https://popular.info/ - at - https://popular.info/p/days-after-5-million-donation-to
On
February 24, 2025, Extremity Care LLC, a company that sells very
expensive bandages made from discarded placentas and other substances,
donated $5 million to MAGA Inc., President Trump's Super PAC. Six days
later, on Truth Social, Trump blasted a pending Biden administration rule
that would have barred Medicare from covering Extremity Care’s products
— which can cost thousands of dollars per square inch and lack
scientifically proven benefits. "'Crooked Joe' rammed through a policy
that would create more suffering and death for diabetic patients on
Medicare," Trump posted. "The hardest hit: veterans and minorities."
The
Biden rule was initially scheduled to go into effect in February 2025,
but was previously delayed by the Trump administration until April 13 as
part of a blanket regulatory freeze. On April 11, 40 days after Trump's
post, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced
the rule would be delayed until at least January 1, 2026, allowing
Extremity Care to continue to charge Medicare for its products.
The
February 24 donation was not made public until July 31, when MAGA Inc.
filed its 96-page mid-year report. The Extremity Care donation appears
on page 18:
The
Biden rule was designed to crack down on a significant source of waste
and abuse in Medicare. "Skin substitute" products went from a negligible
source of Medicare spending in 2014 to $256 million in 2019, and then surged to more than $10 billion in 2024. One of Extremity Care's products, Coll-e-Derm, costs $11,051.10 per square inch. Another Extremity Care product, CompleteFT, costs $7,812.38 per square inch. The products are generally used on "diabetic foot and venous leg ulcers."
Trump's March Truth Social post claimed that Biden's rule would result in 431,429 lost limbs annually and 187,286 additional deaths. There is no evidence to support these claims.
The Biden rule would preserve Medicare patients' access to skin
substitutes, which are generally not covered by private insurance. Under
the Biden rule, however, coverage would be limited to products "that
are supported by evidence" that they are effective.
[...] Medicare now spends more on skin substitutes than "ambulance rides, anesthesia or CT scans."
Many of the products with scientific backing are much less expensive
than those offered by Extremity Care. Oasis wound matrix, a product
that has proved effective in scientific research, charges Medicare
$75.51 per square inch. Another scientifically-proven product, Apligraf,
charges $195.58 per square inch.
[...] Between April (when the Biden rule was supposed to go into effect) and July, Medicare has spent another $2.3 billion on skin substitutes,
according to a study by Early Read conducted for the New York Times.
Although the precise breakdown is not available, the bulk of that
spending is almost certainly on products lacking scientific support. 92%
of the products currently covered by Medicare would be excluded if the
Biden rule were ever permitted to go into effect.
So, waste, fraud and abuse be damned; they put $5 million into the pay-to-play kettle, and gee, look what happened days later.
Trump's acting style offends, he's a liar, and if the word "liar" needed inventing because of him, it would have been added to English and other languages. He makes up things, which is lying if it's known to be untrue, or was grossly negligent to have been said if not knowing either way. That's lying in my opinion.
And, I am not saying the sequence reported IS bribery. What I am saying is a jury should be allowed in a criminal proceeding to decide whether it is or not bribery beyond any reasonable doubt. I see no reasonable doubt, but let it get to a jury and see how it shakes out.
A pattern emerges. The pattern is greatly offensive. The man should never have reached the White House, but I did all I could with my one vote, and a few contributions to others.
Check that quoted site out, link given at the start. There's more actual news there. People should know.
UPDATE: I rely upon Social Security to cover Medicare Part A and Part B buy-in fees, and my co-pays come out of Social Security. With me it is personal, not merely theoretical. I am not an outside observer, I am where the national policies set by this current grifter and meanness pack hurt. It's real. Do not doubt if you are in a better financial situation, and do note there arise American citizens far worse off than I am.
I am not forced to live in a fucking tent with municipal harassment a regular Cold Water thing. Some are forced to that in our nation where Musk and Ellison joggle for attention as having the most billion dollars of net worth.
FURTHER: Those less fortunate than I am, think of the Gazans, what more could happen against them there? Well, floods and Ellison. That Ellison, not Kieth, the MN AG. That Ellison, buying up media where stories of Gazan suffering can be told or stymied. Days after the Thanksgiving holiday, I remain thankful when great suffering of others is apparent. I am lucky. I've seen 81years, and intend to see more.
