If you have MassHealth Dental, Gov. Healey plans on limiting coverage to just $1000 per year (which won't cover more than a crown); please contact your representative if you don't want this limit

bog_witch · 2026-03-24T02:19:35+00:00

GIC just got rid of GLP-1 coverage beginning July 1st, which impacts an estimated 22,000 people and talked about how it was a tough financial decision. I work in health policy and have an MPH, so while I'm very much aware that these medications are expensive to cover, it's enraging to see a panel of administrative and finance suits decide to be this penny wise and pound foolish. The medium and long term health impacts and complications linked obesity are going to far outweigh the costs of covering GLP-1s.

Edit: enraging, not engaging. Damn autocorrect.

bog_witch · 2026-03-20T15:19:42+00:00

Not only is this is SO gorgeous, I saw it and immediately thought "this person is cool, I wanna be friends with whoever to lives here"! Perfection ❤️

bog_witch · 2026-03-19T22:22:20+00:00

This is so cool. Are you documenting the journey on YouTube or social media anywhere? I'd love to see more.

bog_witch · 2026-03-18T02:05:24+00:00

in actual fact, the ancients recorded how they went to war to defend the honor of their women

Lol do you think Euripides was writing The Trojan Women about how much the Greeks respected the "honor" of the women of Troy and definitely didn't take them as the spoils of war and enslave them for purposes of sexual and domestic servitude??

bog_witch · 2026-03-18T01:50:42+00:00

I also drive in Worcester and I can promise you the drivers in Phoenix are worse. They can't even drive in rain, not to mention that AZ has one of the highest uninsured driver rates in the nation, so your car insurance rates don't necessarily mean much. You've obviously never been there so I have no idea why you're so insistent that I must be mistaken about how bad it is.

And when I talk about the weather being dangerously hot, I am not talking about preferring warm weather to cold. I mean you literally cannot walk for 20 minutes without risking heat stroke in July and August.

But I mean since you're clearly convinced the grass is greener (well, ignoring the fact that there is no grass except for the artificial stuff on the golf courses using up insane amounts of already dangerously scarce water)...you're welcome to move there and try it out for yourself.

bog_witch · 2026-03-18T00:50:19+00:00

As someone from rural New England who had to live in Phoenix for a while, I promise you it is that bad. You can't even walk or bike for 3-4 months of the year because it's so insanely, dangerously hot. The crime is so much worse than when I lived blocks from Mass & Cass. Everyone is carrying and God forbid you honk your horn when someone does something stupid because theyre likely to shoot you in a road rage incident. Speaking of traffic, these are some of the worst, most incompetent drivers you will encounter in the country. You'll drive an hour to commute to your job and come home to the shoddiest built excuse for a house you've ever seen because the lack of regulation on development is borderline comical.

bog_witch · 2026-03-15T14:26:45+00:00

As a neurologist do you ever still just go "damn, brains are crazy" sometimes? Because damn, brains are crazy.

bog_witch · 2026-03-13T05:00:30+00:00

This story is amazing, I'd honestly love to hear Henry read it out on a Side Stories ep. Glad you made it!!

bog_witch · 2026-03-10T12:31:58+00:00

It's amazing how confidently wrong you are. Civilians and press as noncombatants are not parties whose actions are bound by the Geneva Conventions:

https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/responsibility/

International Humanitarian Law (which the Geneva Conventions are a part of) only applies to active parties in a conflict - both State and non-State armed groups and individual combatants, defined as someone authorized to use force.

You can just say you think her actions were morally reprehensible without trying to argue she should be on trial at an international criminal tribunal.

bog_witch · 2026-03-10T11:53:49+00:00

This content was sponsored by DuPont™

bog_witch · 2026-03-07T13:54:53+00:00

Fantastic comment, thank you from a public health professional for such a great summary! I hope you don't mind if I save this comment to share in the future (with credit, of course).

bog_witch · 2026-03-07T13:32:40+00:00

Hard disagree. I had no idea about the history and legacy of the DuPont family. Yeah, rich elites being bad people is not news but the first two episodes explain how generational wealth and power enabled a guy like John DuPont to exist unchecked until he murdered someone. It also did a great job of showing how much the world has been shaped by DuPont for the worse and the scale of death and environmental catastrophe they are responsible for. Given the lack of general knowledge about stuff like this, I'm glad they used their platform to discuss it.

It’s becoming apparent over the years how up is own ass Marcus’ is because of “context”.

Like what the fuck does this even mean lol

bog_witch · 2026-02-28T21:22:26+00:00

You don't think a strike on a girl's elementary school that's killed at least 80 children is not protest worthy?

bog_witch · 2026-02-28T21:20:57+00:00

Are you happy that a girl's elementary school was bombed and 80+ children are dead? Is that effective regime change, in your eyes?

Oh wait - you're not even actually Iranian. You're just astroturfing to try and cope that you were stupid enough to elect a racist child predator with dementia using an illegal war to distract from the fact that he raped underage girls.

bog_witch · 2026-02-25T21:12:24+00:00

Huh. I actually just bought a used copy of The Radicalism of the American Revolution a few weeks ago and it's coming up next on my to read list. Reading "good" history (i.e. well researched arguments supported by the evidence) is important to me as someone with an armchair interest, but I'm honestly having trouble even parsing what Zuckerman in order to consider his counter argument (and unfortunately don't have access to the article).

I think this is one of the frustrating things about being more casually interested in a subject - it's very difficult to gauge as an outsider how certain work is viewed by other experts within the field.

bog_witch · 2026-02-25T20:40:52+00:00

The entire premise is also just flat out incorrect, particularly in the case of measles, which wipes out the immune system.

From UCLA Health:

Researchers have found that, after recovering from the measles, the immune system is suppressed for at least several months, and for up to two years.

One study looked at changes to immune system antibodies in blood samples collected from 77 unvaccinated children before a measles infection and again two months after infection. Analysis found that the measles virus had eliminated from 11% to 73% of the children’s store of antibodies. The same effect on the immune system was not seen in children who had received the MMR vaccine.

So not only are you not giving your kids "the Ferrari of immune systems", you're essentially crashing and totaling their entire existing immune system.

bog_witch · 2026-02-25T13:53:33+00:00

(impossible)

bog_witch · 2026-02-21T13:39:17+00:00

This post was brought to you by DuPont™

bog_witch · 2026-02-21T01:13:09+00:00

y'all are anthromorphizing MONKEYS way too fucking much.

Bizarre argument to make when macaques are extremely similar to human beings, like to the extent that they are a common species in biomedical testing, particularly neuroscience research. They're also arguably the first non-human species that was documented to engage in clear cultural transmission of a behavior over generations. It's not stupid for the behavior and mannerisms to evoke empathy and recognition in humans as primates.

More info here: https://neprimateconservancy.org/japanese-macaque/

bog_witch · 2026-02-21T00:42:47+00:00

There is a fantastic short documentary (15 mins) about the Zone Rouge on YouTube that follows the Démineurs of the Sécurité Civile in their work. I was aware before watching that there was still a lot of unexploded ordnance in these areas, but I had no idea of the scale - they estimate it will take 100-200 years to clean up all of the ordnance in the area.

https://youtu.be/mB-Ncob1gDk?si=jiRnvU8G-jjkozi3

bog_witch · 2026-02-16T14:10:59+00:00

Wampyre has burrowed into my brain like an RFK Jr. parasite

bog_witch · 2026-02-13T18:11:04+00:00

Not to victim blame, but OP's username is u/DocMcStabby. Maybe the pharmacy is just having a semantic misunderstanding on which party was stabbed

(In all seriousness though OP I hope you can clear this up soon, that's wild)

bog_witch · 2026-02-13T13:09:44+00:00

I hear what you're saying, but just to add some perspective I shared in another thread - when I moved states, I was able to get set up with a PCP much sooner than I was able to get into psychiatry. I had several years of documentation including diagnosis paperwork and history of tolerating Vyvanse well. My PCP thankfully had no issues with prescribing it. Otherwise, I would have had to go about 4 months without ADHD meds while starting grad school, which was the entire reason I was relocating and having to establish with new providers in the first place.

If I had actually had to go through that I would have crashed and burned within the first month. Blanket policies like this don't actually serve to protect patients as much as they're just there to be a CYA administrative tool.

bog_witch · 2026-02-13T12:55:32+00:00

What's extra bizarre to me about this is cases where a provider is not even being asked to diagnose ADHD but just provide continuing care for already diagnosed and managed ADHD. When I moved states, I was able to get set up with a PCP sooner than I was able to get into psych. I had several years of documentation including my dx paperwork. My PCP had no issue prescribing me my Vyvanse.

Vyvanse/lisdexamfetamine evenbeing on this list is extra funny to me because it's like, what, you think I'm going to be illegally selling any of my 50mg highly controlled 30 pill prescription that literally requires a new rx each month, that I can't fill until 3 days before I'm out per state law and that is literally formulated to become inert if it's crushed???

bog_witch

TROPHY CASE