WTF-Beta

@Bernard said in Ugh. Accident.:

Not feeling too badly today.

Glad to hear this!

@dolmansaxlil what insurance company do you use?

@kluurs and @AdagioM Happy Birthday to you both!

@Axtremus said in How much will it cost for the Department of War rebrand?:

WaPo' Editorial Board defends the War Department name change:

The WaPo had really gotten bad these days. I don't disagree that introspection is needed, but not with the expense this is going to incur. There's no justification for that. None.

@Mik said in How much will it cost for the Department of War rebrand?:

Honestly, don't we have something better to do?

Exactly.

@Mik said in Medicare to Require Prior Authorization Using AI:

It's an excellent application of AI as long as there is a human-centric appeals process.

Is it safe to assume that by "human-centric," you that an appeal would quickly trigger the involvement of humans?

It will make routine approvals instantaneous. My concern would be for the not-so-routine cases which are certain to occur, and I'm not crazy about hiring private companies to do it.

I think this is the real problem, that private insurance companies have for the most part not acted in good faith and far too often just been an necessary road block between a patient and needed/justified medical care.

@Axtremus said in Medicare to Require Prior Authorization Using AI:

The federal government plans to hire private companies to use artificial intelligence to determine whether patients would be covered for some procedures, like certain spine surgeries or steroid injections.

First of all, this is infuriating, and then there’s this:

The A.I. companies selected to oversee the program would have a strong financial incentive to deny claims. Medicare plans to pay them a share of the savings generated from rejections.

Add this to the growing list of evidence of the enshittification of America.

Oh god, I was so distracted by how offensive the name is, I didn't even think about the expense!

Slicker

@wtg thanks for that info, @wtg.

In my situation, I'm not sure what to do/what I want to do. I have at least one "comorbidity," but it's hard to assess... I also (maybe posted about this above or in a different thread) am in the middle of reestablishing care with a PCP, and my first appointment isn't until the first week of Nov, so that limits my ability to consult. And then there's I'm exposed to a lot of people (students) and all their germiness.....

Anyway, apparently, at the moment, I should be able to walk into a CVS and get the shot of my own accord. But I'd like to know what's most medically recommended for my specific situation, and that's where I feel like info and access is lacking.

Oh @Bernard ! I'm so, so sorry!! But very relieved you weren't hurt!

But ugh the hassle and inconvenience! Best of luck getting everything figured out!

@Mik you'll have to do your own googling for that!

@Bernard said in A Manhattan Project for more babies:

So they don't think the government should be telling people what to do with their bodies. That's a new one. From their history of poking their noses in people's bedrooms to telling women what they can and can't do, to wanting to ban contraception, this seems quite a departure.

Yep.

@Steve-Miller said in A Manhattan Project for more babies:

How about you help feed the kids we already have? How about making sure they have proper healthcare? How about making childcare more affordable?.How about paying teachers more?

Exactly!!

I swear it’s always about sex with these guys.

Allergy

(@Amanda Anne Frank)

Crank

@Amanda said in Will you be able to get a COVID vaccine?:

Your obligatory PCP change sounds like a humongous nuisance.

It is, and it's classic "US medical care" stuff, a representative example of the shittiness of health care here.

@Steve-Miller oof, I'm sorry to hear about all the issues, esp the roof leak! And I agree, that slant looks terrible the way it is!

@Steve-Miller said in It has to go:

so I’ve hired a company to remove it.

IOW, so you mean that at this point, you don't have plans to replace it with a different deck, right?

I would guess that having a deck would be an additional selling point but as to whether you'd recoup it in a sale, that's a tricky questions.

@Bernard said in The stupidity of AI:

1. AI doesn't know when it's wrong.

This is one of the key points I always try to hammer on when talking about AI to my students.

AI cannot evaluate the veracity of its own output. And when humans use AI, we are most often doing so when (because) we do not know something, so we are also unable to evaluate the veracity of AI output.

This is a very bad combination.

Earl

@Axtremus said in All Magic Has A Price -- at Disney's:

Based on what we earn, we see different ads, stand in different lines, eat different food, stay in different hotels, watch the parade from different sections, and on and on. What’s profitable today is not unification. It’s segmentation.

Yes, and it’s hard not to think that this is part of what’s contributing to all the other social and political division we’re experiencing