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Gates Foundation program will issue home testing kits for Covid 19 in Seattle

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Re: Gates Foundation program will issue home testing kits for Covid 19 in Seattle

#181
post #137
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Whats the point of testing if you are a healthy 20 year old caring with 85 year olds" This sums up the silicon valley mindset for EVERYTHING. If you find it hard to understand what I am meaning the be worried.

So you’re just going to test yourself constantly? If you experience symptoms for any illness and you care for seniors, you should remove yourself from care. No need to test.

Don't people have low level symptoms basically all the time? Like if you add up all the times your throat feels a little bit sore, or nose is a little bit stuffed or you cough a few times a day or you have a bit of a headache or you feel a little bit lacking in energy... That should add up to like half a year.

So I'm not sure if what you are proposing is realistic.

Re: Gates Foundation program will issue home testing kits for Covid 19 in Seattle

#182
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone keeps pointing to the lack of availability of kits in the US without mentioning the reason. The reason is that the CDC created its own kits instead of using the WHO kits. Why did they do that? Because the WHO kits were inaccurate. Accurate diagnoses happened only ~60% of the time, basically a coin flip. In China the tests were becoming such a problem, now they basically just count anyone with symptoms. That'…

That might be true about the accuracy of the other tests, but it's not the reason the CDC created their own. The reason, as I understand it, is simply that there was no WHO test when they started and there never would be unless some country got up off their ass and made one. As it happens Germany got their test finished first and the WHO used that, but the CDC were already well down the path of preparing and qualifyi…

Are you certain this wasn't some form of NIH syndrome?

I don't think the German test was any more inaccurate BTW.

Re: Gates Foundation program will issue home testing kits for Covid 19 in Seattle

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The key point is in “basically” its a metaphor. The test kits have a 40% false positive and alternative test kits which may test using an entirely different method may improve this. If you think a 40% false positive is good I urge you to actually read the who guidelines which both state this information and recommend testing people multiple times over two weeks. Source is who technical guidelines for testing on their…

I’ve seen no evidence of this rate of false positives, only for false negatives (which is a problem across these tests for respiratory illnesses). What’s your source on the false positive rate?

Dismiss my claim on false positives, dont have source on that rn.

Re: Gates Foundation program will issue home testing kits for Covid 19 in Seattle

#184

Low cost home testing kits can go beyond SARS-COV2 and track other diseases all from the safety of your home. Why go to the hospital where you could possibly be infected by other people with infectious diseases or infect the people around you. Personally, if it is low cost enough that I don't need to use health insurance then I am all for it. Health insurance is good enough until surprise they don't want to cover you…

> Health insurance is good enough until surprise they don't want to cover you or you get surprise bills in the mail from the hospital. Constantly amazed this can be a thing in a first world country. Can this actually happen?

Not only can it happen, it happens regularly to almost everyone.

Re: Gates Foundation program will issue home testing kits for Covid 19 in Seattle

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It happens all the time here; it's ridiculous. At my company's last benefits meeting (where they go over the yearly changes to our insurance coverage) a coworker described a situation where they had a surgery at an in network (accepted by our insurance) hospital, with in network surgeons and nurses, but was assigned an out of network anesthesiologist without his knowledge, and later got a giant bill for it (well over…

Maybe before a surgery, gather all of the hospital staff who are going to attend, and record a video while saying "I do not consent to working with anyone from out of network. If you are an out of network physician, I do not consent to be your patient." That ought to be interesting in court if they bill you. Really, the onus of responsibility is between your insurance company and the hospital (i.e. paying and billing…

In my family we had a situation like this (slightly different issue: whether or not a certain procedure was covered). The hospital had the insurance company RECORDED ON A PHONE CALL stating the procedure was covered. They still refused to pay. Also interesting that the hospital apparently routinely records their calls to insurance companies..

And no, the onus isn't on the hospital. They want their pound of flesh even though they assumed you the procedure was covered on the basis of their staff calling your insurance company.

Re: Gates Foundation program will issue home testing kits for Covid 19 in Seattle

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Coin flip" would imply half of the people who don't have the disease will test positive. There is no evidence for that. It is a super inept analogy. The infection is at the lung while the swabs are done to the upper respiratory tract. There will be misses no matter how good the kits are.

The key point is in “basically” its a metaphor. The test kits have a 40% false positive and alternative test kits which may test using an entirely different method may improve this. If you think a 40% false positive is good I urge you to actually read the who guidelines which both state this information and recommend testing people multiple times over two weeks. Source is who technical guidelines for testing on their…

[deleted]

Re: Gates Foundation program will issue home testing kits for Covid 19 in Seattle

#188
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After ACA there are no lifetime maximums. If it’s an FDA approved treatment which he is eligible for (e.g. there are not other first line treatments which should be tried first) then AFAIK an insurance company cannot simply refuse to pay. Another option is to move to a Medicare expansion state and stop working, which will allow you to immediately qualify for free health care with generally some of the best coverage y…

Just to be clear, you mean that the insurance company is not allowed to set a maximum lifetime (or annual, for that matter) limit beyond which they will stop paying expenses, correct? P

Under an ACA approved plan, that is correct.

Re: Gates Foundation program will issue home testing kits for Covid 19 in Seattle

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Health insurance is good enough until surprise they don't want to cover you or you get surprise bills in the mail from the hospital. Constantly amazed this can be a thing in a first world country. Can this actually happen?

My mom had a very mild form of breast cancer 10 years ago, caught in the earliest stages and hasn’t reappeared since. Last year, her oncologist had to get creative with billing codes, because the insurance company changed mom’s coverage so that yearly screening was no longer “preventative“, and thus not covered. No warning, just a huge bill when she went to pay the copay and leave. The insurance is through her job as…

This happens all the time. A colonoscopy is covered, but if some random not quite perfect thing is found that they snip out just to be on the safe side, then colonoscopies are never again covered.

Re: Gates Foundation program will issue home testing kits for Covid 19 in Seattle

#190
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source please, couldn't find this information anywhere saying this.

It’s a long standing problem with these kind of rapid diagnostics for respiratory illnesses: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rapid-flu-tests-only-50-to-70-p... Doing two swabs helps mitigate this, as does comparing anal and oral swabs. Here’s a more thorough breakdown: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/22221751.2020.1...

Pretty sure even I could tell the difference between an anal swab and a nasal swab.
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