`In 2021 elections, Biden out-performs past 30 years of first-year presidents
- The COVID-19 pandemic is fading as a top concern of voters and being replaced by the economy and rising inflation, a troubling sign for President Joe Biden
Americans say inflation and the economy are their top concerns with just 12% focused on COVID:
Democrats urge Biden to stop ignoring problems and Rep. says he ‘wasn’t elected to be FDR’
- The COVID-19 pandemic is fading as a top concern of voters and being replaced by the economy and rising inflation
- Troubling sign for President Biden and Democrats ahead of midterm elections
- Just 12% of adults rated COVID a top issue, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found
- And 73% of adults want political leaders to focus on jobs and economic growth
- Last November, a majority of voters – 61% – said COVID-19 was important
- Only 33% rated the economy a top concern, exit polls found
- Dems starting to worry after loss in Virginia and near-loss in New Jersey
- ‘Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos,’ Dem Rep. Abigail Spanberger told New York Times of Biden
The COVID-19 pandemic is fading as a top concern of voters and being replaced by the economy and rising inflation, a troubling sign for President Joe Biden and Democrats heading into the midterm elections.
Just 12% of adults rated health issues like the coronavirus as a top national priority, down from 20% in February, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found for October.
Meanwhile, two-thirds of the country, including the majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents, say that ‘inflation is a very big concern for them.’The job market is also being closely watched as the poll found that 73% of adults want political leaders to focus on jobs and economic growth.
Democrats, meanwhile, are showing signs of panic and asking Biden to deal with this quality of life issues affecting voters.
“We were so willing to take seriously a global pandemic, but we’re not willing to say, ‘Yeah, inflation is a problem, and supply chain is a problem, and we don’t have enough workers in our workforce,’ Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia told The New York Times. ‘We gloss over that and only like to admit to problems in spaces we dominate.’
She also said Biden needs to remind voters why voters put him in the Oval Office. ‘Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos,’ she said, referring to the sweeping net of social programs Biden is seeking to make into law.
Americans are getting hammered at the pump! Bank of America predicts crude oil will skyrocket 43% to $120 a barrel by next summer. With gas prices already at a seven-year high of $3.40 ($6.73 in Mendocino CA).
Inflation in the United States has jumped to a three-decade high while wages haven’t kept pace and prices for food, gas and rent are rising – all putting a growing economic burden on households.
Biden and his administration has argued that as the pandemic fades, the supply chain bottlenecks to unsnarl, more people will return to the workforce, the economy will strengthen and inflation will begin to ease.
The president also touts his Build Back Better package, which he argues multiple Nobel Prize winning economists say would reduce inflation.
But his signature package of social safety net programs has yet to pass Congress and his aides concede that Americans would not see its benefits until next year. Moderate Democrats have raised concerns about its overall price tag, which Biden has cut nearly in half to $1.75 trillion as he tries to get it through the legislative branch.
Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Democrat from New York, told the Times she fears that Biden’s message isn’t resonating with voters. ‘I don’t understand some of my more progressive colleagues saying last night now shows us that what we need to do is get both of these bills done and shove even more progressive stuff in,’ she said. ‘What we’re talking about is not resonating with voters.’
And voters are starting to show their impatience.
On Tuesday, Virginia voters elected a Republican, Glenn Youngkin, as governor, in a state Biden carried by 10 points last year. And, in New Jersey, incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy barely held on for a second term in a state Biden carried by 16 points and where Democrats have a 1 million voter registration advantage.
The president offered a litany of excuses in a press conference on Wednesday, including the fact that his Build Back Better agenda hasn’t passed Congress and Donald Trump supporters.
‘Look, I just think people are at a point, and it is understandable, where there’s a whole lot of confusion. Everything from are you ever going to get COVID under control or are my kids going to be in school, are they going to be able to stay in school to whether or not I’m going to get a tax break that allows me to be able to pay for the needs of my kids and my family,’ he said.
‘People are upset and uncertain about a lot of things – from COVID to school to jobs to a whole range of things, and the cost of a gallon of gasoline,’ the president said.
Thursday’s Reuters/Ipsos poll shows the political landscape is dramatically changing for Biden, who came into office with a promise to end the COVID pandemic and bring back stability after the chaos of the Trump years.
Last November, a majority of voters – 61% – said COVID-19 was ‘an important factor’ in determining their choice for president, and those voters backed Biden with 52% of the vote. And, in the last election, only 33% rated the economy a top concern.
Additionally the president’s approval rating has been on the decline – another worrisome sign.
Biden entered office with the approval of 55% of the country but has seen his popularity decline: 42% of adults say they approve of Biden’s job performance in an NBC News poll that was out Monday.
That poll also found 71% say the country is headed in the wrong direction – a sign of trouble ahead for the political party in power. The right track/wrong track question has proven a reliable forecaster of voter attitudes headed into the voting booth.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online from Oct. 18-22 and gathered responses from 4,430 adults including 2,001 Democrats, 1,591 Republicans and 465 independents. The margin of error is between 2 and 5 percentage points.
How hospitals and health systems are driving value during COVID-19.
Hospitals are striving to make health care more cost-effective and efficient for patients, while providing the nation’s most complex and resource-intensive care.
- If the past eighteen months have proven one thing, it is that hospitals are critical to providing life-saving care to their communities.
- This has been especially true throughout the pandemic, as hospitals have provided essential services despite facing financial and operational challenges.
Why it’s important: Affordable health care is one of the biggest concerns facing many Americans. And health care spending likely will continue to rise to meet the needs of an aging population.
- Hospitals and health systems provide complex, life-saving care, but the country’s fragmented health care system often leaves many hospitals with a daily balancing act to maintain their mission to serve their communities.
The background: Recent health care spending growth has been driven by the increased use and intensity of health services, not by rising medical prices.
- More people are insured — the number of uninsured nonelderly Americans fell from 48 million in 2010 to 30 million in the first half of 2020.
- People are living longer — The U.S. population over age 65 increased 60% from 2000 to 2020 and is expected to increase another 44% from 2020 to 2040.
- More people have chronic diseases – Over half of American adults have been diagnosed with at least one chronic condition and 27% have two or more.
Hospitals Role: Hospitals and health systems have remained leaders in controlling costs within the healthcare field.
Key numbers:
- Hospital price growth averaged just 2% annually from 2010 to 2020.
- Meanwhile, health insurance premiums have increased 4.4% per year on average since 2010.
Hospitals face significant challenges as they work to reduce the cost of care while maintaining operations.
The challenge: Hospitals have a variety of costs associated with providing care, including wages, prescription drugs, food and medical devices.
- Wages and benefits account for well over half of inpatient hospital costs.
- Life-saving items such as cardiac defibrillators can cost more than $20,000, while more complex models can cost roughly $40,000.
- Hospitals have invested resources in bringing new therapies and technologies to their patients, but this often raises the cost of providing care.
Steep increases in input prices, like rapidly escalating drug prices and labor costs, can undermine hospitals’ efforts to reduce the cost of care.
- Prices for drugs purchased directly from manufacturers increased at nearly twice the rate of retail drugs over the past decade.
Additionally, meeting the unique burden of requirements of over 1,000 insurers, including extensive government regulations, results in tremendous administrative and cost burden to hospitals.
COVID-19 has heightened a number of these challenges, as hospitals faced steep financial losses estimated at $54 billion in net income in 2021, with more than a third of hospitals expected to have negative operating margins through year’s end.
- Hospitals also experienced dramatic increases in expenses because of COVID-19’s care complexity, supply chain and labor shortages, travel nurses, personal protective equipment (PPE), vaccine testing and distribution.
A recent analysis of workforce data found:
- Staffing shortages have cost hospitals approximately $24 billion so far.
- Hospitals have also spent an additional $3 billion in acquiring PPE for the additional staff.
- Hospitals’ use of contract temporary labor is up 132% for full-time and 131% for part-time staff.
Learn more about how hospitals are providing accessible and effective care.
Something Really Strange Is Happening At Hospitals All Over America BY TYLER DURDEN THURSDAY, NOV 04, 2021 –
Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,
In a year that has been filled with so many mysteries already, I have another very odd one to share with you. Emergency rooms are filled to overflowing all over America, and nobody can seem to explain why this is happening. Right now, the number of new COVID cases in the United States each day is less than half of what it was just a couple of months ago. That is really good news, and many believe that this is a sign that the pandemic is fading. Let us hope that is true. With fewer people catching the virus, you would think that would mean that our emergency rooms should be emptying out, but the opposite is actually happening. All across the country, emergency rooms are absolutely packed, and in many cases we are seeing seriously ill patients being cared for in the hallways because all of the ER rooms are already full.
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. The following comes from an article entitled “ERs Are Swamped With Seriously Ill Patients, Although Many Don’t Have Covid”…
Inside the emergency department at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan, staff members are struggling to care for patients showing up much sicker than they’ve ever seen.
Tiffani Dusang, the ER’s nursing director, practically vibrates with pent-up anxiety, looking at patients lying on a long line of stretchers pushed up against the beige walls of the hospital hallways. “It’s hard to watch,” she said in a warm Texas twang.
But there’s nothing she can do. The ER’s 72 rooms are already filled.
Can anyone explain why this is happening?
If the number of COVID cases was starting to spike again, it would make sense for emergency rooms to be overflowing.
But at this particular hospital in Michigan, we are being told that some of the main things that are being treated include “abdominal pain”, “respiratory problems”, “blood clots” and “heart conditions”…
Months of treatment delays have exacerbated chronic conditions and worsened symptoms. Doctors and nurses say the severity of illness ranges widely and includes abdominal pain, respiratory problems, blood clots, heart conditions and suicide attempts, among other conditions.
That mention of “heart conditions” immediately got my attention, because I have been seeing this so much in the news recently.
For instance, a high school senior in Pennsylvania just dropped dead from “a sudden cardiac incident”…
The high school soccer manager ‘greatly enjoyed’ his team’s championship victory Saturday. Later that evening, he was dead.
Now, late student Blake Barklage’s high school is mourning his untimely death. As 6ABC in Philly reports, the tragedy occurred at La Salle College High School in Montgomery County, Pa.
In a letter to parents, the school announced that the senior died after ‘a sudden cardiac incident’ Saturday night.
Elsewhere in the same state, an otherwise healthy 12-year-old boy just suddenly died because of an issue with his coronary artery…
As family and friends grieve, the cause of death is for a 12-year-old taken way too soon while warming up for school basketball practice.
As TribLive in Pittsburgh reports, Jayson Kidd, 12, of Bridgeville, Pa., died of natural causes involving his coronary artery, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Heart problems kill elderly people all the time, but it is odd that so many healthy young people have been having these problems.
Over the weekend, Barcelona striker Sergio Aguero suddenly collapsed on the pitch during a match.
He was later diagnosed with “a cardiac arrhythmia”…
Sergio “Kun” Aguero, a striker for the Barcelona soccer team, has been diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia after collapsing during Saturday’s match against Alaves.
The 33-year-old Argentinian was examined by medical staff at the stadium before being taken to a nearby hospital where he is still waiting to undergo further examination.
Just two days later, a match in Norway was brought to a screeching halt after a player experienced “cardiac arrest” right in the middle of a match…
A football match in Norway’s second division was halted on Monday after Icelandic midfielder Emil Pálsson suffered a cardiac arrest during play.
The 28-year-old Sogndal player suffered the attack as the game against Stjordals-Blink entered the 12th minute, his club said in a statement.
I have been seeing so many stories like this.
So why are so many young people suddenly having such serious problems with their hearts?
Can anyone out there explain this to me?
* * *
It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.
The US States People Are Fleeing And The Ones They Are Moving To – Forbes