September 18, 2024 • 20 mins
California may regulate and restrict pharmaceutical brokers. Wildfires spark California homeowner’s insurance crisis. Dr. Jim Keany, Co-Director of the Emergency Room at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, joins The Bill Handel Show for 'Medical News'! Dr. Keany talks with Bill about antibiotic resistant superbugs and
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And this is KFI AM six forty Bill Handle. Here
it is a Wednesday morning, September eighteen.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Man, we still have a lot to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
First of all, what's going on in the world yet
new explosions in Lebanon and Beirut after the explosions with
the pagers.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
So that's continuing on. And Sean diddy Combe's.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Expected to appeal his the decision to keep him in
jail without bail. There's nothing to appeal in terms of
the charges or the indictment. His attorney offered fifty million
dollars backed up by his home just in Miami, and
the judge said no, no, thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
All right, oh and now I'll do that later.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Let's go to doctor Jim Keeney, our er specialist lifetime of.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
The I'm sorry, Oh, I'm sorry, I have that wrong.
I apologize. Yep, all right, thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This has to do with California regulating and restricting pharmaceutical brokers. Say,
I'm so tied up in what's going on with his
blah and everything. I got my I got the different segments,
little confused, so write that down.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Never correct me again, Kono. That's it. We just go on.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
If I had to talk to Jim and there's nobody there,
then we do just dead air.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay, Okay, that was it. Now, let me tell you
what's going on in the world of.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Pharmaceuticals, and we're going to talk to Jim a little
bit later on about some new drugs that are coming out,
and there is something that was created to help us.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
You've got big farm, you have big farm.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
You have these huge companies that actually sell to middleman
pharmacy benefit managers PBMs, who are supposed to help reduce
the cost of medication. They actually negotiate between the insurance
carriers and the big pharmaceutical companies, and they're supposed to
(02:17):
negotiate on our behalf. Well, guess who bought them all,
the pharmaceutical companies. So the pharmaceutical companies bought the companies
that are supposed to negotiate drug prices down on behalf
of all of us. Wait a minute, does that make
(02:38):
any sense? So Governor Gavin Newsom is going to find
out whether California or put in California in place with
twenty five other states regulating these PBMs pharmacy benefit managers.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
They have to report to the state.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
They have to be regulated because it's wild. It's you
have a manufacturer who sells to us or in this case,
the insurance companies.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Also what they do is they get.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Involved in drugs of course, with copays, and the companies
them sells, Big Pharma owns, the companies that negotiates with
big Pharma to reduce prices.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Why would they reduce prices? It makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
And the other thing, the law bars these PBMs from
steering patients to pharmacies they own. Oh yeah, that's another
one is the ownership of the pharmacies caught up with
PBMs and involved with big Pharma. You wonder why our
prices are so high. I mean, it is crazy. And
(03:50):
I'm in the middle of that, and I'm sure you
are too. And there's a real good attempt at least
now by the Biden administration to reduce the cost of
drugs that you have to give them credit for insulin
down to thirty five dollars. You've got ten other drugs
that are going that are being regulated, and they will
be regulated even further. Now this is only for Medicare.
(04:15):
It's not across the board unless we go to single payer.
But of course everybody fights that. But we're we're moving ahead,
we're going on on the path we should be going.
All right, let's get into me not just having fun
with you, but talking about a real problem homeowners have
and through that renters have, because every building has to
(04:38):
be insured. And that is and we know this. Insurance
companies are bailing out of California and the Insurance Commissioner
wants to bring them back. One of the things that
happened in nineteen eighty eight we passed Prop oneh three,
and it created an elected insurance Commissioner with the authority
(05:01):
to review, reduce, reject insurance rates, insurance rate hikes. In
other words, home insurance, medical insurance all has to go
through the insurance Commissioner, who's elected, and so a lot
of politics are involved in that.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And what happened with insurance companies.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Many many times you go in front of the PUC
for example, or the insurance commit The utilities have to
go in front of the public Utilities commissioned a lot
of regulations here in California.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
And.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So insurance companies go before these boards and in this case,
the insurance commission when it comes to home insurance and
ask for a race in premium now, not going to
give it to you, no, thank you. And then they
go away and they try to come back with another proposal,
or they prove they have to have they have to
have the race in order to stay in business, and
they couldn't get it because you've got wildfires that are raging.
(05:53):
You've got areas that now are segregated as wildfire areas
that didn't exist before because the insurance commissioner did let
insurance company charge more for areas that are wildfire prone,
and so they left, Okay, we're done, we're history. And
so now you've got an insurance commissioner who is scrambling
(06:19):
to bring back insurance companies and the insurance There was
a hearing about it, and here is what the commissioner
is saying, Okay, we'll change our rules. We'll let you
use these very complex computer models that simulate possible losses
from fires, not looking at past claims, which is the
(06:42):
way they have to do.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
They look at past claims and they figure out, okay,
these are our risks and they're not allowed to use
these models.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Under the law, which I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Okay, So with that, now you're allowed to use these
models and a change for that, the industry says, and
this is an amalgamation of insurance companies. I just agreed
to start writing policies again in the wildfire risk communities.
And based on how many insurance policies they have to
(07:17):
write and the premiums that are going to be paid,
I mean, just a whole.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Formula or formula are or a whole formula there.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And the point is is that insurance companies don't make
money in this state.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
They don't, especially fire insurance. Amy. How long ago was
it when you.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Would report on a fire and if four or five
homes and some outbuildings, which I remember understood what outbuildings were,
that was big news.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
If four homes went up in smoke. I mean, that
was so, my god, big news.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
And all it's nothing because they're growing and spreading and
eating up a lot. We've lost hundreds of homes in
these right.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Hundreds and you just expect it now.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And the insurance companies are asked to and they have
to pay because you bought homeowners insurance and they were saying,
we're going broke. How do we know they're telling the truth,
because usually, you know, companies lie to us, industries lie
to us. I'll tell you how we knew they were
telling the truth. They got out of Dodge, they said, okay,
(08:25):
you don't let us have our rates.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
We're leaving and they left the state.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And so now the utilities and in this case, the
insurance commissioner is saying, okay, what can we do to
make it happen?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
And they're saying, here's what we're going to do.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Now there are people that are saying there's no transparency there.
It's still the insurance companies are able to make as
much money. Homeowners are still getting screwed. I'll tell you
when homeowners get screwed when there's no home insurance, when
there's no fire insurance and your house burns down, that's
when you get screwed. And unfortunately, because those of the wildfires.
(09:01):
Also the cost of building. When I look at the
cost of building, I'm doing some remodeling in my new place,
and I cannot believe how much it costs. And our
builder says, well, here's the cost of concrete. Now here's
the cost of wood, here's the cost of tile, here's
(09:24):
the cost of electrical supplies, plumbing supplies, dry wall compared
to what I was used to. It's how abd our
car repair? What do you think a bumper costs you today?
You know you have fifteen thirty on your insurance minimum insurance,
which you haven't changed, by the way, in sixty years.
(09:46):
What does fifteen thousand dollars do? How easy is it
to do fifteen thousand dollars to and damage to a car?
Incredibly easy? So it's a new world. I now I
insurance companies. I'm okay with the regulations. I'm okay with
an insurance commissioners elected by the people to oversee insurance
companies and look at their rates.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
But also I think they have to be realistic. I mean,
I think you do.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And so if they can, if they can, in fact
have some kind of they can compromise the insurance industries
and our insurance commissioners in the state. So Laura Laura,
Commissioner Laura bringing his plan forward, the Sustainable Insurance Strategy.
(10:34):
He says, it's the biggest reform ever. And you've got
Consumer Watchdog and you had other consumer organizations saying not
a chance, we want more, we want more transparency.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
We want you to do more for us. It's the business, guys,
you know, that's it. It's a business. All right. We're
done with that now.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Okay, it is time for a doctor Jim Keeney segment.
And usually it's always how you're going to die, but
actually have some pretty good news today while you're dying,
doctor Jim, who is now the chief medical officer for
Dignity Saint Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Jim, we got to make that quicker. Okay, that's too long.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So all right, Jim, chief medical officer for a great
medical group.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Okay, we're done. What do you think that sounds great?
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
And still bortified as an er doc of course, Jim
a couple of things, and.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Just told me. One of the things is one of
the negatives.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
It just came out, I think the UN came out
with nearly forty million people could die from the antibiotic
resistant superbug infections. And we've been talking about this four
years and that's something that you folks in the medical
world are really concerned about because just don't have antibiotics
for certain infections. So would you talk about that and
(11:56):
the good news that's now coming out of that story.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Sure, I mean, so antibiotic resistance in general is a
growing end global crisis, that forty million number they're predicting
by twenty fifty. So the little ways off we have time, right,
and a lot of it is due to misuse or
overuse of antibiotics, but not just in humans, in animals
as well, and even use in plant growth is from
(12:21):
what I understand, the big one you've heard about is MRSA,
which is methodill in resistance staff areas. That's been doubled
in deaths since nineteen ninety to twenty twenty one, so
significant growth there, especially in older population. And so people
when they take antibiotics, they really have to take the
(12:43):
full course because what happens is you take a few
bills and you stop, and only the strongest bacteria are
left more likely to be resistant. Also, you know, don't
go looking for antibiotics if you clearly have a virus.
That would be that's where we get over use. But
that pale in comparison compared to the overuse of antibiotics
(13:03):
and agriculture. But what we were talking about is this brings
up for me a super interesting area because there's these
new therapies called phage therapy, and that's where you take
viruses that will attack bacteria. You inject them into the body.
And these can be like laser guided missiles. They don't
take out the good bacteria. They're very specific. They only
(13:26):
take out the bad bacteria. And we have those phases
for some of these bacteria that have no other treatment.
No that every single antibiotic it's resistant to. There was
a famous case of a doctor in twenty fifteen, well
not a doctor, that his wife was a researcher in
infectious disease and he had he had traveled to Egypt,
(13:50):
got some highly resistant bacteria in his gut, ended up
with an abscess and he was dying and nothing worked,
and she got an experimental phage and they injected it
and the guy survived.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Wow. So this is just in early early stages, right right.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
I mean, they're using it in agriculture, so it does
help reduce antibiotic use in agriculture, and in other countries
they're using it experimentally, but we're not using it in
the United States experimentally for humans. The only case I
know of is that one case from the researcher.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah, you would think it'd be almost on an emergency basis,
like when the first aide drug came out and the
FDA just went crazy and they okayed it in like
eight minutes simply because people were just dying and they
had no other choice.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
I'm assuming the same situation is.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Here where Why aren't they moving this at a rapid pace?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Yeah, And I mean they are doing the compassionate use.
That's what this guy, Tom Patterson was the professor who
got this in twenty fifteen. He got this compassionate use.
They're doing that still trials or underway all over the place,
and I think it's you see, San Diego has got
a pretty active center for innovative application of stage.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Okay, by the way, here's a quick question. I know
that we've talked about this.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Something we've you know, talked about over and over again,
and that is the overuse of antibiotics and patients asking
their doctors, Hey I want an antibiotic, and the prescription
is issued right there where doctors don't say, hey, you
don't need this.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
My physician used to say hey, you don't need this,
and that was pretty rare. So that's one and talk
about that, and then the other issue is when I
go to a dentist because I had a heart thing,
I had a heart and a oric valve replacement, they
have me take four antibiotic pills prophylactically.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
What does that do?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, I mean, so you have a actual tissue heart
valve and we don't want any bacteria to get on that.
We know that when you do a dental procedure, you're
going to kind of inject bacteria into your bloodstream through
the gums because you know how vascular your gums are.
When you brush your teeth, it's common to bleed. So
(16:14):
there's people that need this. I mean, for you, this
is literally life saving to be able to get your
teeth cleaned. But at the same time, not that damage
your valve with the bacteria that we're now going to
set loose into your blood stream.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
But yeah, it is true.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
People tend to pressure a doctor for antibiotics. I see
that all the time when you're in a business like
you know a lot of these now online where you
call telehealth places. That that's the whole advantage, right, is
you get this quick easy. I just can get a
prescription if I'm sure there's some pressure, if the doctor
doesn't write you a prescription, you're never going to use
(16:51):
that service again, right, So you know, Unfortunately, from a
business aspect, I would imagine a lot of these physicians
feel pressured to write the prescription when the patient asked
for it, otherwise they're going to lose their business model here.
But it's not the right thing to do. And I
think that it's always a good question to ask and say, Look,
if I was your family member, if this was you,
(17:12):
would you write ninus prescription for antibiotics? Do I really
need this or do you think it's a virus?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
All right?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Oh, all right, Jim dropped, so you know we probably
won't be able to pick him up.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
So let me talk about the other things that are
going on in the.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
World today before we bail out of here at the
end of the hour, and that is there are new
explosions in Beirut. Now, we reported a couple of days
ago that there were explosions. These pagers that Hesbelah bought
and then hand it out to the members of hesbe Law,
the hierarchy, the members of the military, and the reason
(17:49):
they bought pagers is because they didn't want Israel to
intercept cell phone conversations, so they went low tech, so
they went ahead and bought these pagers. Well, somehow Israel
was able to intercept the pagers. They were bought from
a Taiwanese company. They were able to intercept the pager
(18:09):
somewhere in that pipeline, put in explosives in the pagers,
and then set off thousands of them simultaneously. Nine people dead,
twenty five hundred wounded. And now we're hearing there are
additional explosions going on, as Amy reported, with walkie talkie devices,
one of them being at a funeral for someone who
(18:31):
died with a pager issue.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Amy, Do I have that right?
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Yes, we're getting a word from Lebanon's health ministry that
at least nine people were killed three hundred injured in
that second wave of explosions that apparently affected walkie talkies.
But now we're also hearing that home solar energy systems
were detonated and exploded in several areas of Beirut.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
If Israel has done all that, they are begging Hezbollah
to invade nor this reel begging them, Man, I don't
get that while we're talking about that over the next
couple of days, for sure, all right, I basically we
are out of here.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
We are done on Wednesday morning.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Just a quick reminder that my podcast is up and running.
I'd love to have you take a listen, because I
don't so I'd love your input on this. The website
is the Bill Handleshow podcast dot com. The podcast itself
drops Tuesdays and Thursdays at nine o'clock just as we
end the show, and it's available on the iHeartRadio app
(19:36):
and Spotify and Apple and all the various platforms. And
this week, both today, yesterday, and tomorrow, Part one and
two of Dying is better than being alive and that's
always kind of fun talking about dying. Also, the other
big stories we'll be hearing about today. Oh wait, he
didn't mention this. Alaska Airlines a Biden administration says yes
(19:59):
to Alaska Lines buying Hawaiian Airlines and there are some
restrictions which we'll talk about. And Sean Diddy Combs today
is expected to appeal that federal judge's decision not.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
To allow him bail. And let me tell you where
that appeal is going. Absolutely no place.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Okay, tomorrow we start this all over again, Amy with
wake Up Call at five o'clock, six o'clock, Neil and
I join Amy or Amy joins us for the Handle Show.
Say I'm giving you credit, Amy, Okay, thanks well, Okay,
Neil and I join Amy on her next hour of
wake up call every morning, and then of course and
(20:38):
Kono are there with us, all right, Catch you in
the morning, everybody. This is KFI AM six forty live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And this is KFI AM six forty Bill Handle. Here
it is a Wednesday morning, September eighteen.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Man, we still have a lot to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
First of all, what's going on in the world yet
new explosions in Lebanon and Beirut after the explosions with
the pagers.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
So that's continuing on. And Sean diddy Combe's.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Expected to appeal his the decision to keep him in
jail without bail. There's nothing to appeal in terms of
the charges or the indictment. His attorney offered fifty million
dollars backed up by his home just in Miami, and
the judge said no, no, thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
All right, oh and now I'll do that later.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Let's go to doctor Jim Keeney, our er specialist lifetime of.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
The I'm sorry, Oh, I'm sorry, I have that wrong.
I apologize. Yep, all right, thank you for that.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This has to do with California regulating and restricting pharmaceutical brokers. Say,
I'm so tied up in what's going on with his
blah and everything. I got my I got the different segments,
little confused, so write that down.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Never correct me again, Kono. That's it. We just go on.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
If I had to talk to Jim and there's nobody there,
then we do just dead air.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay, Okay, that was it. Now, let me tell you
what's going on in the world of.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Pharmaceuticals, and we're going to talk to Jim a little
bit later on about some new drugs that are coming out,
and there is something that was created to help us.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
You've got big farm, you have big farm.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
You have these huge companies that actually sell to middleman
pharmacy benefit managers PBMs, who are supposed to help reduce
the cost of medication. They actually negotiate between the insurance
carriers and the big pharmaceutical companies, and they're supposed to
(02:17):
negotiate on our behalf. Well, guess who bought them all,
the pharmaceutical companies. So the pharmaceutical companies bought the companies
that are supposed to negotiate drug prices down on behalf
of all of us. Wait a minute, does that make
(02:38):
any sense? So Governor Gavin Newsom is going to find
out whether California or put in California in place with
twenty five other states regulating these PBMs pharmacy benefit managers.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
They have to report to the state.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
They have to be regulated because it's wild. It's you
have a manufacturer who sells to us or in this case,
the insurance companies.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Also what they do is they get.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Involved in drugs of course, with copays, and the companies
them sells, Big Pharma owns, the companies that negotiates with
big Pharma to reduce prices.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Why would they reduce prices? It makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
And the other thing, the law bars these PBMs from
steering patients to pharmacies they own. Oh yeah, that's another
one is the ownership of the pharmacies caught up with
PBMs and involved with big Pharma. You wonder why our
prices are so high. I mean, it is crazy. And
(03:50):
I'm in the middle of that, and I'm sure you
are too. And there's a real good attempt at least
now by the Biden administration to reduce the cost of
drugs that you have to give them credit for insulin
down to thirty five dollars. You've got ten other drugs
that are going that are being regulated, and they will
be regulated even further. Now this is only for Medicare.
(04:15):
It's not across the board unless we go to single payer.
But of course everybody fights that. But we're we're moving ahead,
we're going on on the path we should be going.
All right, let's get into me not just having fun
with you, but talking about a real problem homeowners have
and through that renters have, because every building has to
(04:38):
be insured. And that is and we know this. Insurance
companies are bailing out of California and the Insurance Commissioner
wants to bring them back. One of the things that
happened in nineteen eighty eight we passed Prop oneh three,
and it created an elected insurance Commissioner with the authority
(05:01):
to review, reduce, reject insurance rates, insurance rate hikes. In
other words, home insurance, medical insurance all has to go
through the insurance Commissioner, who's elected, and so a lot
of politics are involved in that.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And what happened with insurance companies.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Many many times you go in front of the PUC
for example, or the insurance commit The utilities have to
go in front of the public Utilities commissioned a lot
of regulations here in California.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
And.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So insurance companies go before these boards and in this case,
the insurance commission when it comes to home insurance and
ask for a race in premium now, not going to
give it to you, no, thank you. And then they
go away and they try to come back with another proposal,
or they prove they have to have they have to
have the race in order to stay in business, and
they couldn't get it because you've got wildfires that are raging.
(05:53):
You've got areas that now are segregated as wildfire areas
that didn't exist before because the insurance commissioner did let
insurance company charge more for areas that are wildfire prone,
and so they left, Okay, we're done, we're history. And
so now you've got an insurance commissioner who is scrambling
(06:19):
to bring back insurance companies and the insurance There was
a hearing about it, and here is what the commissioner
is saying, Okay, we'll change our rules. We'll let you
use these very complex computer models that simulate possible losses
from fires, not looking at past claims, which is the
(06:42):
way they have to do.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
They look at past claims and they figure out, okay,
these are our risks and they're not allowed to use
these models.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Under the law, which I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Okay, So with that, now you're allowed to use these
models and a change for that, the industry says, and
this is an amalgamation of insurance companies. I just agreed
to start writing policies again in the wildfire risk communities.
And based on how many insurance policies they have to
(07:17):
write and the premiums that are going to be paid,
I mean, just a whole.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Formula or formula are or a whole formula there.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And the point is is that insurance companies don't make
money in this state.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
They don't, especially fire insurance. Amy. How long ago was
it when you.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Would report on a fire and if four or five
homes and some outbuildings, which I remember understood what outbuildings were,
that was big news.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
If four homes went up in smoke. I mean, that
was so, my god, big news.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
And all it's nothing because they're growing and spreading and
eating up a lot. We've lost hundreds of homes in
these right.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Hundreds and you just expect it now.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And the insurance companies are asked to and they have
to pay because you bought homeowners insurance and they were saying,
we're going broke. How do we know they're telling the truth,
because usually, you know, companies lie to us, industries lie
to us. I'll tell you how we knew they were
telling the truth. They got out of Dodge, they said, okay,
(08:25):
you don't let us have our rates.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
We're leaving and they left the state.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And so now the utilities and in this case, the
insurance commissioner is saying, okay, what can we do to
make it happen?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
And they're saying, here's what we're going to do.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Now there are people that are saying there's no transparency there.
It's still the insurance companies are able to make as
much money. Homeowners are still getting screwed. I'll tell you
when homeowners get screwed when there's no home insurance, when
there's no fire insurance and your house burns down, that's
when you get screwed. And unfortunately, because those of the wildfires.
(09:01):
Also the cost of building. When I look at the
cost of building, I'm doing some remodeling in my new place,
and I cannot believe how much it costs. And our
builder says, well, here's the cost of concrete. Now here's
the cost of wood, here's the cost of tile, here's
(09:24):
the cost of electrical supplies, plumbing supplies, dry wall compared
to what I was used to. It's how abd our
car repair? What do you think a bumper costs you today?
You know you have fifteen thirty on your insurance minimum insurance,
which you haven't changed, by the way, in sixty years.
(09:46):
What does fifteen thousand dollars do? How easy is it
to do fifteen thousand dollars to and damage to a car?
Incredibly easy? So it's a new world. I now I
insurance companies. I'm okay with the regulations. I'm okay with
an insurance commissioners elected by the people to oversee insurance
companies and look at their rates.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
But also I think they have to be realistic. I mean,
I think you do.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
And so if they can, if they can, in fact
have some kind of they can compromise the insurance industries
and our insurance commissioners in the state. So Laura Laura,
Commissioner Laura bringing his plan forward, the Sustainable Insurance Strategy.
(10:34):
He says, it's the biggest reform ever. And you've got
Consumer Watchdog and you had other consumer organizations saying not
a chance, we want more, we want more transparency.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
We want you to do more for us. It's the business, guys,
you know, that's it. It's a business. All right. We're
done with that now.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Okay, it is time for a doctor Jim Keeney segment.
And usually it's always how you're going to die, but
actually have some pretty good news today while you're dying,
doctor Jim, who is now the chief medical officer for
Dignity Saint Mary Medical Center in Long Beach.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Jim, we got to make that quicker. Okay, that's too long.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So all right, Jim, chief medical officer for a great
medical group.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Okay, we're done. What do you think that sounds great?
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
And still bortified as an er doc of course, Jim
a couple of things, and.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Just told me. One of the things is one of
the negatives.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
It just came out, I think the UN came out
with nearly forty million people could die from the antibiotic
resistant superbug infections. And we've been talking about this four
years and that's something that you folks in the medical
world are really concerned about because just don't have antibiotics
for certain infections. So would you talk about that and
(11:56):
the good news that's now coming out of that story.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Sure, I mean, so antibiotic resistance in general is a
growing end global crisis, that forty million number they're predicting
by twenty fifty. So the little ways off we have time, right,
and a lot of it is due to misuse or
overuse of antibiotics, but not just in humans, in animals
as well, and even use in plant growth is from
(12:21):
what I understand, the big one you've heard about is MRSA,
which is methodill in resistance staff areas. That's been doubled
in deaths since nineteen ninety to twenty twenty one, so
significant growth there, especially in older population. And so people
when they take antibiotics, they really have to take the
(12:43):
full course because what happens is you take a few
bills and you stop, and only the strongest bacteria are
left more likely to be resistant. Also, you know, don't
go looking for antibiotics if you clearly have a virus.
That would be that's where we get over use. But
that pale in comparison compared to the overuse of antibiotics
(13:03):
and agriculture. But what we were talking about is this brings
up for me a super interesting area because there's these
new therapies called phage therapy, and that's where you take
viruses that will attack bacteria. You inject them into the body.
And these can be like laser guided missiles. They don't
take out the good bacteria. They're very specific. They only
(13:26):
take out the bad bacteria. And we have those phases
for some of these bacteria that have no other treatment.
No that every single antibiotic it's resistant to. There was
a famous case of a doctor in twenty fifteen, well
not a doctor, that his wife was a researcher in
infectious disease and he had he had traveled to Egypt,
(13:50):
got some highly resistant bacteria in his gut, ended up
with an abscess and he was dying and nothing worked,
and she got an experimental phage and they injected it
and the guy survived.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Wow. So this is just in early early stages, right right.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
I mean, they're using it in agriculture, so it does
help reduce antibiotic use in agriculture, and in other countries
they're using it experimentally, but we're not using it in
the United States experimentally for humans. The only case I
know of is that one case from the researcher.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yeah, you would think it'd be almost on an emergency basis,
like when the first aide drug came out and the
FDA just went crazy and they okayed it in like
eight minutes simply because people were just dying and they
had no other choice.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
I'm assuming the same situation is.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Here where Why aren't they moving this at a rapid pace?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Yeah, And I mean they are doing the compassionate use.
That's what this guy, Tom Patterson was the professor who
got this in twenty fifteen. He got this compassionate use.
They're doing that still trials or underway all over the place,
and I think it's you see, San Diego has got
a pretty active center for innovative application of stage.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Okay, by the way, here's a quick question. I know
that we've talked about this.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Something we've you know, talked about over and over again,
and that is the overuse of antibiotics and patients asking
their doctors, Hey I want an antibiotic, and the prescription
is issued right there where doctors don't say, hey, you
don't need this.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Now.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
My physician used to say hey, you don't need this,
and that was pretty rare. So that's one and talk
about that, and then the other issue is when I
go to a dentist because I had a heart thing,
I had a heart and a oric valve replacement, they
have me take four antibiotic pills prophylactically.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
What does that do?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, I mean, so you have a actual tissue heart
valve and we don't want any bacteria to get on that.
We know that when you do a dental procedure, you're
going to kind of inject bacteria into your bloodstream through
the gums because you know how vascular your gums are.
When you brush your teeth, it's common to bleed. So
(16:14):
there's people that need this. I mean, for you, this
is literally life saving to be able to get your
teeth cleaned. But at the same time, not that damage
your valve with the bacteria that we're now going to
set loose into your blood stream.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
But yeah, it is true.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
People tend to pressure a doctor for antibiotics. I see
that all the time when you're in a business like
you know a lot of these now online where you
call telehealth places. That that's the whole advantage, right, is
you get this quick easy. I just can get a
prescription if I'm sure there's some pressure, if the doctor
doesn't write you a prescription, you're never going to use
(16:51):
that service again, right, So you know, Unfortunately, from a
business aspect, I would imagine a lot of these physicians
feel pressured to write the prescription when the patient asked
for it, otherwise they're going to lose their business model here.
But it's not the right thing to do. And I
think that it's always a good question to ask and say, Look,
if I was your family member, if this was you,
(17:12):
would you write ninus prescription for antibiotics? Do I really
need this or do you think it's a virus?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
All right?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Oh, all right, Jim dropped, so you know we probably
won't be able to pick him up.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
So let me talk about the other things that are
going on in the.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
World today before we bail out of here at the
end of the hour, and that is there are new
explosions in Beirut. Now, we reported a couple of days
ago that there were explosions. These pagers that Hesbelah bought
and then hand it out to the members of hesbe Law,
the hierarchy, the members of the military, and the reason
(17:49):
they bought pagers is because they didn't want Israel to
intercept cell phone conversations, so they went low tech, so
they went ahead and bought these pagers. Well, somehow Israel
was able to intercept the pagers. They were bought from
a Taiwanese company. They were able to intercept the pager
(18:09):
somewhere in that pipeline, put in explosives in the pagers,
and then set off thousands of them simultaneously. Nine people dead,
twenty five hundred wounded. And now we're hearing there are
additional explosions going on, as Amy reported, with walkie talkie devices,
one of them being at a funeral for someone who
(18:31):
died with a pager issue.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Amy, Do I have that right?
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Yes, we're getting a word from Lebanon's health ministry that
at least nine people were killed three hundred injured in
that second wave of explosions that apparently affected walkie talkies.
But now we're also hearing that home solar energy systems
were detonated and exploded in several areas of Beirut.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
If Israel has done all that, they are begging Hezbollah
to invade nor this reel begging them, Man, I don't
get that while we're talking about that over the next
couple of days, for sure, all right, I basically we
are out of here.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
We are done on Wednesday morning.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Just a quick reminder that my podcast is up and running.
I'd love to have you take a listen, because I
don't so I'd love your input on this. The website
is the Bill Handleshow podcast dot com. The podcast itself
drops Tuesdays and Thursdays at nine o'clock just as we
end the show, and it's available on the iHeartRadio app
(19:36):
and Spotify and Apple and all the various platforms. And
this week, both today, yesterday, and tomorrow, Part one and
two of Dying is better than being alive and that's
always kind of fun talking about dying. Also, the other
big stories we'll be hearing about today. Oh wait, he
didn't mention this. Alaska Airlines a Biden administration says yes
(19:59):
to Alaska Lines buying Hawaiian Airlines and there are some
restrictions which we'll talk about. And Sean Diddy Combs today
is expected to appeal that federal judge's decision not.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
To allow him bail. And let me tell you where
that appeal is going. Absolutely no place.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Okay, tomorrow we start this all over again, Amy with
wake Up Call at five o'clock, six o'clock, Neil and
I join Amy or Amy joins us for the Handle Show.
Say I'm giving you credit, Amy, Okay, thanks well, Okay,
Neil and I join Amy on her next hour of
wake up call every morning, and then of course and
(20:38):
Kono are there with us, all right, Catch you in
the morning, everybody. This is KFI AM six forty live
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Catch my Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
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