Month: March 2024

It looks like high interest rate market shocks and the commercial real estate dumpster fire have only just begun. The latest example of volatility comes from New Jersey hospital operator CarePoint Health.

The operator owns three hospitals, including the 261-bed Bayonne Medical Center, as well as Hoboken University Medical Center and Christ Hospital in Jersey City, according to Bloomberg/Yahoo Finance. 

Michigan-based Insight has stepped in to try and help financially stabilize the network and then rebrand under the Insight name. 

Dr. Achintya Moulick, CarePoint’s chief executive officer said last week: “Throughout these past challenging months, CarePoint Health has remained resolute and focused on its mission of providing excellent patient-centered care to the people of Hudson County, and our collaboration with the Insight team has been extraordinarily helpful.”

Moulick continued: “Ensuring that our system’s safety net hospitals receive the investment they need to operate sustainably both now and well into the future remains our top priority, and we are exploring various options to meet that goal.”

The report notes that hospitals continue to face high costs for staffing and supplies, impacting even renowned institutions. The financial strain is particularly acute for facilities like CarePoint, which serve a larger proportion of lower-income patients and consequently receive lower reimbursements from government programs compared to private insurers.

The challenges at CarePoint serve as a prime example, Yahoo writes. The New Jersey Department of Health has provided almost $8.4 million in support since mid-February to assist the hospital system with payroll needs and to appoint a chief restructuring officer to aid in its financial recovery.

Insight’s Chief Strategy Officer Atif Bawahab added: “We’ve been in this situation before and we do have a strong sense of optimism for these hospitals to continue to stay open. But at the same time, we do have to make changes, and those changes will take some time.”

Insight acquired Chicago’s oldest hospital, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, from bankruptcy in 2021, preventing its closure. This move by Insight, known for its focus on neurosurgery, orthopedics, and sports medicine, was followed by the purchase of a closed rural hospital in Iowa.

Concerned by CarePoint’s financial situation, the New Jersey Department of Health appointed a monitor in January and recently required CarePoint’s hospitals to develop emergency plans for potential closures or service halts. CarePoint reported a $68 million loss last year, and several vendors have sued for unpaid bills.

CarePoint has faced financial difficulties for some time. Attempts to sell its Jersey City and Hoboken hospitals to RWJ Barnabas Health fell through in 2019.

Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

It costs Novo Nordisk less than $5 per month to produce its top-selling diabetes injection, Ozempic, even as it charges nearly $1,000 for a month’s supply before insurance, according to a new study.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open, raises questions about the prohibitive cost of the popular diabetes treatment and other weight loss drugs that belong to a pricy class of medications based on GLP-1 technology.

Those medicines work by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which stimulates the pancreas to release insulin when blood sugar rises too high, slows down the emptying of the stomach, and targets brain receptors involved in reducing appetite. Over the past year, demand for GLP-1 agonists has exploded despite soaring costs and limited insurance coverage.

For their study, researchers at Yale University, King’s College Hospital in London, and the nonprofit Doctors Without Borders looked at the cost of manufacturing insulin and compared it with that of GLP-1 agonists. They estimated those prices by combining manufacturing costs for the weekly injection with costs of formulation and other operating expenses, plus a profit margin with an allowance for tax.

The foundational price for a weekly dose of injectable semaglutide—the generic name for Ozempic—ranges from $0.89 to $4.73 per month, the study found. By contrast, a vial of human insulin can be manufactured at a cost between $2.37 and $5.94 per month.

A month’s supply of Ozempic is $935.77 for those in the United States without health insurance, according to Novo’s website. The Danish company’s GLP-1 weight loss drug, Wegovy, is listed as $1,349 per month.

Wednesday’s study concluded that GLP-1s “can likely be manufactured for prices far below current prices, enabling wider access.”

“High prices limit access to newer diabetes medicines in many countries,” the researchers wrote. “The findings of this study suggest that robust generic and bio-similar competition could reduce prices to more affordable levels and enable expansion of diabetes treatment globally.”

Citing the findings, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called on Novo to slash prices for both Ozempic and Wegovy, highlighting the price gap for the identical drugs sold in America and other developed countries.

“A new Yale study found that Ozempic costs less than $5 a month to manufacture. And yet, Novo Nordisk charges Americans nearly $1,000 a month for this drug, while the same exact product can be purchased for just $155 a month in Canada and just $59 in Germany,” the senator said in a statement.

“As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, I am calling on Novo Nordisk to lower the list price of Ozempic—and the related drug Wegovy—in America to no more than what they charge for this drug in Canada,” he continued. “The American people are sick and tired of paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs while the pharmaceutical industry enjoys huge profits.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Novo declined to provide production costs for Ozempic and Wegovy. However, it emphasized that it invested almost $5 billion in research and development last year, and will be spending more than $6 billion to boost manufacturing to meet the soaring demand for GLP-1s.

The company also noted that the out-of-pocket costs for Ozempic depend on a patient’s insurance coverage, noting that there are different options on its website to help patients address their affordability concerns.

“Congress has been focused on the complexities of the U.S. healthcare system and the interplay of rebates, discounts, administrative fees, co-pays and deductibles–which all play a role in creating a situation where a majority of U.S. patients covered by commercial health plans pay as little as $25 a month for their prescriptions,” it said in a statement.

“Still, affordability challenges are real,” the company said, adding that it supports policy changes to “improve patient affordability and access for those living with chronic diseases.”

Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A Minnesota woman beaten by police in the Lower West Terrace tunnel at the U.S. Capitol has filed a $2 million civil suit for being repeatedly struck in the head and slammed into a concrete wall on Jan. 6, 2021.

Victoria Charity White, 42, of Rochester, Minnesota, alleges at least two Metropolitan Police Department officers unlawfully used “deadly force” by repeatedly striking her head and face with steel riot batons and fists at about 4 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021.

The complaint—filed on March 27 by Washington attorney Paul Kamenar—names MPD Commander Jason Bagshaw and MPD Officer Neil McAllister, and alleges other unnamed officers took part in the beatings.

It alleges violations of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S. Code § 1983. It is an amended version of a suit Ms. White filed representing herself in January.

“The defendants willfully and unlawfully seized plaintiff by means of objectively unreasonable, excessive, and indeed, deadly force that shocks the conscience, thereby unreasonably restraining and depriving plaintiff of her freedom and inflicting physical and mental harm and anguish,” read the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

“Because of the senseless and unlawful beating she received at the hands of the defendants and the other MPD officers, Ms. White suffered great physical, traumatic, and emotional harm that day and continues to suffer to this day, particularly the traumatic and emotional harm,” Mr. Kamenar wrote in the lawsuit.

Mr. Bagshaw, the suit alleges: “Repeatedly struck an unarmed and defenseless White about her head, face, shoulders, and upper body with a metal baton and his fists.”

He is being sued in his professional and personal capacity, the lawsuit stated.

Mr. McAllister “along with defendant Bagshaw and other police officers, physically assaulted the plaintiff,” the suit said.

Mr. McAllister is also being sued in his professional and personal capacity.

According to the suit, video evidence shows Mr. McAllister “slamming Ms. White up against the concrete tunnel wall, whereupon, inexplicably, his bodycam is shut off for some 30 seconds.”

The department declined to comment on the suit.

Acceptable force with this type of subject would involve “low-level physical tactics to gain control and cooperation,” with techniques that could involve pain but would generally not inflect injury, the MPD policy cited in the suit states.

The suit outlines the beating first documented in The Epoch Times on Dec. 23, 2021, after Ms. White’s then-attorney Joseph McBride secured the release of previously sealed security video from the tunnel.

The newspaper’s analysis of the CCTV video showed Ms. White was struck by police 39 times in a little over four minutes.

A series of videos show Ms. White suffering rapid fire hits, punches to the head, a baton poked at her head, and being doused with pepper spray.

Bodycam video released in 2023 revealed more information on the beating, including a bystander in the tunnel who begged police to stop striking Ms. White.

At 4:09 p.m., the man said: “No, no, no, please! Please don’t beat her,” according to the video. Two minutes later, as police shouted at him to “move it, keep walking!” the man replied, “No! You’re going to kill her!”

At the time of the first lawsuit, Mr. McBride said a special prosecutor should be named to investigate the beating.

None of the officers allegedly involved in Ms. White’s case has been disciplined or faced criminal charges.

“That is somebody who’s not only acting with authority but is acting with license,” Mr. McBride said, referring to Mr. Bagshaw, then an MPD lieutenant.

“That is somebody who is acting because he has no fear that he’s going to be reprimanded for his actions. Do I think that’s criminal? There is no doubt in my mind that what that man did was criminal.”

Mr. McBride filed suit on Ms. White’s behalf on Jan. 5, 2022, but she withdrew the suit in November 2022 to concentrate on defending herself against criminal charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice for her time at the U.S. Capitol.

That initial lawsuit identified seven police officers who allegedly took part in the beating.

Ms. White was indicted on Jan. 26, 2022, on four counts, including felony civil disorder.

She accepted a plea deal in August 2023 and was found guilty of the civil disorder charge.

Prosecutors sought a four-month jail term, but U.S. District Judge John D. Bates on Nov. 22, 2023, sentenced Ms. White to eight days of intermittent jail time.

Ms. White was featured in the July 2022 Epoch Times documentary, “The Real Story of Jan. 6.”

She said the beatings on Jan. 6 gave her flashbacks to a decade of domestic abuse.

“I’ve had those with my ex, where I’d be awake doing something as simple as laundry, and all of a sudden, I’m there, being choked to death and beat or punched,” she said.

“This was the feeling of all that. It was like those blows, but now in the tunnel.”

Israel’s official count for the number of people still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip remains at 134 mostly Israeli citizens as well as some foreigners, which includes possibly deceased victims. Amid stalled truce negotiations in Qatar, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has revealed that Israeli officials believe only 60 to 70 Israeli hostages in Gaza are still alive.

“According to the IDF, a total of 134 hostages and bodies are being held in Gaza,” Haaretz wrote Thursday. “Thirty-six of the people were confirmed by the army as killed – some on October 7, when their bodies were taken into the Strip. Of the 98 living hostages, 10 are foreigners (eight Thais, one Nepalese national, and one man with Mexican and French citizenship).”

What’s more is that a month ago some of the families of the hostages were informed that 20 captives were in life-threatening condition. An unnamed source close to the crisis told Haaretz, “I hope I’m mistaken, but the number may even be lower”—suggesting there may be even fewer that are alive.

Given the intense battles unfolding across most of the Gaza Strip, it is widely speculated that the hostages are being held somewhere within the miles of underground tunnels below, where Hamas also has command and control centers.

There’s a possibility that some of the hostages could have been killed by Israeli’s relentless bombing campaign which has decimated entire neighborhoods. A horrifically tragic incident last December saw three Israeli hostages shot dead by Israeli forces who mistook them for Palestinian militants.

Israeli leadership under Netanyahu has been accused by the hostages’ families of prioritizing the military operation to defeat Hamas far and above hostage recovery.

Some recent testimony of hostages freed in last year’s truce and exchange with Hamas said the following: 

Echoing this sense of an indiscriminate and haphazard policy, testimonies from newly freed Israeli hostages, who were released as part of exchange deals for Palestinian prisoners during a temporary ceasefire in late November, as well as from some of the hostages’ families, indicate that one of the main fears of those held captive in Gaza was the threat of being hit by Israeli airstrikes and shelling. Many of the hostages, according to these testimonies, were held above ground rather than in tunnels, and were therefore particularly vulnerable to such attacks.

Large-scale anti-Netanyahu protests led by victims’ families have persisted in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Pressure has also mounted on Washington to strike a ceasefire. 

Prime Minister Netanyahu is currently facing accusations from within his own government of ‘sabotaging’ the truce process with an aim to prolong the war, and also thus his political future in the top office.

By Zach Stieber of The Epoch Times

Pennsylvania rules that require mail-in ballots to be dated are legal, a federal appeals court has ruled.

A state law that says voters must fill out, date, and sign envelopes containing the ballots is not prevented by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a majority said in the March 27 ruling.

The act bans denying “the right of any individual to vote in any election because of an error or omission on any record or paper relating to any application, registration or other act requisite to voting.”

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and other groups appealed Judge Baxter’s ruling, arguing that her conclusion was wrong.

“This is a crucial victory for election integrity and voter confidence in the Keystone State and nationwide. Pennsylvanians deserve to feel confident in the security of their mail ballots, and this 3rd Circuit ruling roundly rejects unlawful left-wing attempts to count undated or incorrectly dated mail ballot,” Michael Whatley, the RNC’s chairman, said in a statement after the new ruling was handed down.

Groups that sued over the law expressed disappointment.

“If this ruling stands, thousands of Pennsylvania voters could lose their vote over a meaningless paperwork error. The ballots in question in this case come from voters who are eligible and who met the submission deadline,“ Mike Lee, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. ”In passing the Civil Rights Act, Congress put a guardrail in place to be sure that states don’t erect unnecessary barriers that disenfranchise voters. It’s unfortunate that the court failed to recognize that principle. Voters lose as a result of this ruling.”

The ruling can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the groups have not yet indicated whether they’ll appeal.

Justice Samuel Alito has said that the Pennsylvania law did not appear to violate the Civil Rights Act provision because it did not deny people the right to vote.

“When a mail-in ballot is not counted because it was not filled out correctly, the voter is not denied ’the right to vote,’” he said previously. “Rather, that individual’s vote is not counted because he or she did not follow the rules for casting a ballot.”

Several other justices supported his view, offered in a dissent when the rest of the court initially said Pennsylvania counties could keep counting undated ballots.

Continue reading on the Epoch Times

Imprisoned rap mogul Suge Knight opined on recent happenings involving hip-hop rival Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, whose houses in Miami and Los Angeles were raided last Monday by Homeland Security in connection with a federal investigation into sex trafficking, sexual assault, and the solicitation and distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms.

“We believe that there is a disturbing history of sex trafficking,” a DHS officer told The NY Post on Thursday, following the raid which resulted in the seizure of hard drives, phones and other evidence.

“We are responding to concrete, detailed, explicit allegations. This is not random. We didn’t choose his name out of a hat. We had allegations that we’re following up on,” the officer continued.

Knight Speaks

In response to the raid, Death Row Records co-founder Marion Hugh Knight Jr., aka “Suge Knight,” said during a Friday episode of his “Collect Call” prison podcast (!) that Combs needs to watch his back since he has “secrets” involving a “secret room.”

“It’s a bad day for hip-hop…for the culture…Black people, because if one looks bad, we all look bad. That’s definitely not nothing to cheer about,” said Knight.

“But I’ll tell you what, Puffy: your life is in danger.  Your life is in danger ’cause you know the secrets, who’s involved in that little secret room you guys are participating in. They gonna get you if they can.”

While Diddy hasn’t been charged with a crime and has vehemently denied breaking the law, Knight – who’s serving a 28-year prison sentence for a 2015 hit-and-run incident, recommended that the rap impresario ‘surrender’ to authorities.

Listen:

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

The US did not share all the information it had about a terrorist plot in Russia ahead of the shooting at a concert hall outside of Moscow that killed over 140 people, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

The paper said that the “adversarial relationship between Washington and Moscow prevented US officials from sharing any information about the plot beyond what was necessary, out of fear Russian authorities might learn their intelligence sources or methods.”

In response to the report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was unaware of information about the US withholding intelligence and cast doubt on the report. “The information of The New York Times, citing sources, is information that should be treated with great caution,” he said.

The US Embassy in Moscow issued a public warning on March 7 that specifically warned Americans in Russia that “extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts” and to avoid large gatherings for 48 hours.

The US also passed along the warning to Russia privately, which Russian FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov said was “of a general nature.”

Sources told the Times that Russia tightened security after the warning but may have relaxed it after an attack didn’t happen in the 48-hour window. The report said it was unclear if US intelligence was wrong about the timing of the attack or if the perpetrators noticed the heightened security and decided to wait.

ISIS-K, the Islamic State affiliate based in Afghanistan, took credit for the massacre, and the US has backed their assertion. Russia has pinned the blame on “Islamist extremists” but has also said there is a link to Ukraine and, by extension, the US and the UK.

Another video capturing the initial moments of the terrorist attack at “Crocus” has been released by Baza. pic.twitter.com/lDvlTyGvQK

— Russian Market (@runews) March 22, 2024

Both the US and Ukraine denied any involvement in the attack, but the Russian Investigative Committee said Thursday that the attackers had links to “Ukrainian nationalists.” Four Tajiks have been charged in Russia for carrying out the shooting.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) was confronted by a mourner during the wake for slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller Friday afternoon, after which a round of applause could be heard as she left the scene.

Hochul, who has come under fire over New York’s controversial bail reform – which law enforcement blames for the rise in crime, could be seen in the confrontation with an unidentified man dressed in black, who clearly gave her what for as onlookers gathered outside the venue.

Watch:

TIME TO GO: Crowd claps as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul leaves slain NYPD officer’s wake just minutes after arriving. The incident comes a day after a police union president called on anti-police politicians to stay away from the wake and funeral. https://t.co/ZVThe4Jy97 pic.twitter.com/aSEy7vPGKh

— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 30, 2024

According to the NY Post, Hochul arrived at the Massapequa Funeral Home on Long Island for the second day of viewing around 1:45 p.m., after asking the NYPD, the NYPD Police Benevolent Association, and the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association about attending.

Diller’s widow also appeared to be “telling [Hochul] off,” one witness told the Post. “It didn’t look like the widow had a kind word to say.“

Another source suggested that Hochul made a “brief respectful visit,” and “was not asked to leave.”

Hochul’s visit came one day after former President Donald Trump paid his respects during the first day of viewings – staying around 40 minutes, during which he spent time talking to Stephanie and the couple’s young son, Ryan.

President Trump: “We have to stop it. We have to get back to law and order…because this is not working. This is happening too often.” pic.twitter.com/k5MQutyEsw

— MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) March 28, 2024

Diller’s brother-in-law shared a picture of Trump embracing a woman in the family line-up.

Diller was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop in Far Rockaway, Queens on March 25. The suspect, Guy Rivera – who has 21 prior arrests and was found to have a shiv in his rectum during the shooting – shot Diller once in the stomach below his bulletproof vest. He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

The person driving the car with Rivera during the shooting, Liddy Jones, is an ex-con who was arrested after a second gun was found in his car.

On Tuesday, New York Mayor Eric Adams – a former NYPD captain, slammed Albany over its approach to bail reform.

“What’s interesting is that our practices, laws and policies are not going after these issues,” said Adams. “We’ve always had a problem with recidivism, it’s always been a problem but we’ve really never zeroed in on it with case after case.”

Prior to the wake, Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent J. Vallelong warned City Council members not to attend.

“Adrienne Adams, Jumaane Williams and their cohorts should stay home,” he told the Post, calling out the lawmakers who pushed the council to reject Mayor Adams’ veto on the “How Many Stops” act in January.

“They detest cops and have no appreciation for what they do. They should stay home and not pretend they are grieving. They have caused enough heartbreak and destruction,” said Vallelong, adding that their presence at the services “is a stain on the legacy of a true hero who made the ultimate sacrifice.“

Via The Cradle

US President Joe Biden said at a campaign event on Thursday that Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are ready for a full normalization of ties with Israel. During the event – which was meant to show unity in the Democratic Party ahead of US elections in November this year – Biden was joined on stage by former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

“I’ve been working with the Saudis and with all the other Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan and Qatar. They’re prepared to fully recognize Israel. There has to be a post-Gaza plan, and there has to be a trade to a two-state solution. It doesn’t have to occur today. It has to be a progression and I think we can do that,” Biden said. 

Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which has resulted in a reported over 32,000 mostly civilian deaths, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly stated that normalization with Tel Aviv is still on the table.

However, Riyadh has doubled down on its demands for concessions to the Palestinians, including, most prominently, the demand for the eventual realization of statehood. 

Washington has been devising a plan for post-war Gaza, which includes the idea of a “reformed” Palestinian Authority (PA) assuming control over administration in the strip. In late February, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a similar plan, which included demilitarizing Gaza, forming a local governing authority, and a broader normalization pact with Arab states, including the Saudis. 

Politico reported on the same day as Biden’s campaign event that the White House, State Department, and Pentagon are discussing the potential establishment of either a “multinational force” or a “Palestinian peacekeeping team” to oversee the affairs of a post-war Gaza. 

Yet Israel has yet to achieve its goal of dismantling the Palestinian resistance and is continuing brutal and incessant airstrikes daily. “There are too many innocent victims, Israelis and Palestinians,” Biden added at the event. 

“We’re in a position where Israel’s very existence is at stake. You had all those people massacred,” the president said about 7 October, adding: “It’s understandable Israel has such a profound anger and Hamas is still there, but we must in-act, stop the effort that is resulting in significant deaths of innocent civilians and particularly children.”

Anti-war protestors interrupt prominent Biden political fundraiser event

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters, including Jewish activisits, disrupted a high-profile fundraiser for US President Joe Biden at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Thursday night.

The fundraiser… pic.twitter.com/hQ6vKw1B0G

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) March 29, 2024

Several pro-Palestine activists erupted in chants throughout the campaign event, accusing Biden of complicity in the ‘genocide’ being carried out against the Palestinian people in Gaza. 

The president’s approval ratings have suffered significantly in recent months as a result of his handling of the war in Gaza, particularly due to Washington’s continued fueling of the Israeli war effort with funds and munitions.

Obese Americans have flocked to weight loss drugs, such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. Surging demand for both drugs has led to shortages across the country. 

Bloomberg spoke with nine pharmacists and technicians at CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart in six states, who said Zepbound was on backorder.

Shannon Lucero failed to fill her Zepbound prescription at eight pharmacies in San Diego, California. One pharmacy responded and said the GLP-1 drug was out of stock until the end of the first week of April. 

In Monroe, Michigan, Rachael Altenburg spent days searching for pharmacies to fill her order for the weight loss drug. 

Angela Fitch, who operates an obesity clinic in Boston, said the supply situation for GLP-1 drugs is painful for patients and doctors due to limited supply and soaring demand. 

“Patients are mad at my staff, my staff are upset,” Fitch said in an interview, adding one of her patients had to spend the day and call pharmacies around the Boston metro area, and after hours of calling, finally found one that could fill her prescription. 

“It’s like The Hunger Games,” she said, adding, “Well, actually more like the anti-Hunger Games.”

Goldman analysts recently told clients that upwards of 15 million Americans could be on GLP-1 drugs by the end of the decade. Other Wall Street analysts forecast the weight loss drug market could be worth $100 billion by 2030. 

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have communicated to investors that production of their GLP-1 drugs will be ramped up after a round of new investments into production facilities this year. 

“We cannot supply to an uptake that just continues growing,” Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen told investors during a conference call earlier this month. He said lower-strength starter doses for the US market are necessary to safeguard supplies for current patients. 

Despite patient reports and pharmacies telling Bloomberg that Zepbound supplies are either low on stock or out, an FDA spokesperson said, based on the current information from Lilly, “there is currently adequate supply” of the weight loss drug. 

It seems like the American healthcare system’s only solution to obesity is a miracle drug. After all, there’s no money for big pharma and doctors to tell obese folks that eating healthy and working out is a safe alternative to taking drugs.