Hasta La Gadget!

As noted philosopher and Poison frontman Bret Michaels once said back in 1988, “Every rose has its thorn.” Alas, it’s a truth that even applies to roses that bloom as beautifully as the Guardians of the Galaxy movie franchise. We’ve known for a while that the third movie, Vol. 3, would be the last for director James…

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The pandemic pushed US lawmakers to provide provisions to expand medical coverage for telehealth in 2020, speeding up a process that would otherwise have taken years. Since then, there have been efforts to make the change permanent, through things like the Telehealth Expansion Act of 2021. But there is an interim period that could present some uncertainty over whether people can get crucial telehealth services while permanent legislation is drawn up. Today, a bipartisan group of 45 lawmakers, led by Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), said they’re “calling for the extension of expanded coverage of telehealth services to be included in must-pass legislation in February.”

The group published a letter addressing Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as their minority counterparts and notable signees include Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). 

The letter states “While Congress prepares to enact permanent telehealth legislation, we urge you to include an extension of the pandemic telehealth authorities in must-pass government funding legislation in February.” 

Currently, pandemic telehealth decision-makers have temporary authority, and that’s tied to the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration. As stated in today’s letter, the emergency declaration is renewed in three-month increments. “Without more definitive knowledge about the duration of the pandemic and Medicare’s long-term coverage of telehealth, many organizations have been hesitant to fully invest in telehealth.”

In addition to providing more confidence to providers that investing in telehealth will be a sound long-term investment, adding an extension to telehealth coverage while making it permanent will also “reassure patients that their care will not end abruptly.”

The lawmakers called for “An extension to maintain expanded coverage of Medicare telehealth services for a set period of time,” which the letter said “would provide much-needed certainty to health care providers and patients.” They believe an extension would also allow additional time for studies to be conducted on the impact of telehealth, which “could help inform Congress’s next steps on permanent telehealth legislation and appropriate program integrity and beneficiary protections.”

Therefore, the group is also asking to ensure that “an extension not include unnecessary statutory barriers in accessing telehealth services during this data collection and analysis period,” which could prevent people from getting essential care.

Researchers in western Uganda found a new species of leafhopper insect, the first sighting of any animal from its genus seen since 1969. The red-eyed, metallic-looking animal resembles the legendary Mothman and is nearly as rare.

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As apex predators, orcas can basically feed on whichever marine animal they want, but biologists weren’t entirely sure if these aquatic killers feast on the biggest of them all: blue whales. New evidence suggests they very much do, and it ain’t pretty.

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Despite an already crowded market featuring big names like Airbnb and Vrbo, travel app Hopper is now expanding its services to include short-term home rentals.

Featuring more than two million properties spread across the world, Hopper Homes (which is available inside the Hopper app) should make it a bit easier to book airfare, car rentals and lodging (hotel or short-term) in a single place.

Hopper says users will be able to apply filters to help narrow down their options based on criteria like location, number of bedrooms, amenities and price. And over the next few months, the company says it will add support for some of its other booking features like Price Prediction and Cancel for Any Reason to the new service to help give its customers more flexibility over their travel plans.

That last part might end up being one of the biggest differentiators between Hopper Homes and its competitors. Other services such as Airbnb allow hosts to select from a range of cancellation policies including “flexible” plans that allow guests to cancel as late as 24 hours before check-in without penalty to “firm” plans that require guests to cancel at least 30 days before check-in.

By adding home rentals to its list of services, the company is hoping to attract a growing number of travelers who prefer staying in rental homes instead of hotels. Hopper claims Zoomers and millennials are especially keen, with more than four in 10 rental travelers being younger than 35.

Similar to its airfare and hotel bookings, Hopper also plans to integrate its Carrot Cash system in order to help customers save money, with credit earned from booking rentals homes able to be applied to other forms of travel.