monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

David Cay Johnston
@DavidCayJ
1h
Brooklyn teacher, returning from Italy and feeling ill, seeks coronavirus test at NYU Langone hospital. Erin McCarthy was denied a test and then billed more than $10,000.

Billing for hospital services is different for each patient, for each provider and each insurer, depending on what the patient is being seen for and what services were provided by the hospital. In addition, there are different parts to a patient bill. One part is what the hospital charges the insurance company, one part is what the insurance company eventually pays, and the last part is what the patient owes for the services, or the patient co-pay.
The bill in question charged the insurer a fee, the insurer paid a negotiated percentage of that fee — and the patient owed only a co-pay of $75.00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials.

The officials said that dozens of classified discussions about such topics as the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions have been held since mid-January in a high-security meeting room at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), a key player in the fight against the coronavirus.

Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded from the interagency meetings, which included video conference calls, the sources said.

“We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go,” one official said. “These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary.”

The sources said the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president on security issues, ordered the classification.”This came directly from the White House,” one official said.

The White House insistence on secrecy at the nation’s premier public health organization, which has not been previously disclosed, has put a lid on certain information - and potentially delayed the response to the crisis. COVID19, the disease caused by the virus, has killed about 30 people in the United States and infected more than 1,000 people.

HHS oversees a broad range of health agencies, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which among other things is responsible for tracking cases and providing guidance nationally on the outbreaks.

The administration officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said they could not describe the interactions in the meeting room because they were classified.

An NSC spokesman did not respond to questions about the meetings at HHS. But he defended the administration’s transparency across federal agencies and noted that meetings of the administration’s task force on the coronavirus all are unclassified. It was not immediately clear which meetings he was referring to.

“From day one of the response to the coronavirus, NSC has insisted on the principle of radical transparency,” said the spokesman, John Ullyot. He added that the administration “has cut red tape and set the global standard in protecting the American people under President Trump’s leadership.”
[...]
One of the administration officials told Reuters that when complex issues about a quarantine came up, a high-ranking HHS lawyer with expertise on the issue was not admitted because he did not have the proper security clearance. His input was delayed and offered at an unclassified meeting, the official said.

A fifth source familiar with the meetings said HHS staffers often weren’t informed about coronavirus developments because they didn’t have adequate clearance. He said he was told that the matters were classified “because it had to do with China.”

How leaders who aren't sociopaths behave.

BREAKING: WHO declares the new coronavirus a global pandemic

White House told federal health agency to classify coronavirus deliberations

Last year, Sessions told Fox News that Trump is “not going to attack me in the race,” referring to his Alabama Senate run, and that he was “certainly going to hope [that an endorsement from Trump] will happen.”

about this sociopath

What Happens If A Presidential Nominee Is Incapacitated?

Two scenarios arise from Biden legal incapacity that Democrats can parlay into advantage. Picking a talented and popular vice president is essential. If Biden wins the presidency and is seated, but then found incapacitated, per the 25th Amendment, his VP would become president. This allows the Party many attractive options, if they “accidentally” ran a mentally incompetent nominee. For example, Michelle Obama is touted an unbeatable candidate, one inevitably reelected, given her cache’.

A second scenario: If Biden won the nomination, but was ruled incapacitated before the election, he must be replaced. This option is trickier, as Bernie’s strong supporters would demand him. Since we know Democrats already oppose Bernie, then would legendary Democratic “dirty tricks” finesse another candidate into position? But, if Bernie were supplanted, this would start a Democrat civil war!

And if a presidential nominee died, or was incapacitated before the general election? According to the website USConstitution.net, “If a presidential candidate dies after the party convention and before the election, particularly before ballots are printed, the party can select a new person to represent the party on the ticket.The choice will depend on the party’s own rules.”

The obvious question is—How in the name of Zeus can a weakened Biden possibly defend himself against Trump’s unrivaled verbal ferocity? So arguably, the urgent goal is to find a Democrat who can nimbly joust with Trump in debate. Sadly, Uncle Joe currently seems so mentally diminished he’d be a boxer’s speed bag for Donald to toy with. But is this scenario the only Dem hope to save this election?