Latest / The Bill Handel Show / Revisiting the Los Angeles Wildfires | ‘Medical News’ with Dr. Jim Keany

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Revisiting the Los Angeles Wildfires | ‘Medical News’ with Dr. Jim Keany · The Bill Handel Show

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Speaker 1: You're list Saints kf I AM six forty the Bill
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Speaker 1: Handles show on demand on the iHeartRadio ff I AM
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Speaker 1: six forty. Bill Handle here Wednesday morning, January seventh, a
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Speaker 1: year ago today, the fires in Altadena and Pacific Palace
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Speaker 1: States decimated those areas. So many people were killed in
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Speaker 1: a number of structures that homes that were destroyed. Just insane.
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Speaker 1: And Heather Brooker is going to give us some good news.
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Speaker 1: She's calling from a neighborhood in Altadena where the rebuilding
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Speaker 1: has actually started. That's coming up the next segment. Okay,
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Speaker 1: interesting report. This came out of I think it was
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Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal, and it has to do with
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Speaker 1: U haul and its annual growth index. Now, the government
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Speaker 1: gives us all kinds of figures as to population and
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Speaker 1: the Census, et cetera. But what you Haul does is
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Speaker 1: try tracks my migration trends showing where its customers were
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Speaker 1: taking rented equipment, moving vans, you know pods where they
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Speaker 1: drop they take in one state and then they drop
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Speaker 1: off their furniture, etcetera in another state. And that's migration.
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Speaker 1: And actually everybody looks at u haul for those figures,
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Speaker 1: even the government does. Why because this growth index index
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Speaker 1: is compiled for more than two and a half million
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Speaker 1: one way you haul transactions every year in Texas and
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Speaker 1: the United States and Canada. And the most number of
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Speaker 1: people leaving California, why well, let's go through the litany
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Speaker 1: of cases and reasons. First of all, if it weren't
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Speaker 1: for immigrants for the most part, that are having children
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Speaker 1: and are coming in. For example, we have a huge
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Speaker 1: number of Hispanics and statistically they have more children than
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Speaker 1: Caucasians do. And then you have religious folks, for example,
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Speaker 1: Mormons have more kids than does the general rest of
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Speaker 1: the population. As a matter of fact, Mormons have kids
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Speaker 1: while they're having kids. I mean, that's really important for Mormons.
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Speaker 1: The point is is that California statistically has a bigger
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Speaker 1: population of those people who have children, more children. That
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Speaker 1: helps in the growth of this state. And because if
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Speaker 1: so many people are leaving, how does the population in
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Speaker 1: California stay the same because of those reasons. That is
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Speaker 1: a tough one. That is a tough one because look
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Speaker 1: at who is leaving and who is coming in. And
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Speaker 1: again these are U haul figures. We talk about the population,
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Speaker 1: and we talk about those people that are coming to
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Speaker 1: the United Dates where you Lazarus, give us your wretched,
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Speaker 1: you're poor, etc. But the people that come in illegally
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Speaker 1: are not the people that have the skills set that
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Speaker 1: makes for an economy of booming an economy. Now they
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Speaker 1: come in and do manual labor that they do and
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Speaker 1: they're an important part of the of the economy that
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Speaker 1: they are. Do they pay taxes not really, So who's
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Speaker 1: leaving the state? People who make money, Companies who make
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Speaker 1: money just don't know when to deal with the taxation
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Speaker 1: and do not want to deal with the governmental overreach.
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Speaker 1: It's hard to do business in this state. It's hard
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Speaker 1: to do business in Los Angeles and Orange County, and
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Speaker 1: people just have enough of it. We're done, so they move.
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Speaker 1: Where are they moving to? Well, they're moving to states.
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Speaker 1: One of the big ones is states that offer sunshine
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Speaker 1: and great weather. Wait a minute, doesn't California have the
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Speaker 1: best weather? Yeah, but that doesn't seem to me at
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Speaker 1: her because economics are changing a lot. I mean it is. Well,
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Speaker 1: I got to tell you, and you know that I've
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Speaker 1: said this before, that when I retire, I'm off to
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Speaker 1: Italy for at least several months a year. And we're
4:19
Speaker 1: talking about renting this house here that we have. Why
4:24
Speaker 1: because the taxes are completely crazy, because it's very difficult politically,
4:32
Speaker 1: it's just hard to live here. And so the states
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Speaker 1: are the states that are red, states that are getting
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Speaker 1: the most number of people. And since we are dead
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Speaker 1: last in terms of we're dead first and people that
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Speaker 1: are leaving. Do you know what state is number one?
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Speaker 1: And people that are coming into the state Texas, Texas.
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Speaker 1: It's one of the states that does and have an
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Speaker 1: income tax. It's a state that's growing like crazy. It's
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Speaker 1: a state in which conservatives are moving to because I
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Speaker 1: know people that have said, we're done, We're done with
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Speaker 1: the politics of California. We're moving to Texas. So between
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Speaker 1: politics and money and just the quality of living, I
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Speaker 1: can see that. I can see that. Am I moving
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Speaker 1: anytime soon? No? No, My job is here and we're
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Speaker 1: talking about my retirement which is years off. And maybe
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Speaker 1: by then, you know, things are going to change, you know,
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Speaker 1: we'll be in a different political situation. Maybe the tax well,
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Speaker 1: I was about to say taxes. We are by far
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Speaker 1: the most heavily taxed state. When you look at property tax,
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Speaker 1: when you look at income tax, when you look at
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Speaker 1: gasoline tax. When you look at the price of housing,
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Speaker 1: it is by far the most expensive state to live in.
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Speaker 1: You pay and a big price to live here. And
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Speaker 1: are there a lot of advantages? Yeah, yeah, you know.
6:05
Speaker 1: I love the traffic, for example, there's a real good
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Speaker 1: reason to stay here. There's nothing that thrills me more
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Speaker 1: than being on the four h five freeway for two hours.
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Speaker 1: Do you notice that? And this will quick one before
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Speaker 1: we bail out and go to Heather that we don't
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Speaker 1: talk about miles from A to B and people don't
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Speaker 1: understand that. It's all how long it takes, because you
6:31
Speaker 1: can go three miles on the freeway and spend half
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Speaker 1: an hour, and nobody else understands that unless you live
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Speaker 1: here and Will Will tell you that Will isn't that true?
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Speaker 1: And the answer is just a yes, I don't know
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Speaker 1: what I mean. Thank you? All right, thanks for the analysis.
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Speaker 1: This is why Will is you got it? Okay? Now,
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Speaker 1: Jim Kenney down at the bottom of the hour, we'll
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Speaker 1: talk about some medical news. But first, Heather Brooker or
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Speaker 1: Kafi Heather Brooker is in a neighborhood in Altadena, and
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Speaker 1: we're not talking about the fires destroying We're talking about rebuilding.
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Speaker 1: So Heather, good morning, and what's going on? Hi?
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Speaker 2: Good morning, Bill. So I have moved from the neighborhood.
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Speaker 2: I'm actually at the collaboratory now in Aladina. We are
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Speaker 2: the collaboratory.
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Speaker 3: Huge.
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Speaker 1: It's a huge restroom.
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Speaker 2: It is not a huge restroom. No, that is a
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Speaker 2: different type of collaboratory. I don't know. I don't know
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Speaker 2: what type of restroom breaks here.
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Speaker 1: I said laboratory. I'm sorry, I miss not laboratory.
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Speaker 3: Okay, So it's collaboratory.
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Speaker 4: There you are.
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Speaker 2: We're waiting for some state leaders and local leaders to arrive.
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Speaker 2: And right now there's homeowners here to talk about where
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Speaker 2: we are and where Altadena is. One year later after
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Speaker 2: these devastating fires, I can tell you right now it
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Speaker 2: is a completely different feeling here. There's a sense of peace,
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Speaker 2: but also sadness and heartbreak a year later, because there's
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Speaker 2: still so much unresolved. There's so many questions that need
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Speaker 2: to be asked, and you know, I want to get
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Speaker 2: to something really special right now. I have a homeowner here.
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Speaker 2: Her name is Denise Ruffner. She lost her home in
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Speaker 2: the Eaten fire, and she is here with me. Now, Denise,
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Speaker 2: how are you doing so far today.
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Speaker 3: I'm very sad. This is a tough day.
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Speaker 2: And I know you mentioned earlier that you were not
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Speaker 2: feeling like you wanted to celebrate. This is not an
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Speaker 2: anniversary that you want to be reminded of.
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Speaker 3: No, it's not. I don't want to acknowledge today or
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Speaker 3: what happened a year ago.
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Speaker 2: And for you in particular, you said that there is
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Speaker 2: something that you hold accountable for this entire situation.
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Speaker 3: Tell me about that. Well, we all know that the
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Speaker 3: fire was started by Southern California Edison, and it was
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Speaker 3: magnified by the winds, But Southern California Edison really is
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Speaker 3: the root of the cause and they've done nothing to
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Speaker 3: help us. So there's been all these charities, there's been
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Speaker 3: the government and everybody's stepped in to help us, and
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Speaker 3: we haven't so much has received a bottle of water
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Speaker 3: from Edison. So it's very disappointing on how little their
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Speaker 3: lack of responsibility.
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Speaker 2: What would you like to see them?
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Speaker 3: Do you know what?
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Speaker 1: Hold on a second, can Denise hear me? Or it
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Speaker 1: has to go through you, Heather.
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Speaker 2: I can hear you.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, do you have a question? Go ahead?
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Speaker 1: I do is Denise rebuilding? Is that what's going on
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Speaker 1: is she had her property and.
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Speaker 3: We will rebuild. Yes, we went through a lot in
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Speaker 3: terms of finance, and we don't know if we have
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Speaker 3: enough money to rebuild. So it's a tough time we're
9:39
Speaker 3: looking at we're planning our house and we probably don't
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Speaker 3: have enough money to rebuild.
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Speaker 2: What would you like to see so Cale Edison do.
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Speaker 3: Well, they want all of us to settle with them,
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Speaker 3: and that's not going to happen, at least in our house.
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Speaker 3: But I'd love to see them give us all a
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Speaker 3: check and say, here's help living while you resolve your lives.
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Speaker 2: And Bill, I should tell you Denise brought something special
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Speaker 2: with her today to this press conference. Can you tell
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Speaker 2: us what you brought with you?
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Speaker 3: I brought the key to my house. The house represented
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Speaker 3: a dream and it was our it was we were
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Speaker 3: so proud of it and it's such a loss to
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Speaker 3: lose that. Oh yeah, and I dug out the key
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Speaker 3: which we saved because it represents our dream and I
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Speaker 3: have it with me.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Well, I'm so grateful to you for taking the time
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Speaker 2: to talk with us.
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Speaker 1: Bill.
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Speaker 2: Do you have any other questions.
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Speaker 1: For No, I don't have any questions. I'm going to
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Speaker 1: just follow up on what she's saying in terms of
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Speaker 1: the loss as we have seen on news reports and
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Speaker 1: people talking to the reporters, and that is losing something anyway,
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Speaker 1: losing your car, burns up or whatever that's or a
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Speaker 1: burglary that happens. That's tough enough where your TVs said
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Speaker 1: are taken. But every memory you have, pictures of your kids, I,
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Speaker 1: for example, have of these the videos of my kids
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Speaker 1: growing up that I keep in a fire safe because
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Speaker 1: it's you know, these are memories that matter of fact,
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Speaker 1: when there's a fire, I just open up the safe
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Speaker 1: door because I'm just fine with that. But it's it is.
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Speaker 1: It's tough, and you can see how difficult it is
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Speaker 1: for people. And it's the other thing is the insurance problem.
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Speaker 1: I mean, that is completely crazy. In the neighborhood that
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Speaker 1: you're at, had there do you see rebuilding going on?
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Speaker 2: Not where I'm at. We're closed by an area that
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Speaker 2: was not.
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Speaker 3: Hit in the fires.
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Speaker 2: I'm gonna when I'm wrap up here, I'm going to
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Speaker 2: head over into the areas where the homes were destroyed
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Speaker 2: and that some of them are rebuilding. Denise, you mentioned
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Speaker 2: the safe. Denise had told me earlier that her safe
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Speaker 2: actually exploded, isn't that right?
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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, so BILLI we had a brand news safe
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Speaker 3: that we had just put in, you know, fire safe
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Speaker 3: and all that very expensive, and it completely burned open.
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Speaker 1: Well, buyers can get that hot. I mean, there's a
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Speaker 1: when you see these flash fires, I mean just they're
12:05
Speaker 1: in the thousands of degrees fahrenheit as the firefighters are
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Speaker 1: fighting them. So you know, Heather, you're going to go
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Speaker 1: and you're going to talk to various people. Are you
12:15
Speaker 1: getting a sense of optimism because Denise I don't see
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Speaker 1: a whole lot of optimism with the struggle she's going
12:22
Speaker 1: to have and rebuilding and not having enough money to rebuild,
12:25
Speaker 1: which means she has to go and borrow money. Hopefully
12:28
Speaker 1: governmental programs will be out there, and this is where
12:30
Speaker 1: I think the government should come in and loan money
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Speaker 1: to people at very little interest, so giving them a
12:37
Speaker 1: chance to just rebuild.
12:40
Speaker 2: And well, you know, I have to say, I don't
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Speaker 2: see a lot of hope just and the few people
12:46
Speaker 2: I've taught to, I think there's been some people who
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Speaker 2: have already started rebuilding. There's five hundred and thirty five
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Speaker 2: permits that have been issued so far, and rebuilding has begun.
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Speaker 2: Seven people have been given occupancy certificates and moved back
12:59
Speaker 2: into their homes that were burned out, But that is
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Speaker 2: a very small amount compared to the nine thousand, five
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Speaker 2: hundred homes and buildings that were lost. So I think
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Speaker 2: the people here are hoping to see greater progress in
13:15
Speaker 2: the coming months and years. But I think, as Denise said,
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Speaker 2: they really want to see somebody held accountable and some
13:24
Speaker 2: form of payment and cash given to them so that
13:27
Speaker 2: they can get started and get things moving much quicker,
13:32
Speaker 2: much quicker.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and the Palisade will never be the same again.
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Speaker 1: There are people that simply will not stay, cannot stay
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Speaker 1: because they can't afford to rebuild, and empty lots will
13:44
Speaker 1: be there for a very long time, and that's the shame. Well,
13:49
Speaker 1: the watchriots, I can go back to nineteen sixty four
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Speaker 1: and they're still It hasn't been rebuilt in many parts there.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, And speaking of the Palisades here, as soon as
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Speaker 2: I'm done here in Altadena, I'm headed over to the Palisades.
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Speaker 2: There's a big demonstration that's planned later on. We're going
14:07
Speaker 2: to be there live covering that as well. You know, honestly,
14:12
Speaker 2: just being here in Altadena. My mom lived in on
14:16
Speaker 2: the border of Pasadena the Altadena and I remember all
14:18
Speaker 2: too well, in the middle of the night having to
14:21
Speaker 2: go and pick her up when it was black skies,
14:24
Speaker 2: everything was still to a smoke, scoop her up and
14:27
Speaker 2: make sure that she was safe and that we could
14:29
Speaker 2: get her to a safe location. I can only imagine
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Speaker 2: what the people who live here and saw their homes
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Speaker 2: burn right before their eyes must be feeling now a
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Speaker 2: year later. I mean, we're talking about the one year anniversary,
14:40
Speaker 2: but it certainly isn't a celebratory situation. I think they're
14:43
Speaker 2: looking for some hope. That's why so many homeowners are
14:46
Speaker 2: here today. I see tons of them walking into the building.
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Speaker 3: They're they're hoping to.
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Speaker 2: Hear something from Senator Sasha Perez, who's going to be
14:54
Speaker 2: here any minute. They're hoping to hear from Judy chu
14:58
Speaker 2: is here to get some direction and maybe some clarity
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Speaker 2: on the path forward.
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Speaker 1: Okay, I Heather, thanks, We'll be hearing from you throughout
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Speaker 1: the day. I'm sure all right now. Since it is
15:08
Speaker 1: a thirty we do on a Wednesday, we do the
15:12
Speaker 1: medical segment with doctor Jim Keeney, who has been with
15:16
Speaker 1: this show for what twenty five thirty years? Maybe? All right, Jim,
15:21
Speaker 1: let's talk about the amount of money that the government
15:25
Speaker 1: is putting into health system, particularly and we talked about
15:29
Speaker 1: this earlier rural healthcare, because that seems to be one
15:32
Speaker 1: of the areas that is going to be most affected
15:35
Speaker 1: and it's money is coming in. So where's the bitch here?
15:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, so rural hospitals are, you know, they're
15:45
Speaker 5: kind of lifeline. We all think we don't need rural hospitals,
15:47
Speaker 5: but we all tend to, you know, go on trips
15:50
Speaker 5: drive and you'd say, you never know when you're actually
15:53
Speaker 5: going to be in a rural hospital, even if you
15:55
Speaker 5: live in an urban area. But rural hospitals don't have
16:00
Speaker 5: the same type of operation as a city hospital. We
16:04
Speaker 5: in city hospitals, we have a certain amount of commercial insurance,
16:08
Speaker 5: and you know, it's well known that hospitals try and
16:11
Speaker 5: cost shift. You know, the more money they can make
16:14
Speaker 5: on commercial insurance is the less they have to rely
16:17
Speaker 5: on the underpayments of Medicaid. But rural hospitals can't do that.
16:23
Speaker 5: They are mostly Medicaid. They end up with margins that
16:26
Speaker 5: are about two percent, So when there's any shift in
16:29
Speaker 5: the environment, they really get in trouble fast. And so
16:33
Speaker 5: the Big Beautiful Bill, it cut nine hundred billion dollars
16:37
Speaker 5: out of healthcare over the next ten years, but cut
16:40
Speaker 5: nine hundred billion out and then they announced recently that
16:43
Speaker 5: they're going to give up fifty billion in grants over
16:46
Speaker 5: the next five years, so about ten billion a year
16:48
Speaker 5: in grants to the to rural hospitals. So it's with
16:55
Speaker 5: interesting to me, perked out my interest because it was marketed,
16:58
Speaker 5: it looks like is marketed as look what we're doing
17:00
Speaker 5: for rural hospitals. But at the end of the day,
17:02
Speaker 5: it's a it's a bigger cut we got. We took
17:04
Speaker 5: away nine hundred billion and we're given back fifty billion.
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Speaker 6: So so that's it seems that's across the board with
17:12
Speaker 6: healthcare that under the Big Beautiful Bill, and that's certainly
17:17
Speaker 6: the border enforcement.
17:20
Speaker 1: Got, you know, tons of money, and the military got
17:24
Speaker 1: tons of money, but seems like healthcare was one of
17:28
Speaker 1: the if not the biggest areas that will hit the
17:32
Speaker 1: most buy the Big Beautiful Bill. You know, are people
17:37
Speaker 1: in the industry and that's you in the medical world.
17:40
Speaker 1: Certainly you're upset, but how frightened are you that medical
17:43
Speaker 1: care in this country is really going to drop pretty dramatically.
17:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean this will definitely impact certain hospitals, especially
17:52
Speaker 5: those ones they were talking about, because you know, again
17:55
Speaker 5: no room margin for error here, and and now the
18:00
Speaker 5: infrastructure is also getting old, and so hospitals. Ideally, you
18:05
Speaker 5: would run a business with a replacement budget right where
18:09
Speaker 5: you over time. You know, a CT scanner cost a
18:11
Speaker 5: million dollars and it'll last ten years, So you need
18:14
Speaker 5: to put away one hundred thousand dollars a year for
18:16
Speaker 5: ten years so that at the end of that life
18:18
Speaker 5: cycle you can buy a new one. Nobody does that.
18:21
Speaker 5: They don't have the money to do that. So the
18:23
Speaker 5: infrastructure is really aging a lot. You've got a lot
18:27
Speaker 5: of hospitals, and you'll find that the CT scanner doesn't
18:30
Speaker 5: work on a regular basis, that it spends a lot
18:32
Speaker 5: of time in repair. You look at simple things like
18:35
Speaker 5: the facility itself. I mean, they're all struggling with these
18:39
Speaker 5: last range. I know multiple hospitals that struggled with water
18:43
Speaker 5: intrusion and because their structure is just not what it
18:47
Speaker 5: needs to be. So you know, we're all struggling. People
18:52
Speaker 5: come to the eer. They feel it because the weights
18:54
Speaker 5: are incredible and that's not going to get any better.
18:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, we spend a lot of time talking about your
19:03
Speaker 1: organization and you're now running a hospital, at least the
19:07
Speaker 1: medical part of the hospital. And you know, I never
19:10
Speaker 1: asked you this question, but there you are needing an
19:15
Speaker 1: MRI machine. It's a million bucks, a million and a
19:17
Speaker 1: half dollars. You can't afford it. Does the hospital borrow
19:20
Speaker 1: money like any other commercial venture, to pay for big
19:25
Speaker 1: ticket items?
19:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean there's two ways hospital run. The most
19:30
Speaker 5: common is not for profit. So a not for profit
19:33
Speaker 5: can issue bonds, and then those bonds are a way
19:36
Speaker 5: of of taking that a loan and getting money to
19:40
Speaker 5: pay for items like that. You try to do fundraising
19:44
Speaker 5: as well, So a lot of times when we do anything,
19:48
Speaker 5: you know, maybe a third of the money or a
19:50
Speaker 5: little bit less will come from philanthropy, and then the
19:53
Speaker 5: rest will come either from operating budget or from things
19:56
Speaker 5: like issuing a bond if you can. There's a lot
19:59
Speaker 5: of hospitals are already they can't do that. They don't
20:02
Speaker 5: have any any assets or any ability to pay back,
20:06
Speaker 5: so the rate they're bond rating is too low. The
20:11
Speaker 5: for profit hospitals there, of course, you know they can
20:13
Speaker 5: just you know, borrow money like anybody else can.
20:19
Speaker 1: Hey, So when you're running your hospital, I know you
20:22
Speaker 1: have a lot to do with budgets. How do you
20:24
Speaker 1: take into account how do you deal with what's going
20:27
Speaker 1: on currently politically because I'm assuming, maybe I'm long on this,
20:32
Speaker 1: I'm assuming there are federal state grants that you can
20:37
Speaker 1: get for medical care other than other than medical.
20:41
Speaker 5: Yeah. Absolutely, we have the largest HIV clinic in the
20:48
Speaker 5: country that's been there for forty years and runs off
20:51
Speaker 5: federal grants. And you know, there are people that have
20:54
Speaker 5: been treated there for decades and are still alive now
20:57
Speaker 5: because of that clinic. A lot of that fun has
21:00
Speaker 5: been cut and there are concerns about how does that
21:03
Speaker 5: clinic maintain that without the funding that it gets. So,
21:08
Speaker 5: you know, it's it's difficult and which you're trying to
21:12
Speaker 5: read the tea leaves of what these cuts really mean,
21:15
Speaker 5: because sometimes cuts are reversed by the next administration. Can
21:19
Speaker 5: we make it that long before before people go bankrupt
21:24
Speaker 5: or before you have to reduce services? And again, that's
21:26
Speaker 5: what rural hospitals and inner city hospitals that you know,
21:30
Speaker 5: disproportionately treat the underserved. They really do struggle with well,
21:35
Speaker 5: you know, we're gonna have to close a service line,
21:38
Speaker 5: and hospitals close things like their pediatric ward or their
21:41
Speaker 5: obstetrics and gynecology ward, you know, so that they can
21:46
Speaker 5: focus on general medical health.
21:48
Speaker 1: Jim McKinney, our medical experts been with us for almost
21:52
Speaker 1: thirty years now. And the other topic I want to
21:55
Speaker 1: cover is the vaccine scheduling and reporting a lot. I
22:02
Speaker 1: think it was yesterday that the CDC had changed. It's
22:07
Speaker 1: the recommendation in terms of what kind of vaccines and
22:10
Speaker 1: how often they should be given to children. And there's
22:13
Speaker 1: a backstory to that too, because it's not just here
22:16
Speaker 1: are the vaccines, here's what we're reporting. There's more to it.
22:20
Speaker 4: Jim, would you explain, Yeah, So essentially what they've done
22:25
Speaker 4: is among the kids who are covered by Medicaid, they
22:30
Speaker 4: no longer require the states to report.
22:32
Speaker 5: Immunization measures anymore so, and as well as pregnant women
22:37
Speaker 5: who are enrolled in Medicaid. So that's about half the
22:40
Speaker 5: population that gets vaccinations no longer required to report this information.
22:45
Speaker 5: And you know what it kind of does is it
22:47
Speaker 5: shows that you're going to hide the fact that vaccination drops,
22:54
Speaker 5: that disease states will increase. You no longer will have
22:57
Speaker 5: that data, so it makes it more so then the
23:00
Speaker 5: arguments in the future will be more politicized rather than
23:03
Speaker 5: based on data. We're all going to be fighting over
23:06
Speaker 5: Oh wow, look there's an increase in measles or there's
23:08
Speaker 5: an increase in something, and we want to show that
23:12
Speaker 5: it's correlated at least to drop in vaccination rates, but
23:15
Speaker 5: we won't be able to because they're setting it up
23:17
Speaker 5: that way. So it's very interesting what's going on.
23:21
Speaker 1: That scary stuff. And I'm sure that any kid who
23:25
Speaker 1: is vaccinating and gets autism where they can actually connect
23:29
Speaker 1: the dots if they can. So let's say it happens
23:32
Speaker 1: three times across the United States. Then we don't even
23:34
Speaker 1: know if it happens that much because there's been no
23:36
Speaker 1: connection that's been scientifically proven that will hit the news
23:41
Speaker 1: that the CDC will talk about. U It's and I'm
23:45
Speaker 1: asking you, do you view it as that crazy under
23:48
Speaker 1: RFK Junior.
23:51
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I mean I think again, the whole thing
23:53
Speaker 5: has obviously been heavily politicized. It's not based in science
23:57
Speaker 5: or you know, the best information that we have at
23:59
Speaker 5: this point. And again we talked about this last week
24:03
Speaker 5: that even the change in the vaccination schedule, we want
24:05
Speaker 5: to be more like Denmark, well or nothing like Denmark.
24:08
Speaker 5: They have a uniform kind of genetic population, they have
24:11
Speaker 5: a uniform universal health care, so everyone's covered under health
24:15
Speaker 5: care from birth to death. It's heavily recorded, so we
24:19
Speaker 5: know exactly whether somebody got a vaccine or not if
24:22
Speaker 5: they're in the Denmark health system. It's a completely different
24:26
Speaker 5: animal than the United States, where we have big disparities,
24:30
Speaker 5: pockets of people who don't have access to healthcare, who
24:33
Speaker 5: aren't getting vaccinated or just basic health care. So a
24:37
Speaker 5: completely different world.
24:38
Speaker 1: Yeah. And by the way, the point in the gym
24:41
Speaker 1: is making is Denmark they don't do vaccinations to the
24:45
Speaker 1: extent that we do. That they do just find with
24:48
Speaker 1: almost no vaccinations.
24:49
Speaker 4: And they do seventeen.
24:53
Speaker 5: I mean they do a lower number. We do seventeen.
24:55
Speaker 5: They do about eleven, So they just low and he's
24:58
Speaker 5: lowering the number to match Denmark as if that's the
25:00
Speaker 5: gold standard. But it's not a gold standard.
25:03
Speaker 1: Okay. Moving, Yeah, it's so depressing with all this. Okay,
25:08
Speaker 1: moving into a much happier. Note flu is reaching the
25:13
Speaker 1: highest levels in the US in twenty five years, and
25:16
Speaker 1: people are dying like flies. Let's talk about that, because
25:20
Speaker 1: that also is not particularly good news.
25:25
Speaker 5: Yeah, flu is definitely increasing, so we're seeing a lot
25:28
Speaker 5: more er visits related to it. Certain pockets of the
25:31
Speaker 5: country are getting hit really hard. Not quite getting hit
25:34
Speaker 5: that hard yet in southern California, but it does look
25:37
Speaker 5: like it could rise if we follow the pattern other areas.
25:41
Speaker 5: So still a decent time to get a flu shot.
25:44
Speaker 5: And of course the flu shot, you know, the people
25:46
Speaker 5: who need it the most struggle with the least protection
25:50
Speaker 5: from it. Right, the efficacy rates in people over sixty
25:53
Speaker 5: five or lower. But there are the people that need
25:56
Speaker 5: it the most, people with immune compromise or other other
26:00
Speaker 5: diseases that put them at higher risk when they do
26:03
Speaker 5: get the flu. But the best thing you can do
26:07
Speaker 5: to try and protect yourself is to get that flea shot.
26:11
Speaker 5: Of course, besides all the basics, right, wash your hands,
26:13
Speaker 5: cover your mouth when you sneeze so you're not giving
26:16
Speaker 5: it to other people, and just basic hygiene of the
26:21
Speaker 5: will reduce your risk.
26:22
Speaker 1: Again in the floor, how do we do in Southern
26:23
Speaker 1: California vaccination wise relative of the rest of the country.
26:27
Speaker 1: Do we have that information.
26:29
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean we're on par with the rest of
26:31
Speaker 5: the country. We're not above or below, So we're not
26:34
Speaker 5: one of those areas where everybody does not get the vaccine.
26:37
Speaker 5: We're just we're kind of right on track, if anything,
26:40
Speaker 5: a little bit higher in the rest of some of
26:42
Speaker 5: the areas of the country.
26:44
Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough, Jim. We will talk again, of course,
26:47
Speaker 1: next Wednesday, and then we'll probably talk over the week
26:49
Speaker 1: when I scream at you for something or another. Jim McKinney.
26:54
Speaker 1: Always a pleasure to have with you, have us with you,
26:57
Speaker 1: have us, you with us, or you with Yeah, you
27:01
Speaker 1: know what I mean, all right.
27:02
Speaker 4: Jim, Yeah, yeah, the last segment.
27:06
Speaker 1: Okay, guys, we are done. We are done. So tomorrow
27:11
Speaker 1: we start again. We don't have Neil, and we're gonna
27:14
Speaker 1: get in some pretty heavy topics tomorrow. Both we're gonna
27:18
Speaker 1: bring Will in to talk about the heavy topics as
27:21
Speaker 1: a personal experience.
27:23
Speaker 2: Me.
27:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not here tomorrow. You're not here tomorrow.
27:28
Speaker 5: Now.
27:29
Speaker 1: I didn't know that, sorry, because I wanted to make
27:31
Speaker 1: fun about your weight and he's not lucky me. Yeah,
27:35
Speaker 1: lucky you so I won't be able to do that, okay,
27:37
Speaker 1: and then Neil's not coming in. God, there's nobody there
27:40
Speaker 1: going to make fun of O. Where are you going?
27:44
Speaker 1: I'm going to do a little work on the side,
27:46
Speaker 1: just the Fiesta Bowl. I'm going to Phoenix. Oh yes,
27:51
Speaker 1: Oh that's cool. All right. Uh, that's it for today.
27:55
Speaker 1: We'll be back again tomorrow. Amy's probably gonna wear some
27:58
Speaker 1: other Disney garb. I'm not wearing Disney tomorrow. Oh really?
28:03
Speaker 1: Why what happened? Is everything in the wall?
28:05
Speaker 7: I really don't wear it that often. It's just that
28:08
Speaker 7: you call out every time that I do. And okay,
28:11
Speaker 7: it was the holidays, and there was a lot of
28:13
Speaker 7: Disney Christmas stuff, But on a normal on a normal week,
28:19
Speaker 7: it's usually, you know, like once or twice a month.
28:23
Speaker 1: No, no, no, totally is not not a chance. We're
28:27
Speaker 1: going to calendar this, okay, cono, We're gonna start a
28:29
Speaker 1: calendar here, calendar right in terms of how often the
28:33
Speaker 1: Lovely Amy wears the Disney garb. Okay, it was the
28:36
Speaker 1: first time this year. Oh okay, thanks, We're back again
28:43
Speaker 1: tomorrow with Amy and Neil and no wow, no will
28:49
Speaker 1: no Neil, And I'm here okay. Well, and also I
28:52
Speaker 1: got and not on the screen, so we're now con
28:55
Speaker 1: o please that I forget to say your name to
28:59
Speaker 1: all right? Fine? And then kno, also yeah, okay fine.
29:02
Speaker 1: This is kfi AM oh Gary and Shannon up next.
29:07
Speaker 1: I forgot them. Also kfi AM six point forty. You've
29:12
Speaker 1: been listening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch my Show
29:14
Speaker 1: Monday through Friday six am to nine am, and anytime
29:18
Speaker 1: on demand on the iHeartRadio app.