DAVOS 2023: WEF shifts into high gear in preparing for the next Pandemic

 This follow-up is to my recent sub stacks attempting to connect the dots of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and their goals for expanding their agenda in order to stick to their timeline regarding the continent of Africa. 

I look at things this way when I think about the WEF: hypothetically speaking, if a gang decides to get together once a month with knives and decide under the cover of darkness to go out and slash the tires of every car parked on residential streets of a city, and the next day all the tires of every car parked on those streets have in fact been slashed, you may not be able to prove the gang did it, but if it happens enough you might start to suspect and question what is happening and who is responsible. 

After covering this for some time now, I am convinced not only does the WEF consistently tell you what they are going to do, they sure love to prepare in advance/undertake all of these preparations before they implement what they are going to carry out.  For example, before COVID-19 and Monkey pox, they prepared for and ran their germ games; then COVID-19 and Monkey pox happened. 

We may tend to assume WEFs decisions only center on health or viruses/diseases. Now they appear to be reprioritizing/reassessing their priorities based on policy. With this updated announcement, there are six themes developed in 2022 that have continued to be refined to set the stage for the 2023 conference beginning in less than a month, from 16-20 January:

• Theme #1: Ukraine shines a light on importance of global cooperation

• Theme #2: Three interconnected crises - climate, food, energy

• Theme #3: Don't use the 'R' (recession)word (but it might be coming anyway)

• Theme #4: Preparing for the next pandemic requires ending health disparities

• Theme #5: Gender, inequality and Jobs of Tomorrow

• Theme #6: 'Our future is digital'

Theme #6 is enough of a looming threat because it invokes the rollout of things like central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), universal basic income and a social credit system like we are seeing in places like China and India. 

But it was Theme #4 that had me shake my head and do a double-take. Ending health disparities…what the heck does that mean? 

When I started to read and unpack what Theme #4 was saying and found that it stated right up front “…where just 13% of people are vaccinated (compared to 75% of people in high-income countries)”, I knew they must be mainly talking about Africa. I’ve seen that statistic before, so I guessed Africa right off the bat before reading any further, and I was right.  I questioned the 13% metric and wanted to double check it, so based upon a total population in Africa of 1.4 billion, based on this search; 373.1 million Africans have been fully-vaccinated as of December 21, 2022, making the percentage closer to 37%, still a relatively low percentage compared to many developed countries.

FYI: Joshua Phillip also did a nice Crossroads piece on Epoch TV on this topic the other day, and you can catch that here if you missed it.

Then, I saw this this very concerning statement from the WEF announcement under Theme #4:

“Investing in health systems and regional bodies like Africa CDC and African Medicines Agency must be a key priority,” said Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda. “We have to act in the full expectation that there will be another pandemic.”

Rolling out COVID-19 vaccines in Rwanda | WHO | Regional Office for Africa Source:  afro.who.int

My goodness, could Africa become the next epicenter, the next Ground-zero of the next pandemic? Is this their intention? Africa has one of the lowest percentages of COVID-19 infection rates and deaths in the world, and perhaps the low vaccination rate could explain why.  Is it possible the WEF and corrupt, globalists’ corporations now want to punish Africa for this because they don’t like these statistics?  Mostly due to malaria, Africa is also a nation where many have trusted taking repurposed anti-viral drugs to prevent malaria such as Hydroxychloroquine, which has also been distributed widely and is much easier to access relative to the Unites States (after Janet Woodcock and Rick Bright conspired to circumvent both the will of the POTUS and Peter Navarro). Of course, it is highly likely that Hydroxychloroquine is one way Africa has managed to minimize the spread and reduce the number of cases and hospitalizations from the novel Coronavirus

Of course, deaths per million is the final endpoint.

So let’s compare… The United States of America (green line) to Africa (red line). For those that are color blind, the line on the bottom of both charts- with almost no new cases and no deaths- yeh, that is Africa…

It is hard to argue with this chart. How did the “health disparities” between the USA and Africa cause Africa more death or more COVID cases per million (as the WEF claims)? It didn’t. Clearly, it didn’t and it doesn’t take a statistician to see that!

Why would all of this matter? Well, it seems as though the WEF is moving the goalpost and trying to redefine what constitutes a global health crisis, what constitutes improved health equity. This is a recipe for more concentrated socialist health policies forced on the people who live in nations like Africa.  The WEF has fairly consistently up until now framed global health crises along the lines of deadly viruses, outbreaks of infectious diseases.

This move would seem like a new virtue signaling tactic to link it to health disparity as a new way to frame a global health crisis.  As if to say: if we don’t think your country has enough socialized medicine, we can solve this problem for you.  On top of this, Winnie Byanyima, Undersecretary-General of the UN and Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), during a recent session on racial equity on the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, made this bizarre statement:

“Racism is when black people, brown people, people of colour take their last breath because of policy violence, when they are denied life-saving, pandemic-ending medicines," she continued, "when they can’t access care or education because debt is choking them.” 

She elaborated by what she meant by ‘policy violence’ as being a failure to share COVID-19 vaccines with the Global South as being ‘Racism’. So if you are a corporation, a business, a nation that has not vaccinated enough Africans, by her definition, you are guilty of the crime of policy violence (and by extension, racism). 

It’s easy to see why this move is appealing to the WEF: if the WEF can step in and end racial disparity in Africa, they can vaccinate more Africans and achieve their goals in that region.

This background may help to understand why the Biden Administration just last week pledged $55 Billion in aid to Africa over the next three years. President Biden declared that his country is "all in on Africa's future," adding, "When Africa succeeds, the United States succeeds.”

This reminds me of the steady stream of money the U.S. keeps printing to send over to Ukraine which is getting harder and harder to trace and show any accountability for.  Perhaps out of guilt or shame, both of which play right into this narrative, corporations mentioned in the Biden $55 Billion aid article are now coming out of the woodwork and pledging money for various related globalist projects that will build a framework necessary to target Africa.

There is always plenty of money to go around when the WEF is involved. Therefore, we must continue to monitor what the WEF is doing (and who they are motivating to partner along with them). It is important to pinpoint what does and what does not come true, based on what they tell us they are going to do. Just how far does their influence reach? Are they directly impacting future globalist trends? Is their goal truly“ending health disparities” or is it relating to the expansion of a command economy and centralized planning - otherwise known as socialism on a global scale?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Robert W Malone MD, MS 
Inventor of mRNA & DNA vaccines, RNA as a drug. Scientist, physician, writer, podcaster, commentator and advocate. Believer in our fundamental freedom of free speech.

https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/davos-2023-wef-shifts-into-high-gear?utm_medium=ios

Quake Prediction Says "Signal Just Hit," Warns Of Potential Big Earthquake From SF To LA

 An earthquake rattled parts of Northern California on Sunday for the second time in two weeks. The 5.4-magnitude quake was centered about 30 miles south of Eureka. On Dec. 20, a 6.4-magnitude earthquake also struck near Eureka.

Now one quake prediction research firm warned that the next big one could be imminent. 

On Monday morning, Quake Predictions published a warning that read for the next two days -- there is a "dangerous situation" of the likelihood of a 7.0-magnitude "in the San Francisco Bay to NW of Los Angeles area." 

The warning comes after two sizeable quakes hit Northern California in less than two weeks. 

Sunday morning's earthquake was described as "more violent this time," Rio Dell Mayor Debra Garnes told CNN in an interview. 

"It was shorter but more violent. My refrigerator moved two feet. Things came out of the refrigerator. There's a crack in my wall from the violence of it," Garnes said. 

California has an average of five earthquakes per year with magnitudes between 5 and 6, according to LATimes. And the latest shakings might suggest a long overdue big quake could be nearing. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/quake-prediction-says-signal-just-hit-warns-potential-big-earthquake-san-francisco-la

Best stock picks for 2023: Here are Wall Street analysts' most heavily favored choices

 Slowing inflation and a policy pivot by the Federal Reserve could set up a rebound year for stocks

Following a sharp and sustained rise in interest rates, U.S. stocks have taken a broad beating this year.

But 2023 may bring very different circumstances.

Below are lists of analysts' favorite stocks among the benchmark S&P 500 , the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index (MID) and the S&P Small Cap 600 Index that are expected to rise the most over the next year. Those lists are followed by a summary of opinions of all 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average .

Stocks rallied on Dec. 13 when the November CPI report showed a much slower inflation pace than economists had expected. Then on Dec. 14, as expected, the And the market may be shifting because this week's consumer price index report showed a decline in inflation. Following that improvement, the Federal Reserve slowed the pace of its interest rate increases.

The 0.50% increase in the federal-funds rate followed four previous increases of 0.75%. The rate began 2022 in a range of zero to 0.25%, where it had sat since March 2020. Its target range is now 4.25% -- 4.5%,

A further slowing of inflation and the possibility that the federal funds rate will reach its "terminal" rate (the highest for this cycle) in the near term could set the stage for a broad rally for stocks in 2023.

Wall Street's large-cap favorites

Among the S&P 500, 92 stocks are rated "buy" or the equivalent by at least 75% of analysts working for brokerage firms. That number itself is interesting -- at the end of 2021, 93 of the S&P 500 had this distinction. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has declined 16% in 2022, with all sectors down except for energy, which has risen 53%, and the utilities sector, which his risen 1% (both excluding dividends).

Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 with at least 75% "buy" or equivalent ratings that analysts expect to rise the most over the next year, based on consensus price targets:

Company                                        Ticker  Industry                         Closing price -- Dec. 12  Consensus price target  Implied 12-month upside potential  Share "buy" ratings  Price change -- 2022 through Dec. 12 
EQT Corp.                                       EQT    Oil and Gas Production                            $36.91                  $59.70                                62%                  78%                                  69% 
Catalent Inc.                                   CTLT   Pharmaceuticals                                   $45.50                  $72.42                                59%                  75%                                 -64% 
Amazon.com Inc.                                 AMZN   Internet Retail                                   $90.55                 $136.02                                50%                  91%                                 -46% 
Global Payments Inc.                            GPN    Misc. Commercial Services                         $99.64                 $147.43                                48%                  75%                                 -26% 
Signature Bank                                  SBNY   Regional Banks                                   $122.73                 $180.44                                47%                  78%                                 -62% 
Salesforce Inc.                                 CRM    Software                                         $133.11                 $195.59                                47%                  80%                                 -48% 
Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. Class A               BIO    Medical Specialties                              $418.28                 $591.00                                41%                 100%                                 -45% 
Zoetis Inc. Class A                             ZTS    Pharmaceuticals                                  $152.86                 $212.80                                39%                  87%                                 -37% 
Delta Air Lines Inc.                            DAL    Airlines                                          $34.77                  $48.31                                39%                  90%                                 -11% 
Diamondback Energy Inc.                         FANG   Oil and Gas Production                           $134.21                 $182.33                                36%                  84%                                  24% 
Caesars Entertainment Inc                       CZR    Casinos/ Gaming                                   $50.27                  $67.79                                35%                  81%                                 -46% 
Alphabet Inc. Class A                          GOOGL   Internet Software/ Services                       $93.31                 $125.70                                35%                  92%                                 -36% 
Halliburton Co.                                 HAL    Oilfield Services/ Equipment                      $34.30                  $45.95                                34%                  86%                                  50% 
Alaska Air Group Inc.                           ALK    Airlines                                          $45.75                  $61.08                                34%                  93%                                 -12% 
Targa Resources Corp.                           TRGP   Gas Distributors                                  $70.42                  $93.95                                33%                  95%                                  35% 
Charles River Laboratories International Inc.   CRL    Misc. Commercial Services                        $201.94                 $269.25                                33%                  88%                                 -46% 
ServiceNow Inc.                                 NOW    Information Technology Services                  $401.64                 $529.83                                32%                  92%                                 -38% 
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.              TTWO   Software                                         $102.61                 $135.04                                32%                  79%                                 -42% 
EOG Resources Inc.                              EOG    Oil and Gas Production                           $124.06                 $158.24                                28%                  82%                                  40% 
Southwest Airlines Co.                          LUV    Airlines                                          $38.94                  $49.56                                27%                  76%                                  -9% 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Source: FactSet 

Most of the companies on the S&P 500 list expected to soar in 2023 have seen large declines in 2022. But the company at the top of the list, EQT Corp. (EQT), is an exception. The stock has risen 69% in 2022 and is expected to add another 62% over the next 12 months. Analysts expect the company's earnings per share to double during 2023 (in part from its expected acquisition of THQ), after nearly a four-fold EPS increase in 2022.

Shares of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) are expected to soar 50% over the next year, following a decline of 46% so far in 2022. If the shares were to rise 50% from here to the price target of $136.02, they would still be 18% below their closing price of 166.72 at the end of 2021.

You can see the earnings estimates and more for any stock in this article by clicking on its ticker.

Mid-cap stocks expected to rise the most

The lists of favored stocks are limited to those covered by at least five analysts polled by FactSet.

Among components of the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index, there are 84 stocks with at least 75% "buy" ratings. Here at the 20 expected to rise the most over the next year:

Company                              Ticker  Industry                           Closing price -- Dec. 12  Consensus price target  Implied 12-month upside potential  Share "buy" ratings  Price change -- 2022 through Dec. 12 
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc.        ARWR   Biotechnology                                       $31.85                  $69.69                               119%                  83%                                 -52% 
Lantheus Holdings Inc.                LNTH   Medical Specialties                                 $54.92                 $102.00                                86%                 100%                                  90% 
Progyny Inc.                          PGNY   Misc. Commercial Services                           $31.21                  $55.57                                78%                 100%                                 -38% 
Coherent Corp.                        COHR   Electronic Equipment/ Instruments                   $35.41                  $60.56                                71%                  84%                                 -48% 
Exelixis Inc.                         EXEL   Biotechnology                                       $16.08                  $26.07                                62%                  81%                                 -12% 
Darling Ingredients Inc.              DAR    Food: Specialty/ Candy                              $61.17                  $97.36                                59%                  93%                                 -12% 
Perrigo Co. PLC                       PRGO   Pharmaceuticals                                     $31.83                  $49.25                                55%                 100%                                 -18% 

https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20221231252/best-stock-picks-for-2023-here-are-wall-street-analysts-most-heavily-favored-choices

Government watchdog warns of Medicare fraud after relaxing provider requirements

 A government watchdog agency is urging federal health regulators to speed up checks on providers and conduct background checks after raising concerns about the risk for fraud following the coronavirus pandemic.

The CMS relaxed provider enrollment requirements during the pandemic to ensure continuity for both providers and enrollees during the public health emergency. However, a report from the Government Accountability Office raised concerns about the fraud risk some of these providers may pose to the program.

The GAO found that about 222,000 providers were able to enroll between March 2020 and March 2022 through the relaxed requirements. Suppliers of durable medical equipment represented a small share of those who enrolled during this period but represented 83% of those who were later revoked from the Medicare program by the CMS.

“While this is not a large share of enrollments, even a small number of providers can cause significant financial harm if they commit fraud,” the GAO said in its report released Monday.

The GAO is recommending that the CMS conduct background checks on high-risk providers who enrolled during the public health emergency, speed up provider checks and evaluate its own performance to inform policies for future emergencies.

Florida, California and Texas were home to the largest number of durable medical equipment suppliers enrolled during the pandemic who were later revoked from the program.

The Medicare program is expected to spend roughly $940 billion on healthcare services for 65 million members in 2022, and the GAO estimates a total of $47 billion in improper payments.

https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/government-watchdog-gao-medicare-fraud-pandemic/639176/

High-intensity billing in ERs has increased, but not only due to upcoding

 

• High-intensity billing for emergency services has increased significantly since 2006, according to a recent study.
• The proportion of emergency room visits billed as “high intensity” that don’t result in a hospitalization grew from 4.8% in 2006 to 19.2% in 2019, reflecting not simply increasingly aggressive coding, but the ER’s shifting role in the acute care ecosystem, researchers said.
• Roughly half of the growth in high-intensity billing was expected due to shifts in administrative measures of patient cases and care services available in claims data, along with potentially more serious conditions, such as chest and abdominal pain, making up a greater share of visits.

Researchers used an all-payer national sample of ERs to analyze high-intensity billing in ER visits that don’t result in hospitalizations, called “treat-and-release” ER visits, for the study published in Health Affairs this month.

They found that the increase in high-intensity billing for emergency services reflected an increase in the case mix of patient presentations and the services performed in the ER to manage their care, suggesting that coding practices alone don’t account for the trend.

Clinician billing practices in the ER have come under increased scrutiny in recent years as the amount of high intensity visits has grown.

A 2018 analysis of the Medicare fee-for-service population found the proportion of ER visits associated with high-intensity billing increased from 46% in 2006 to 58% in 2012. By 2017, the median rate of high-intensity billing was 67%.

Worries about fraudulent upcoding are widespread in the healthcare system, especially in Medicare as research suggests fraud could be costing the government billions of dollars a year. Regulators are taking a stronger look at how to tamp down on actions like upcoding amid rising concerns about Medicare’s long-term solvency as America’s population grows older.

More than a fifth of Medicare claims for emergency services across multiple providers don’t have adequate documentation to support the level billed, according to the HHS Office of the Inspector General.

However, “to frame increasing high-intensity billing as a consequence of either changes in patient presentations or changes in billing practices would be to set up a false dichotomy that fails to acknowledge the substantial evolving role of the ED in care delivery,” researchers wrote in the new study.

For example, more primary care physicians are referring patients to the ER for quick diagnostics, and the growth of urgent care clinics provides an alternate setting for low-acuity visits that otherwise might have gone to the ER. In addition, older patients and those with multiple chronic medical conditions account for a growing share of the U.S. population, creating an increasingly complex case mix.

“In addressing potentially inappropriate billing practices, payers must acknowledge the increasing complexity of care for a treat-and-release ED patient population composed of older, more comorbid, and clinically undifferentiated patients, to avoid hospitalization, ensure safe discharge, and improve acute care outcomes,” researchers said.

https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/high-intensity-billing-emergency-room-upcoding/639289/

Stakes are high in California’s Medicaid market shakeup

 California’s ambitious plan to overhaul its Medicaid system has ignited a fierce battle among insurers after some companies were shut out of the market following a competitive bidding process earlier this year.

The state aims to transform Medicaid coverage to improve health outcomes through better care coordination and by expanding its focus on social determinants like housing instability and food insecurity.

California is in the midst of a homelessness crisis, underscored this month when new Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency over the problem in her first official act in office.

As the state prepares to roll out a revamped Medicaid program in 2024, the expectation is that more emphasis on prevention through intensive case management will translate to fewer costly emergency room visits and hospital stays. Reducing racial and ethnic health disparities, holding health plans more accountable for quality care, and providing more transparency to consumers are additional goals of the strategy.

For insurers, participation in the country’s largest Medicaid market is at stake. Dubbed Medi-Cal, the program serves more than 14.6 million low-income Californians, of whom 12 million are enrolled in managed care plans, according to the nonprofit California Health Care Foundation.

Medicaid is typically among the largest components of state budgets. Including both federal and state funds, Medicaid spending proposed in California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget for 2022-23 exceeds $130 billion per year, said Brad Ellis, head of U.S. health insurance at Fitch Ratings. “The amount of health plan revenue involved is quite significant,” he said.

To implement its new vision for Medi-Cal, the state this summer selected three plans — Elevance Health’s Anthem Blue Cross Partnership, Molina Healthcare and Centene’s Health Net — to receive coveted contracts in its first-ever competitive procurement process for commercial managed care.

Several plans that lost out in the bidding, however, are not accepting defeat. After the contract awards were announced, four plans — Aetna Better Health of California, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan, Community Health Group Partnership Plan, and Health Net Community Solutions — submitted appeals to the state challenging the outcome of the competitive procurement process.

“MCOs that win contracts will experience growth in revenue and likely profits, with the magnitude of both depending on the size of the contracts (counties) awarded. These companies will also need to add staff to manage the additional business. Companies that lost contracts will obviously experience the opposite,” Ellis said.

Community Health Group, which lost the San Diego County business even though it is locally based, said it was not awarded a contract despite scoring less than one point below the next highest bidder. “The decision by DHCS was wrong and will decrease the quality of care available to the 330,000 San Diego-area residents we currently serve,” Norma Diaz, CEO of the nonprofit, said in a statement.

In addition ti filing a formal appeal, Blue Shield of California is suing the state’s Department of Health Care Services in California Superior Court. The payer is accusing the agency of failing to release documents about the scoring process and methodology used in determining the contract winners. Blue Shield asked that more time be granted for parties in the appeals process to review all of the related documents.

“We are turning to the court to insist on a full, fair, and robust Medi-Cal procurement appeals process. We believe that the Department of Health Care Services has a duty to get this right and not just rubber stamp its original decision,” Kristen Cerf, CEO of Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan, said in a statement.

DHCS spokesperson Anthony Cava, in an email to Healthcare Dive, said there is no specific date set for when the state hearing officer reviewing the Medi-Cal appeals will issue a determination.

Centene, which won contracts in nine counties but lost in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Kern and is also appealing the decision, has forecast a downside risk to its 2024 earnings of 25 to 50 cents per share if factors including the loss of Medi-Cal business play out.

Molina, meanwhile, is adding staff and IT infrastructure as it gears up for an expansion after winning the Los Angeles County contract.

Stephens analyst Scott Fidel estimated that Molina could add about 1.4 million members while Centene could lose about 1.2 million, mostly due to the loss of its Los Angeles business. “While the company’s most significant Medi-Cal win in LA County still faces some competitor appeals, (Molina) is confident it will be awarded the full business, embedding its contribution in the 2024 premium revenue target of $37+ billion,” Fidel said in a research note.

All told, about 2.3 million Medi-Cal enrollees may be forced to change health plans in 2024 because DHCS reduced the overall number of options available and did not ask their current plan to continue in the program, according to the California Health Care Foundation. But that decision could be a positive for enrollees, the foundation said, citing research that found having more choices did not improve quality of care or member satisfaction and made the system more difficult to navigate.

In a further wrinkle to the Medi-Cal award process, Kaiser Permanente received a no-bid contract, subject to federal approval. Rivals argue the award, covering 32 counties, will allow the payer to cherry pick healthier, less expensive members.

While it is unclear whether the appeals process will result in any changes to the original DHCS awards, “such appeals have sometimes been successful in the past,” Ellis said.

https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/Medi-Cal-California-Medicaid-appeal/639052/