Showing posts with label corruption in healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corruption in healthcare. Show all posts
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
FLORIDA PHYSICIAN, SHUT THY MOUTH
http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/02/physician-shut-thy-mouth/
And while you're on the Freedom Outpost site, please check out the articles tonight. The entire thing is worth a look, and don't forget the sidebars as well.
And now I'm going to work on another chapter of my newest work...
And while you're on the Freedom Outpost site, please check out the articles tonight. The entire thing is worth a look, and don't forget the sidebars as well.
And now I'm going to work on another chapter of my newest work...
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
FROM THE FOUNDATION: OBAMACARE'S CONTINUED CHAOS
The Foundation
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." --Thomas Paine
Government & Politics
ObamaCare's Continued Chaos
To no thinking person's surprise, the Obama administration admitted this week that another element of ObamaCare is going to cost more than originally expected. This isn't really news so much as it is yet another confirmation that the president's takeover of health care will be an absolute disaster.
The latest program to exceed expectations is the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, which provides health insurance for people who can't obtain coverage through private carriers. The PCIP was meant to be an interim program phasing out in 2014, at which point all insurers will be required to accept all comers who want coverage. In November 2010, the federal government estimated an annual cost of $13,000 per enrollee. Since the program's launch last year, some 50,000 people have signed up, and now the expected cost is around $29,000 per enrollee.
While we're on the subject, the outrageous contraception mandate remains yet another tarnished gem in the ObamaCare crown. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced this week that the administration has begun "outreach" to officials in the Catholic Church, insurers and groups that run self-insured insurance plans. However, Sebelius' "outreach" isn't in search of a compromise with faith-based groups whose rights are being trampled for the sake of free contraception. The administration hasn't backed down from its non-compromise offer that the cost for free contraception be shifted from faith-based employers to private insurance companies. The mandate is here to stay, and faith-based employers have 18 months to comply.
One of the free contraception mandate's more vocal supporters testified this week before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee about how tough life can be without free birth control. The hearing was nothing more than a showpiece for the issue with a single witness, Sandra Fluke (is there a pun here?), a Georgetown law student and self-professed "reproductive rights activist." Fluke made the absurd claim that free contraception is a necessity at her school, which currently doesn't provide it. "Forty percent of the female students at Georgetown Law reported to us that they struggled financially as a result of this policy," she complained. Of course, the HHS mandate has nothing to do with university students, but that's beside her point.
Fluke asserted that contraception could cost $3,000 through three years of law school. That's a lot of money to spend on protected sex over that time frame. In fact, humorist Frank J. Fleming quipped, "Anyone buying that much contraception should probably be writing it off on her taxes as a business expense." Fluke's assertion that she and other women have an absolute right to contraception at someone else's expense is disturbing. There is no right to sex free of consequences. Fluke also implies that the women of Georgetown law have no control over their urges or actions, all the while thinking she's standing up for women's rights. When did "get your laws off my body" become "you have to pay for the stuff that goes into my body"?
The most important question, of course, is just where within the Constitution is the government granted the power to mandate this sort of thing for private or religious organizations? This was asked of Rep. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) by one of her constituents at a recent town hall. She replied, "Well, basically, we're not looking to the Constitution on that aspect of it." We suppose Hochul's candor is refreshing, but it didn't sit well with the crowd -- nor should it. Hochul attempted to defend ObamaCare by stating that Congress determined that citizens are entitled to health care. "So why don't we provide free access to Band-Aids and cancer screenings?" the constituent followed up. "Aren't those more important to health care than contraception?" Hochul could only say, "Well, clearly more work needs to be done." Nice understatement.
In the Senate, an amendment to impose a religious-conscience exemption to ObamaCare was rejected Thursday. Proposed by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act was attached to an upcoming transportation bill. Democrats were nearly united in opposition, and retiring Maine "Republican" Olympia Snowe was the only GOP member to oppose it. Obama, adamantly pushing "free" contraception, would have been forced to veto the whole transportation bill in order to prevent the conscience exemption from again being the law. His other option would have been to let the amendment pass and hope it takes some of the heat off as the presidential election moves forward.
The one bit of good news is that a House committee voted to throw out the "death panel" provision of ObamaCare. The Independent Payment Advisory Board was supposed to help with cost control, but has been accurately tagged as a "death panel" because of its rationing of care. All things considered, however, a new administration and a more Liberty-friendly Congress must be installed in January to repeal this monstrosity.
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." --Thomas Paine
Government & Politics
ObamaCare's Continued Chaos
To no thinking person's surprise, the Obama administration admitted this week that another element of ObamaCare is going to cost more than originally expected. This isn't really news so much as it is yet another confirmation that the president's takeover of health care will be an absolute disaster.
The latest program to exceed expectations is the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, which provides health insurance for people who can't obtain coverage through private carriers. The PCIP was meant to be an interim program phasing out in 2014, at which point all insurers will be required to accept all comers who want coverage. In November 2010, the federal government estimated an annual cost of $13,000 per enrollee. Since the program's launch last year, some 50,000 people have signed up, and now the expected cost is around $29,000 per enrollee.
While we're on the subject, the outrageous contraception mandate remains yet another tarnished gem in the ObamaCare crown. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced this week that the administration has begun "outreach" to officials in the Catholic Church, insurers and groups that run self-insured insurance plans. However, Sebelius' "outreach" isn't in search of a compromise with faith-based groups whose rights are being trampled for the sake of free contraception. The administration hasn't backed down from its non-compromise offer that the cost for free contraception be shifted from faith-based employers to private insurance companies. The mandate is here to stay, and faith-based employers have 18 months to comply.
One of the free contraception mandate's more vocal supporters testified this week before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee about how tough life can be without free birth control. The hearing was nothing more than a showpiece for the issue with a single witness, Sandra Fluke (is there a pun here?), a Georgetown law student and self-professed "reproductive rights activist." Fluke made the absurd claim that free contraception is a necessity at her school, which currently doesn't provide it. "Forty percent of the female students at Georgetown Law reported to us that they struggled financially as a result of this policy," she complained. Of course, the HHS mandate has nothing to do with university students, but that's beside her point.
Fluke asserted that contraception could cost $3,000 through three years of law school. That's a lot of money to spend on protected sex over that time frame. In fact, humorist Frank J. Fleming quipped, "Anyone buying that much contraception should probably be writing it off on her taxes as a business expense." Fluke's assertion that she and other women have an absolute right to contraception at someone else's expense is disturbing. There is no right to sex free of consequences. Fluke also implies that the women of Georgetown law have no control over their urges or actions, all the while thinking she's standing up for women's rights. When did "get your laws off my body" become "you have to pay for the stuff that goes into my body"?
The most important question, of course, is just where within the Constitution is the government granted the power to mandate this sort of thing for private or religious organizations? This was asked of Rep. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) by one of her constituents at a recent town hall. She replied, "Well, basically, we're not looking to the Constitution on that aspect of it." We suppose Hochul's candor is refreshing, but it didn't sit well with the crowd -- nor should it. Hochul attempted to defend ObamaCare by stating that Congress determined that citizens are entitled to health care. "So why don't we provide free access to Band-Aids and cancer screenings?" the constituent followed up. "Aren't those more important to health care than contraception?" Hochul could only say, "Well, clearly more work needs to be done." Nice understatement.
In the Senate, an amendment to impose a religious-conscience exemption to ObamaCare was rejected Thursday. Proposed by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act was attached to an upcoming transportation bill. Democrats were nearly united in opposition, and retiring Maine "Republican" Olympia Snowe was the only GOP member to oppose it. Obama, adamantly pushing "free" contraception, would have been forced to veto the whole transportation bill in order to prevent the conscience exemption from again being the law. His other option would have been to let the amendment pass and hope it takes some of the heat off as the presidential election moves forward.
The one bit of good news is that a House committee voted to throw out the "death panel" provision of ObamaCare. The Independent Payment Advisory Board was supposed to help with cost control, but has been accurately tagged as a "death panel" because of its rationing of care. All things considered, however, a new administration and a more Liberty-friendly Congress must be installed in January to repeal this monstrosity.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
OBAMA TRYING TO PUSH OUR SOLDIERS INTO OBAMACARE: COSTS FOR THEM WILL TRIPLE
YOUR PRESIDENT AT WORK IN HIS LAIR~
If you know a soldier, or even if you don't, this deserves to be placed to every contact in every address book in the USA.
Then call your Representative or Senator here, toll free: 1-866-220-0044
I don't care if you're gay, I don't care if you're purple, I don't care if you have two heads and stand on three legs...I got this just now and I am outraged. If you serve in the US military now or in the past, under the Obama regime or not, join the fight against this. We are fighting him for you, too, you know.
And remember, George Romney's Romneycare in Massachusetts was the model for Obamacare. Obamacare in any form must be repealed.
If you know a soldier, or even if you don't, this deserves to be placed to every contact in every address book in the USA.
Then call your Representative or Senator here, toll free: 1-866-220-0044
I don't care if you're gay, I don't care if you're purple, I don't care if you have two heads and stand on three legs...I got this just now and I am outraged. If you serve in the US military now or in the past, under the Obama regime or not, join the fight against this. We are fighting him for you, too, you know.
And remember, George Romney's Romneycare in Massachusetts was the model for Obamacare. Obamacare in any form must be repealed.
| ****************************************************************************************** | |
|---|---|
Gays serving openly in the military, a reduction in our military forces that the Defense Secretary himself actually described as ridiculous, then the attack on the Catholic Church and religious freedom ..., and now this ..., and some are speculating that this clown might actually win the Presidential election for another four years in the White House. God help us all!
Obama Pushing ObamaCare on Troops, Forcing Them to Pay at Least Triple for Care
President Obama has already gutted the Army in favor of out of control entitlement programs and now, he's going after military medical benefits in order to get more people on his ObamaCare rolls. In Obama's latest budget, military families will be forced to pay substantially more for medical care through the military while civilian defense union workers will continue receiving the same benefits.
The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers’ benefits untouched. The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials. Several congressional aides suggested the move is designed to increase the enrollment in Obamacare’s state-run insurance exchanges.
The disparity in treatment between civilian and uniformed personnel is causing a backlash within the military that could undermine recruitment and retention.
The proposed increases in health care payments by service members, which must be approved by Congress, are part of the Pentagon’s $487 billion cut in spending. It seeks to save $1.8 billion from the Tricare medical system in the fiscal 2013 budget, and $12.9 billion by 2017.
It seems as if Obama is trying to make joining the military so unenjoyable in order to decrease sign up numbers. First, he reduces their force to a level his own defense secretary says is ridiculous and dangerous, which means military members are spread even thinner for deployments and other duties. Second, his budget would force military members to pay more for medical benefits than their civilian counterparts. Why be a soldier when you can be a defense worker?
The administration is also pushing for more expensive Tricare payments for military members in order to force them onto ObamaCare, just like they are doing with private insurance plans. It's all part of the move toward single payer healthcare.
Administration officials told Congress that one goal of the increased fees is to force military retirees to reduce their involvement in Tricare and eventually opt out of the program in favor of alternatives established by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.
And just how much more will military have to pay?
Significantly, the plan calls for increases between 30 percent to 78 percent in Tricare annual premiums for the first year. After that, the plan will impose five-year increases ranging from 94 percent to 345 percent—more than 3 times current levels.
According to congressional assessments, a retired Army colonel with a family currently paying $460 a year for health care will pay $2,048.
The military disapproves of the push:
Military personnel from several of the armed services voiced their opposition to a means-tested tier system for Tricare, prompting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey to issue a statement Feb. 21.
Dempsey said the military is making tough choices in cutting defense spending. In addition to the $487 billion over 10 years, the Pentagon is facing automatic cuts that could push the total reductions to $1 trillion.
“I want those of you who serve and who have served to know that we’ve heard your concerns, in particular your concern about the tiered enrollment fee structure for Tricare in retirement,” Dempsey said. “You have our commitment that we will continue to review our health care system to make it as responsive, as affordable, and as equitable as possible.”
Katie Pavlich the News Editor at Townhall.com. Follow her on Twitter @katiepavlich.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
TODAY BAY MEDICAL CENTER, PANAMA CITY, FL, WAS STOLEN BY SACRED HEART HOSPITAL NETWORK
Bay Medical Center was organized under the Hill-Burton Act. http://www.nvcc.edu/home/bhays/dogwood/hillburtonact.htm
and here: http://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/hill-burton_act_free_healthcar.html
You can organize a Hill-Burton Hospital this way:
http://www.hrsa.gov/gethealthcare/affordable/hillburton/
If that's not enough, Google has endless entries that will allow you to understand the word "perpetuity" used in the organization of a Hill-Burton hospital.
Eventually, Hill-Burton evolved into the Public Services Act XVI http://www.hrsa.gov/gethealthcare/affordable/hillburton/compliance.html
There was help for BMC all along. All it would have taken was for the lazy (or corrupt) BMC board to look this up. Ditto for the BOCC lazy (or corrupt) members to read it and act, too. But when I sent it to them; when I spoke to them in public, they did not or would not listen to me. It is my opinion that the transfer of BMC to Sacred Heart was a done deal when Steve Johnson was hired out of Sacred Heart. It would take ten years of focused degradation. Employees of BMC, you should have voted for a union. But I'm betting just like the attempt to unionize more than once, your jobs were threatened if you didn't wear a smile and a big, blue button. You will see jobs evaporate, indigent care diminish and disappear, and the hospital, our jewel created from our own hands without outside interference, be flipped for Sacred Heart's profit.
There would have been NO financial distress. There are provisions for aid for hospitals like BMC. All it took was an application for financial help under the guidelines of the Public Services Act XVI.
In your haste to fast track this the Board and the BOCC forgot to factor in the coming of Obamacare or that if HHS does not relent on the issue of contraception costs, that religious hospitals, specifically the Sacred Heart system because it is Roman Catholic-run, and adheres strictly to the rules of the Catholic church, may go under.
The behind-the-scenes negotiations really were behind closed doors. The sale of BMC should have gone through a binding referendum. We paid for the hospital and you owed us that. And because of financial negligence, whoever was responsible, the Board or the administration, should be fired, but they won't be until they are replaced by Sacred Heart loyalists. Steve Johnson will ride that wave.
The BOCC has given us the airport to nowhere. None of 3,000+ jobs have materialized. We lost a carrier. We can't catch an international flight to anywhere. Pilots on the Atlanta-ECP flight fear the runway that is mushy on hot, summer days. There will be a crash someday. The drive is long and dangerous at night and it's most inconvenient. It gave us the incinerator and all its problems and a sewer line under the bay whose cement pillow band-aid fix will someday erode or meet its demise, perhaps by a storm. Its track record is lousy, and it is a poster child for term limits. One year.
I applaud everyone who spoke at meetings in opposition to the sale of BMC; Dr. Victor Ortega, the County Press who did it excellent expose', the letter writers, the ones who engaged employees in the dialog, the people who made phone calls, the senders of emails - you are the unappreciated and unknown heroes. Time will bear out your honest commentary, your questions, your research and your knowledge, but there is little joy in "I told you so", just a cold bitterness.
As jobs tank, as more homes are foreclosed, as the price of gas and everything else goes up and businesses find they can't do business with people who don't have money, a public, non-profit hospital will just be a memory. You allowed it to happen.
Didn't you realize, you jerks, that this hospital served five counties - it was literally a beating heart - one of the best 50 in the country and a cardiac care specialty hospital...and if anyone dies because of your stupidity and arrogance, the blood will be on your hands?
You don't know what something means to you until you lose it.
We will develop long memories. If we remember nothing else, we will remember this betrayal of the public trust.
The vote was 4 to 1 this morning. Gainer was the only dissenting voice. And I'm not so sure it wasn't lip service to an angry public. He has to sell cars.
If there is a way to get an injunction against this action by the BOCC, I hope some lawyer with guts will step forward and take it on so that the people who paid for this non-profit, special district hospital which provided indigent care can vote in a binding referendum. Only then will this issue be put to rest.
and here: http://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/hill-burton_act_free_healthcar.html
You can organize a Hill-Burton Hospital this way:
http://www.hrsa.gov/gethealthcare/affordable/hillburton/
If that's not enough, Google has endless entries that will allow you to understand the word "perpetuity" used in the organization of a Hill-Burton hospital.
Eventually, Hill-Burton evolved into the Public Services Act XVI http://www.hrsa.gov/gethealthcare/affordable/hillburton/compliance.html
There was help for BMC all along. All it would have taken was for the lazy (or corrupt) BMC board to look this up. Ditto for the BOCC lazy (or corrupt) members to read it and act, too. But when I sent it to them; when I spoke to them in public, they did not or would not listen to me. It is my opinion that the transfer of BMC to Sacred Heart was a done deal when Steve Johnson was hired out of Sacred Heart. It would take ten years of focused degradation. Employees of BMC, you should have voted for a union. But I'm betting just like the attempt to unionize more than once, your jobs were threatened if you didn't wear a smile and a big, blue button. You will see jobs evaporate, indigent care diminish and disappear, and the hospital, our jewel created from our own hands without outside interference, be flipped for Sacred Heart's profit.
There would have been NO financial distress. There are provisions for aid for hospitals like BMC. All it took was an application for financial help under the guidelines of the Public Services Act XVI.
In your haste to fast track this the Board and the BOCC forgot to factor in the coming of Obamacare or that if HHS does not relent on the issue of contraception costs, that religious hospitals, specifically the Sacred Heart system because it is Roman Catholic-run, and adheres strictly to the rules of the Catholic church, may go under.
The behind-the-scenes negotiations really were behind closed doors. The sale of BMC should have gone through a binding referendum. We paid for the hospital and you owed us that. And because of financial negligence, whoever was responsible, the Board or the administration, should be fired, but they won't be until they are replaced by Sacred Heart loyalists. Steve Johnson will ride that wave.
The BOCC has given us the airport to nowhere. None of 3,000+ jobs have materialized. We lost a carrier. We can't catch an international flight to anywhere. Pilots on the Atlanta-ECP flight fear the runway that is mushy on hot, summer days. There will be a crash someday. The drive is long and dangerous at night and it's most inconvenient. It gave us the incinerator and all its problems and a sewer line under the bay whose cement pillow band-aid fix will someday erode or meet its demise, perhaps by a storm. Its track record is lousy, and it is a poster child for term limits. One year.
I applaud everyone who spoke at meetings in opposition to the sale of BMC; Dr. Victor Ortega, the County Press who did it excellent expose', the letter writers, the ones who engaged employees in the dialog, the people who made phone calls, the senders of emails - you are the unappreciated and unknown heroes. Time will bear out your honest commentary, your questions, your research and your knowledge, but there is little joy in "I told you so", just a cold bitterness.
As jobs tank, as more homes are foreclosed, as the price of gas and everything else goes up and businesses find they can't do business with people who don't have money, a public, non-profit hospital will just be a memory. You allowed it to happen.
Didn't you realize, you jerks, that this hospital served five counties - it was literally a beating heart - one of the best 50 in the country and a cardiac care specialty hospital...and if anyone dies because of your stupidity and arrogance, the blood will be on your hands?
You don't know what something means to you until you lose it.
We will develop long memories. If we remember nothing else, we will remember this betrayal of the public trust.
The vote was 4 to 1 this morning. Gainer was the only dissenting voice. And I'm not so sure it wasn't lip service to an angry public. He has to sell cars.
If there is a way to get an injunction against this action by the BOCC, I hope some lawyer with guts will step forward and take it on so that the people who paid for this non-profit, special district hospital which provided indigent care can vote in a binding referendum. Only then will this issue be put to rest.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
"PERPETUITY" MEANS NOTHING IN BAY COUNTY, FLORIDA
Last night I witnessed a mass brainwashing and a hostile takeover of Bay Medical Center by Sacred Heart Hospital.
The Bay County Commission gave public lip service by sitting, staring into space, while some of us (including Dr. Victor Ortega) tried to inform them with facts. The Commission, who gave us incinerator problems, band-aid fix cement pillows to cover up an under-the-Bay sewer line, the airport to nowhere at which three thousand plus jobs never materialized, no international flights as promised, rising flight prices, the loss of a carrier, continuing environmental problems, allied businesses that never came (and if you ask the pilots on the Atlanta-ECP flights, they are terrified of the mushy runway on hot summer days), are stealing a taxpayer-funded public, non-profit hospital, organized under the Hill-Burton Act which was absorbed by the Public Services Act, Title XVI, a federal act providing Hill-Burton services to the indigent and under-insured available “in perpetuity”; meaning, “forever”. There are remedies available for failing public, non-profit hospitals through this act, and whoever is in charge among the Bay County snake oil salesmen, someone dropped the ball, was unaware, or has kept this hidden. This is a serious problem, and because of this, a Grand Jury should be seated to explore why.
Earlier, I picked up a cursory (and in no way complete) printout of some of the capital items in the Radiology Department. Remember, it is “no way complete”; $10 million dollars worth. I stepped into the lobby of the new wing, the baby of the CEO, Steve Johnson (formerly of Sacred Heart), who admittedly spear-headed this disaster despite all economic indicators pointed to a failing economy under the premise like the airport – if you build it they will come. Without a Certificate of Need (CON) rooms were closed in the main hospital, and new, luxury private rooms were made, as well as a new restaurant with a brick pizza oven and a gourmet menu – in Panama City, Florida where any restaurant you choose can be found in within 20 minutes.
I was dyspeptic. The lobby and garden is huge, stunning and something you would see in a high end hotel. Why wasn’t this money put into patient care and more state-of-the-art diagnostic/treatment equipment and/or staff? The opulence is embarrassing and obscene for our depressed community, but not for Sacred Heart to come in and scoop up.
One of the speakers, our County attorney, Mr. Arline, I believe, mentioned questioning Mr. Johnson’s allegiance to Sacred Heart before hiring him. Now I know what my gut told me is true. For the ten years the hospital knew there was trouble looming, Johnson was planning the lease/sale all the time.
We have five Commissioners, all of them businessmen. I questioned why two audits weren’t done by “our” side (the County); a complete financial audit and a physical plant audit, right down to the last staple in the last staple gun and the last gauze pad. I asked the Chairman of the Commission why this wasn’t done and he doesn’t know! Supposedly they have taken the word of Sacred Heart who use a formula to guess at this number.
I wonder at the ex-Sheriff who won his seat on the Commission by 15 votes, to whom this transaction was handed. He has no experience in healthcare, whatsoever.
I wonder at the man sitting in front of me in the first row making notes on a yellow legal pad prior to the meeting. His first entry was “Golden Parachutes”. Golden Parachutes? Who’s getting them?
Most of the audience, I’m guessing by the big, blue buttons, was staff and management. Funny thing about the management at BMC – they have been known to intimidate the staff before when union attempts were made. The threat issued was the firing of any employee who dared try to organize or vote for the union. Manipulation works because the staff is ignorant of the facts.
No one is talking about the current Obamacare/HHS edict concerning birth control and how, if HHS stands firm and does not back down, it will affect religious hospitals. In the literature I have found, Sacred Heart specifically will be forced to close some or all its hospitals because they will not comply on religious grounds. What happens then, to BMC? What happens to our Muslim physicians?
Because of the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, and the changing attitude of the hospital formerly known as BMC, under the control of Monsignor Reed in Tallahassee, your young daughter, in need of a morning after pill or termination of pregnancy because of rape or incest, will be turned away whether or not you have insurance. If you aren’t insured, where will you go?
I guess there's always Planned Parenthood.
Employees of BMC are going to find it very difficult when their own personal religious ideology is challenged by the Church of Rome and the new management of Sacred Heart.
We have only two hospitals. Gulf Coast Hospital is private. BMC today, is public, non-profit, serving five counties. We need proof that all our needs are met, even women’s services. In the Bible Belt, you are going to feel the full impact of the strong hand of Roman Catholicism, and you are going to suffer for it. You have never been exposed; therefore, you are ignorant, and ignorant you will stay until something happens to you.
BMC’s Board and the County Commission are putting their faith into the maze of Sacred Heart spin-offs who handle leases and sales. Take LHP Hospital group for instance, located in Plano, Texas. It is not a Florida corporation, and it has a poor track record.
Touted as a for-profit private health care investment corporation, whose management team doesn’t have much prior experience in health care how can they be trusted? LHP remains unproven in successes. What it really is, is a hedge fund. You can read more about this in Rosalie Schaeffer’s expose’ on the Sacred Heart acquisition in the two-part article she wrote in the “County Press”, located in Bay County, FL and you can find it in the paper’s archives.
To add a little fat to the fire, the public is unaware of a Florida bill on Sen. Rene Garcia’s website dealing with the acquisition of hospitals. The original legislation states that a public referendum be held prior to a sale/lease of any hospital. It was handed over to Sen. Don Gaetz with another number (on his website). He changed the wording and deleted the public referendum, so that only the Board of the hospital and the County Commission can vote on the issue. Why did Gaetz strike the language that gave the public a vote? The timing is suspiciously coincidental; January, 2012. What makes it more so is that Sen. Gaetz lives about 15 miles from Sacred Heart.
I see a lot of room for corruption here. It is unreasonable to sell or lease BMC for 40 years if audits aren’t done. It is unreasonable to fast track such a vital decision because the Public Services Act, Title XVI should have been consulted by these seasoned healthcare professionals. The information is there to help failing public, non-profit hospitals with financial help. And it is unreasonable not to have the sale/lease available for bid.
It is important that we take our blinders off and see this as it really is. It is a theft of a very high-tech, superior hospital with a great reputation that gives care to everyone in need by a private, for-profit religious hospital who is giving us literally pennies on the dollar when the silver bullet to its financial woes is available by federal law!
The current administration and the Board of BMC who by design or by ignorance have run BMC aground must put this decision on hold, and the Bay County Commission and a Grand Jury investigate the missing audits and the options under the Public Services Act Title XVI. The Public Services Act XVI, the explanation of a Florida Special District and the Hill-Burton Act are found on the internet. They are in plain English and you can easily understand them.
Shands in Jacksonville supports my understanding of mismanaged indigent care costs.
Call them and find out for yourself. They spend less in indigent care than BMC does and they are profiting. It’s a huge hospital with almost 700 beds. Is there a problem here? You betcha.
I suggested when I spoke last night, the possibility of making BMC a teaching hospital under Florida State University or Gulf Coast State College. The grants would pour in and the financial ills would be a thing of the past. We would grow as a community, the economy would improve, BMC would grow and provide jobs and exceptional healthcare for many and those jobs would keep our children here.
http://m.news-gazette.com/news/health/health-care/2011-09-04/hospitals-fear-loss-tax-exemption-illinois.html
http://archive.chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2010/03/illinois-supreme-court-rules-provena-must-pay-tax.html
http://the-american-catholic.com/2010/03/19/should-catholic-hospitals-remain-tax-exempt/
The Bay County Commission gave public lip service by sitting, staring into space, while some of us (including Dr. Victor Ortega) tried to inform them with facts. The Commission, who gave us incinerator problems, band-aid fix cement pillows to cover up an under-the-Bay sewer line, the airport to nowhere at which three thousand plus jobs never materialized, no international flights as promised, rising flight prices, the loss of a carrier, continuing environmental problems, allied businesses that never came (and if you ask the pilots on the Atlanta-ECP flights, they are terrified of the mushy runway on hot summer days), are stealing a taxpayer-funded public, non-profit hospital, organized under the Hill-Burton Act which was absorbed by the Public Services Act, Title XVI, a federal act providing Hill-Burton services to the indigent and under-insured available “in perpetuity”; meaning, “forever”. There are remedies available for failing public, non-profit hospitals through this act, and whoever is in charge among the Bay County snake oil salesmen, someone dropped the ball, was unaware, or has kept this hidden. This is a serious problem, and because of this, a Grand Jury should be seated to explore why.
Earlier, I picked up a cursory (and in no way complete) printout of some of the capital items in the Radiology Department. Remember, it is “no way complete”; $10 million dollars worth. I stepped into the lobby of the new wing, the baby of the CEO, Steve Johnson (formerly of Sacred Heart), who admittedly spear-headed this disaster despite all economic indicators pointed to a failing economy under the premise like the airport – if you build it they will come. Without a Certificate of Need (CON) rooms were closed in the main hospital, and new, luxury private rooms were made, as well as a new restaurant with a brick pizza oven and a gourmet menu – in Panama City, Florida where any restaurant you choose can be found in within 20 minutes.
I was dyspeptic. The lobby and garden is huge, stunning and something you would see in a high end hotel. Why wasn’t this money put into patient care and more state-of-the-art diagnostic/treatment equipment and/or staff? The opulence is embarrassing and obscene for our depressed community, but not for Sacred Heart to come in and scoop up.
One of the speakers, our County attorney, Mr. Arline, I believe, mentioned questioning Mr. Johnson’s allegiance to Sacred Heart before hiring him. Now I know what my gut told me is true. For the ten years the hospital knew there was trouble looming, Johnson was planning the lease/sale all the time.
We have five Commissioners, all of them businessmen. I questioned why two audits weren’t done by “our” side (the County); a complete financial audit and a physical plant audit, right down to the last staple in the last staple gun and the last gauze pad. I asked the Chairman of the Commission why this wasn’t done and he doesn’t know! Supposedly they have taken the word of Sacred Heart who use a formula to guess at this number.
I wonder at the ex-Sheriff who won his seat on the Commission by 15 votes, to whom this transaction was handed. He has no experience in healthcare, whatsoever.
I wonder at the man sitting in front of me in the first row making notes on a yellow legal pad prior to the meeting. His first entry was “Golden Parachutes”. Golden Parachutes? Who’s getting them?
Most of the audience, I’m guessing by the big, blue buttons, was staff and management. Funny thing about the management at BMC – they have been known to intimidate the staff before when union attempts were made. The threat issued was the firing of any employee who dared try to organize or vote for the union. Manipulation works because the staff is ignorant of the facts.
No one is talking about the current Obamacare/HHS edict concerning birth control and how, if HHS stands firm and does not back down, it will affect religious hospitals. In the literature I have found, Sacred Heart specifically will be forced to close some or all its hospitals because they will not comply on religious grounds. What happens then, to BMC? What happens to our Muslim physicians?
Because of the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, and the changing attitude of the hospital formerly known as BMC, under the control of Monsignor Reed in Tallahassee, your young daughter, in need of a morning after pill or termination of pregnancy because of rape or incest, will be turned away whether or not you have insurance. If you aren’t insured, where will you go?
I guess there's always Planned Parenthood.
Employees of BMC are going to find it very difficult when their own personal religious ideology is challenged by the Church of Rome and the new management of Sacred Heart.
We have only two hospitals. Gulf Coast Hospital is private. BMC today, is public, non-profit, serving five counties. We need proof that all our needs are met, even women’s services. In the Bible Belt, you are going to feel the full impact of the strong hand of Roman Catholicism, and you are going to suffer for it. You have never been exposed; therefore, you are ignorant, and ignorant you will stay until something happens to you.
BMC’s Board and the County Commission are putting their faith into the maze of Sacred Heart spin-offs who handle leases and sales. Take LHP Hospital group for instance, located in Plano, Texas. It is not a Florida corporation, and it has a poor track record.
Touted as a for-profit private health care investment corporation, whose management team doesn’t have much prior experience in health care how can they be trusted? LHP remains unproven in successes. What it really is, is a hedge fund. You can read more about this in Rosalie Schaeffer’s expose’ on the Sacred Heart acquisition in the two-part article she wrote in the “County Press”, located in Bay County, FL and you can find it in the paper’s archives.
To add a little fat to the fire, the public is unaware of a Florida bill on Sen. Rene Garcia’s website dealing with the acquisition of hospitals. The original legislation states that a public referendum be held prior to a sale/lease of any hospital. It was handed over to Sen. Don Gaetz with another number (on his website). He changed the wording and deleted the public referendum, so that only the Board of the hospital and the County Commission can vote on the issue. Why did Gaetz strike the language that gave the public a vote? The timing is suspiciously coincidental; January, 2012. What makes it more so is that Sen. Gaetz lives about 15 miles from Sacred Heart.
I see a lot of room for corruption here. It is unreasonable to sell or lease BMC for 40 years if audits aren’t done. It is unreasonable to fast track such a vital decision because the Public Services Act, Title XVI should have been consulted by these seasoned healthcare professionals. The information is there to help failing public, non-profit hospitals with financial help. And it is unreasonable not to have the sale/lease available for bid.
It is important that we take our blinders off and see this as it really is. It is a theft of a very high-tech, superior hospital with a great reputation that gives care to everyone in need by a private, for-profit religious hospital who is giving us literally pennies on the dollar when the silver bullet to its financial woes is available by federal law!
The current administration and the Board of BMC who by design or by ignorance have run BMC aground must put this decision on hold, and the Bay County Commission and a Grand Jury investigate the missing audits and the options under the Public Services Act Title XVI. The Public Services Act XVI, the explanation of a Florida Special District and the Hill-Burton Act are found on the internet. They are in plain English and you can easily understand them.
Shands in Jacksonville supports my understanding of mismanaged indigent care costs.
Call them and find out for yourself. They spend less in indigent care than BMC does and they are profiting. It’s a huge hospital with almost 700 beds. Is there a problem here? You betcha.
I suggested when I spoke last night, the possibility of making BMC a teaching hospital under Florida State University or Gulf Coast State College. The grants would pour in and the financial ills would be a thing of the past. We would grow as a community, the economy would improve, BMC would grow and provide jobs and exceptional healthcare for many and those jobs would keep our children here.
As it stands, I believe again that the public and the employees of BMC have been duped. Law is being ignored or hidden from public view. This looks like fraud to me.
Why are we accepting this?
Thursday, February 2, 2012
THE US HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY RACKET AND A REMARK THAT GOES HAND-IN-GLOVE BY SANTORUM
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30423.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30421.htm
These two cases are not an endorsement for Obamacare, that devil in disguise. In the 1000+ page Obamacare-out-to-kill you bill, there is so much more room for profiteering, waste, fraud, you name it besides minimal healthcare doled out to you, and for-real death panels, you must not forget to fight it.
Being aware is half the battle.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30421.htm
These two cases are not an endorsement for Obamacare, that devil in disguise. In the 1000+ page Obamacare-out-to-kill you bill, there is so much more room for profiteering, waste, fraud, you name it besides minimal healthcare doled out to you, and for-real death panels, you must not forget to fight it.
Being aware is half the battle.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
WHY A VOTE FOR MITT ROMNEY IS A VOTE FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/17-reasons-why-a-vote-for-mitt-romney-is-a-vote-for-the-new-world-order?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=17-reasons-why-a-vote-for-mitt-romney-is-a-vote-for-the-new-world-order
And remember - Massachusetts' failed healthcare system was the model for Obamacare.
Antigun
NWO
Healthcare
Bad scores.
You lose, Mitt.
VOTE FOR RON PAUL! HE CAN WIN!
And remember - Massachusetts' failed healthcare system was the model for Obamacare.
Antigun
NWO
Healthcare
Bad scores.
You lose, Mitt.
VOTE FOR RON PAUL! HE CAN WIN!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
WHITE HOUSE UPPING COST OF HOME HEALTH CARE AS OBAMACARE EXPANDS IT
http://constitutionclub.org/2011/12/20/white-house-upping-cost-of-home-health-care-as-obamacare-expands-it/
DEATH PANELS - HERE WE COME! WILLINGLY!
*my tongue firmly planted in my cheek
DEATH PANELS - HERE WE COME! WILLINGLY!
*my tongue firmly planted in my cheek
Monday, December 12, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
CHILLING EXPLANATION OF THE KEY ISSUES OF OBAMACARE. LIKE IT SAYS, PREPARED TO BE SCARED...OUT OF YOUR WITS.
Listen carefully and prepare to be scared.....!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
VACCINE LOBBY LAUNCHES GARDASIL SAFETY HOAX
http://www.prisonplanet.com/vaccine-lobby-launches-gardasil-safety-hoax.html
Today, and all through the world, you can hear Alex Jones interview socialist actor Ed Asner, on many issues, from 911 to the Gardasil and other vaccine hoaxes. It's very enlightening.
Alex Jones doesn't lie. He has proof to back up what he says or he wouldn't be on the radio for 5 more minutes if his material was fabricated.
Please try to listen tonight - http://www.prisonplanet.com
Today, and all through the world, you can hear Alex Jones interview socialist actor Ed Asner, on many issues, from 911 to the Gardasil and other vaccine hoaxes. It's very enlightening.
Alex Jones doesn't lie. He has proof to back up what he says or he wouldn't be on the radio for 5 more minutes if his material was fabricated.
Please try to listen tonight - http://www.prisonplanet.com
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