This man robbed a bank for $1, sat down and waited for the police, just to get free healthcare in prison In 2011 a man named Richard James Verone walked into a RBC Bank in Gastonia, North Carolina Handed the teller a note demanding $1 One dollar Then sat down in the lobby and waited calmly for police to arrive He was 59. No job. No insurance. A growth on his chest. Two ruptured discs. Calculated that a federal conviction would guarantee him full medical coverage inside prison The judge sentenced him to 3 years He got the surgery He got the treatment He told reporters on the way out he had no regrets A 59 year old American man robbed a bank for $1 because it was cheaper than seeing a doctor

The solution to healthcare affordability sits a hundred yards from your committee room. Walk past the Capitol to HHS. Tell Kennedy: end site-of-service arbitrage. Move to one fee schedule. Premiums drop for every family. You’ve known this for a decade.

Healthcare was designed to reward the assassins and extractors in suits. It was never about the patients, better coverage, finding solutions to cancer and chronic conditions... Thank you to my friends @vitaldiscourse for having me on their podcast.

Another Josh Pirestani classic “Ever wonder why real PBM reform never seems to happen? Independent pharmacies close. Patients pay more. Employers get crushed by rising drug costs. Everyone agrees the system is broken. Yet meaningful reform somehow always stalls. Why? Because the companies that benefit the most from the current system also happen to be some of the most powerful lobbying forces in healthcare. When billions of dollars are at stake, influence follows the money. And while policymakers debate, the reality on the ground doesn’t change: • Pharmacies keep closing • Patients keep paying more • Employers keep absorbing rising costs Meanwhile, the middlemen keep getting bigger. Sometimes the reason things don’t change isn’t because the problem is complicated. It’s because too many powerful interests benefit from keeping it exactly the way it is. This is why things don’t get done. #PBMReform #DrugPricing #HealthcareTransparency #IndependentPharmacy #HealthcarePolicy”

This BS is exactly why the healthcare system is broken. Bureaucrats at CMS and HHS keep chipping away at payments to the frontline providers who deliver care around the clock, treating physicians like the problem rather than the solution. The new 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (effective January 1, 2026) finalized that -2.5% “efficiency adjustment” to work RVUs for most non-time-based surgical and procedural codes, despite strong pushback from the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and others showing procedures are getting longer and more complex due to sicker patients. It’s a permanent devaluation that recurs every three years, based on a flawed assumption of endless efficiency gains. Layer on the broader erosion: declining reimbursements force hospitals to offset massive overhead—salaries, supplies, pharma, devices—with enormous markups (often 300–1500% or more on drugs, implants, and services). Why? Because Medicare (as the single largest payer) pays below cost for many services, distorting the entire market. The government isn’t a neutral player; its artificially low rates create unsustainable pressure, killing true free-market competition and pushing consolidation. True price transparency for care episodes is meaningless without exposing the real costs: acquisition prices for drugs/devices, GPO (group purchasing organization) contracts that hide rebates and inflated charges, and the ballooning administrative/salary overhead from hospital employment models. When physicians become employees, facilities absorb huge fixed costs, then pass them on through markups, while surgeon pay gets tied to ever-lower wRVUs. The fix starts with physicians resisting the pull into hospital employment. Independent or smaller practices cut out layers of central bureaucracy, reduce salary overhead from “serfdom”-style models, and foster real competition. We need: • Full transparency into GPO contracts and hidden fees so everyone sees what’s actually being charged and rebated. In fact, just remove safe harbors. • Policies that reward efficiency and quality without arbitrary across-the-board cuts. • Legislative reform to stop these recurring RVU erosions and tie updates to actual costs (like the Medicare Economic Index). Until then, the cycle continues: lower payments → higher markups → more consolidation → less choice for patients and providers. It’s not inefficiency or greed at the bedside—it’s a system rigged by top-down control. This why both parties in US Congress are ineffective at fixing this. They fail to understand how they undermine the market. To anyone who believes one party or the other has the fix, I’ve got some ocean front property in Kansas to sell you. It’s a clown 🤡 show. @HouseDemocrats @HouseGOP @SenateGOP @SenateDems @realDonaldTrump @HHSGov @RobertKennedyJr @CMSGov If you want a true sustainable solution, happy to show you a proposal that actually works. generalsurgerynews.com/In-th…

DC’s answer to everything is bigger govt and promises. They bribe with handouts, take bribes from lobbyists at the expense of American taxpayers, all while having hardworking Americans fight over policy, direction, and broken politics. They have not one original idea to solve our nation’s most pressing issues.

Why do Americans tear each other apart over a government that’s full of drama and dysfunctional? Simple fix: Next two election cycles, fire every politician who’s warmed a seat for more than three terms—any office, any party. Republican, Democrat, doesn’t matter. Kick them to the curb and remind them who’s really in charge.

Why does the government respond to problems it causes by proposing more government intervention as the solution?

Public school enrollment increased 5% since 2000. But administrators increased 95%! “Places that have stronger teachers’ unions had larger administrative bloat problems...” says @DeAngelisCorey. “They’re insulated from competition.”

Since the death of my son Cole, I began advocating for real change in our healthcare system. Almost every issue comes back to one thing—access. Real change starts with truth. #HealthcareAccess #PBMReform #JusticeForCole #Truth

I’ll say it again…VA AND TRICARE SHOULD BE THE *HIGHEST* PAYING PLANS TO ALL PROVIDERS. PHARMACISTS AND PHYSICIANS SHOULD BEND OVER BACKWARDS FOR THEIR BUSINESS.

We require leaders endowed with humility, seasoned by experience, and guided by decorum to govern justly, not impassioned politicos ignorant of the matters they oversee. When the elite, perched in high stations fortified by office, grow estranged from the voters’ will, they fail to adapt and preserve the precious gift bestowed upon us by our forefathers. substack.com/profile/4156806…

Thank you, @SenRandPaul.

Turning Point was funded by the Koch brothers early on. Not grassroots even in the slightest,.

US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Ensuring fairness and transparency in the market for prescription drugs 5/5/2022 US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Bringing transparency and accountability to pharmacy benefit managers 2/16/2023 US House of Representatives Oversight Committee The Role of Pharmacy Benefit Managers Part I: 5/23/2023 Part II: 9/19/2023 Part III: 7/23/2024 NYT (part I) How PBMs are driving up prescription drug costs 6/21/2024 FTC interim report on prescription drug middlemen 7/09/2024 WSJ How drug middlemen keep beating the system 7/10/2024 FTC to sue PBMs over drug pricing tactics 7/10/2024 Chairman Comer calls on PBM executives to correct hearing testimony 8/28/2024 NYT (part II) The powerful companies driving local drug stores out of business 10/19/2024 US House of Representatives we Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health An examination of how reining in PBMs… 2/26/25 Senate Judiciary Committee PBMs power play:examining competition issues in the prescription drug supply chain 5/13/2025 Chairman Comer expands PBM investigation, seeks information about foreign headquartered GPOs 8/28/2025 @GOP @TheDemocrats please legislate these PBMs

Yesterday I had the chance to visit the Salt River Indian Community located near Scottsdale, Arizona. Owned and operated by the Pima and Maricopa tribes, the clinic is a national model for tribal sovereignty. Serving 11,000 tribal members, the clinic treats 400 patients a day from 300 tribes across the country and operates a 40-bed inpatient substance abuse facility, four sober houses, and 30 transitional tiny homes—all built by the tribes with no federal dollars. Reliance on ultra-processed foods has given the Arizona Pima the world’s highest diabetes rates (60%) and shortest lifespans. Once among the longest-lived people in North America, the average Pima lifespan is just 52 years compared to 85 years among their Phoenix neighbors. By contrast, Mexican Pimas—who still rely on traditional foods—have a diabetes rate of only 7%. The clinic has declared war on diabetes and substance abuse. Last year, they saved many of the lives of 112 overdose victims by putting Narcan in every home in the community and in vending machines. They also operate a kitchen and cooking school to teach diabetics and their families how to prepare traditional meals. In the picture below, I’m with Pima Health Director Joe Remitera, Tribal President Martin Harvier, and Council Member Mike Dallas in the teaching kitchen. The clinic also offers dentistry, podiatry, emergency care, physical therapy, chiropractic care, and traditional medicine in a state-of-the-art facility. This visit inspired me and left me with enormous hope for Indian Country.

Another day closer to extinction

The political divide in the U.S. isn’t about left versus right. It’s driven by career politicians on both sides who prioritize power over progress. We increasingly elect leaders who amplify their base’s demands with loud rhetoric, rather than choosing professionals who grasp Americans’ needs and can negotiate effective compromises. Bipartisan agreement only seems to emerge during war, national tragedies, or moments of mourning. The media fuels this divide, tailoring content to reinforce viewers’ biases. The solution lies in term limits to curb self-serving politicians and campaign finance reform to cut off the corporate funding that keeps them entrenched. #TermLimits #campaignfinance