and Trial Attorney Hyungjoo Han of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program.
Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,400 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $27 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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BY DR.
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Slowly but surely we’re moving through the 2023-2024 respiratory season. I’m also adding a measles section to the State of Affairs because… well… here we are in the 21st century.
Let’s dig in.
The rate at which people are going to the doctor with a fever, cough, or sore throat is stubborn—stalling at a very inconvenient rate. But a two- or three-hump season is very normal (i.e., in pre-pandemic times). This could stretch out to April or May.
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Outpatient Respiratory Illness Visits (Source: CDC; Annotated by YLE)
Increased activity is driven by our kiddos. Outpatient visits among 0-24 year olds continue to increase, while visits among other age groups are receding.
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Percent of Outpatient Visits for Respiratory Illness by Age Group (Source: CDC; Annotated by YLE)
Covid-19 wastewater levels are high nationally. And, in fact, higher than they were this time last year. Although national rates are declining, the South has a very weird pattern. We don’t know why.
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Wastewater Viral Activity Levels (Source: CDC; Annotated by YLE)
Covid-19 hospitalization admissions are stalling after a nice decline. We remain at fewer hospitalizations than last year.
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(Source: CDC; Annotated by YLE)
CDC and WHO are paying attention to another highly mutated variant in South Africa. However, there have only been 9 cases, with no impact on wastewater or hospitalization trends. This seems like a dud, which is great news. No other huge variants are on the horizon; JN continues to be king.
The rate of hospitalizations due to flu remained stable compared to last week. Flu can stretch out, sometimes to even May, so this is unsurprising. It’s not too late to get your flu shot!
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Weekly rate of laboratory-confirmed influenza hospitalizations among cases of all ages, 2014-15 to 2023-24, MMWR Week 6(Source: CDC; Annotated by YLE)
RSV continues to go down nationally. It’s clear we’ve hit our season’s peak.
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Percent positive RSV tests in the United States, by week (Source: CDC)
More good news with RSV: many babies (40%) got monoclonal antibodies this winter. This could certainly be improved, but given the rough access issues, it is a decent start.
This may be a bad year for measles (see why in my previous post), so many epidemiologists are carefully watching the data.
So far, in 2024, we’ve had 20 cases across 11 states. This is about twice as many cases as this time last year.
Data is delayed, so this doesn’t include a few recent cases making the news:
This respiratory season continues to march on with few surprises. Unfortunately, it’s happening amidst a backdrop of misinformation, which will increasingly cause a mess, like measles and e-coli outbreaks.
Vaccines. Masks. Ventilation. Tests. Treatment. Isolation. We can do things to keep ourselves healthy. For high-risk folks, this may also mean changing Spring Break plans to avoid a measles outbreak or two.
Love, YLE
“Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE)” is written by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, M.P.H. Ph.D.—an epidemiologist, wife. During the day, she is a senior scientific consultant to several organizations, including CDC. At night, she writes this newsletter. Her main goal is to “translate” the ever-evolving public health world so that people will be well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. This newsletter is free, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support this effort, subscribe below:
WPCNR OBSERVATIONS & COMMENT. By John F. Bailey. February 22, 2024:
I could not figure out what persons were lined up for at this location Wednesday morning.
Over 100 persons were lined up on the sidewalk on this boulevard waiting for something.
When I left my appointment, I saw this scene was still there.
A truck from Feeding Westchester was unloading pallets of foodstuffs, one after the other, and persons were coming in to pick up bags of needed food.
With horror I realized this was a breadline.
At this time, 9:45 in the morning, I counted 75 people: men, women, children in that line.
The temperature was 35 hard edge cold degrees.
UP CLOSE AND VERY PERSONAL HOW OFTEN DO THE POOR AND HUNGRY HAVE TO DO THIS? THEY ARE THE REFUGEES OF WESTCHESTER, CITIZENS NOT IMMIGRANTS BUT RESIDENTS OF THE COUNTY FOR THE MOST PART.
You didn’t want to be out there for a short walk let alone 2 hours.
The only thing missing was trashcans with fires lit to warm hands.
If you are comfortable and have food and a home, you are not afflicted by the cold. If you have a job you probably are not afflicted by the cold
This breadline, and I imagine there are others like them at Feeding Westchester pickups all over the county are a disgrace.
They are a Westchester tragedy.
The county and county businesses have to look hard and do better.
I have never seen this before in my adult living in this county.
The non-profits of Westchester, most notably, Feeding Westchester are doing their best, but this scene should not be.
Those 100 people or who knows how many could get frostbite in this weather.
Hunger, breadlines in the open, lack of childcare, it is all being compounded in exponential misery in persons who are laid off, sick, and hungry all the time, and no matter they are not eating right, and they are tired all the time. Discipline slowly disappears daily, as hunger does not go away and despair intensifies, just deteriorating their lives.
If this is prevalent all over the county, the county must pay more attention to it. These people can’t pay for the high cost of food.
This was commented on just yesterday in an article in The New York Times business section about how food companies like Walmart, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Shake Shack are seeing less business in their snack products and burger businesses. The article says that overall inflation peaked at 9.1% and now is 3.1% the first of January.
The companies the article asked about pricing only included one grocery, Walmart. The others were softdrink and snack companies. Does this mean the poor subsist on soft drinks, sugar shakes and burgers? Those companies the article said are planning to raise prices this year 2.5% for Shake Shack, and Walmart a $100 Billion dollar company increased sales 4.3%.
This tells me that the people on the county breadlines cannot afford supermarket prices.
Does this mean that Coke, Pepsi and the restaurant chains make up the diet of the poor?
What is missing from this report on food inflation, which in itself is quite revealing about the insatiable and downright cruel greed of big food, (raising food prices to make up their costs even though it is hurting people to do so), is surveys of supermarket chains, supply chains.
The other obvious but very often overlooked inflation analyses by inflation commentators is the compounding effect of price increases. Admittedly, I am no economist, but every price increase is cumulative. Economists in rose-colored glasses and financial commentators, report gleefully inflation is down to 3% a year.
Please, the consumer is no fool.
We know the food is costing more and is not going down.
Nine percent inflation last year, now down to 3% a month. That means the cumulative inflation is 12% in 13 months. Three percent increases a month just keep making things worse at the supermarket. Thee percent increases a month is 36% compounded in a year. All you need to know about economy measure is who is making money and who is not
This “Huzzah” that the food companies are not going to raise prices as much by the business press as being a wonderful thing food companies are doing is simply business cheerleading.
The people on that breadline are not making money enough to go to the supermarket. Instead the softdrinks, the snacks,the shakes, the Big Macs are making the poor unhealthy.
Meantime, the root cause of hunger is not having jobs. Not having hiring months. Refusing to hire minorities, or letting immigrants take jobs while awaiting asylum judgments.
I also think that food distributions have to make distribution points inside.
Westchester winter has been a cruel cold in the 20s and mid-30s during the day. In summer the poor, the hungry, the sweating masses will be faced with sweltering, dehydrating heat.
Distribution points should be located at places to shelter the 100 or so coming for the Feeding Westchester distributions: The County Center, Urgent Care centers (which can check the waiters for symptoms and overall health), Gymnasiums in schools, warehouses.
Breadlines.
They remind me of just how close you and I can be to being just like those poor souls, if we have an accident, get fired, or companies keep making money at our expense and make it impossible to eat.
There are several women who come to my neighborhood on recycling days to collect discarded deposit return cans, that is how poor they are.
Breadlines..
In 2024.
This is America in the 1930s, not the 2020s.
The press should be asking those who would be leaders, how can we deal with poverty, hunger, killer drugs, medicare looting hospitals, usurus banks, and robber barons
