Money and Computing
GAO: Vaccine Development: Capabilities and Challenges for Addressing Infectious Diseases
Policymakers could provide support for public-private partnerships to strategically address potential pandemic pathogens identified as priorities. These partnerships could, for example, develop and test vaccine candidates that may provide protection from pathogens with pandemic potential. This early development could provide a coordinated foundation that can be mobilized in an emergency. Such an approach could speed vaccine development as well as potentially reduce risk for vaccine researchers and developers concerning questions of safety, efficacy, and manufacturability. The lack of certainty of the commercial market and government funding for vaccines against pathogens with pandemic potential may be too risky for the private sector to undertake. more »
Medicare’s Open Enrollment Is Open Season for Scammers; Here’s How You Know
"In California, reports of deceptive sales practices for Medicare Advantage and drug plans have been the top complaints to the state Senior Medicare Patrol for the past two years, said Sandy Morales, a case manager for the group. The patrol is a federally funded program that helps seniors untangle insurance problems." "Nationwide, the Senior Medical Patrol has sent 74% more cases in the first nine months of this year than in all of 2020 to CMS and the Health and Human Services Inspector General for investigation, said Rebecca Kinney, director of the Administration for Community Living’s Office of Healthcare Information and Counseling at HHS, which oversees the patrols. She expects more complaints to come in during Medicare’s open-enrollment period. And last month, CMS officials warned the private insurance companies selling Medicare Advantage and drug plans that federal requirements prohibit deceptive sales practices." more »
Julia Sneden Wrote: Puzzling: Jumbled Words, Anagrams, Crosswords, Cryptograms, Acrostics, I Love Them All
Julia Sneden wrote: 'But what of the more immediate kind of memory trouble? I'm referring to the sort that finds me standing in front of the refrigerator, suddenly wondering why on earth I opened the door, or going down to the basement pantry for paper towels and coming up with a jar of salsa instead. Those things are, I think, more a matter of losing focus than of true memory. I've always been distractible, but these days it's as if the problem has gone onto steroids. It does help to stay calm and try to recreate the moments just before I undertook whatever it was I've forgotten, but while I can often repair the damage to the errand, it's harder to repair the damage to my self-esteem." more »
The US Housing and Mortgage Market, Risks and Resilience: Federal Reserve Governor Michelle W. Bowman
"In total, home prices in September were 21 percent higher than in June 2020. Home price increases are also widespread. In September, about 90 percent of American cities had experienced rising home prices over the past three months, and the home price increases were substantial in most of these cities... The demand for housing has risen for several reasons. Interest rates are low, families have accumulated savings, and income growth in the past 18 months has been quite strong. Families are also reconsidering where, and in what kind of home, they want to live. Purchases of second homes, for example, have been somewhat high in the past 18 months. Meanwhile, the supply of new homes has been held back by shortages of materials, labor, and developed lots." more »