"All,
too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of
the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must
be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal
law must protect, and to violate would be oppression." --Thomas
Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801
Follow The Patriot Post:
    |
Monday, April 30, 2012
Founder's Quote
Liberty Quotes
"[T]he arguments that have been addressed to us lead me to utter more explicit misgivings about war powers than the Court has done. The Government asserts no constitutional basis for this legislation other than this vague, undefined and undefinable 'war power.' No one will question that this power is the most dangerous one to free government in the whole catalogue of powers. It is usually invoked in haste and excitement, when calm legislative consideration of constitutional limitation is difficult. It is executed in a time of patriotic fervor that makes moderation unpopular. And, worst of all, it is interpreted by judges under the influence of the same passions and pressures. Always, as in this case, the Government urges hasty decision to forestall some emergency or serve some purpose and pleads that paralysis will result if its claims to power are denied or their confirmation delayed." -- Justice Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), U. S. Supreme Court Justice Source: Woods v. Cloyd W. Miller Co., 333 U.S. 138, 146 (1948)
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Robert.Jackson.Quote.B49D
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/William.O..Douglas.Quote.3679
Private purchasing of prisons locks in occupancy rates
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Updated 3/8/2012 12:37 PM
WASHINGTON – At a time when states are struggling to reduce bloated prison populations and tight budgets, a private prison management company is offering to buy prisons in exchange for various considerations, including a controversial guarantee that the governments maintain a 90% occupancy rate for at least 20 years.
The $250 million proposal, circulated by the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America to prison officials in 48 states, has been blasted by some state officials who suggest such a program could pressure criminal justice officials to seek harsher sentences to maintain the contractually required occupancy rates.
"You don't want a prison system operating with the goal of maximizing profits," says Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and advocate for reducing prison populations through less costly diversion programs. "The only thing worse is that this seeks to take advantage of some states' troubled financial position."
FULL STORY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-01/buying-prisons-require-high-occupancy/53402894/1
Updated 3/8/2012 12:37 PM
WASHINGTON – At a time when states are struggling to reduce bloated prison populations and tight budgets, a private prison management company is offering to buy prisons in exchange for various considerations, including a controversial guarantee that the governments maintain a 90% occupancy rate for at least 20 years.
The $250 million proposal, circulated by the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America to prison officials in 48 states, has been blasted by some state officials who suggest such a program could pressure criminal justice officials to seek harsher sentences to maintain the contractually required occupancy rates.
"You don't want a prison system operating with the goal of maximizing profits," says Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and advocate for reducing prison populations through less costly diversion programs. "The only thing worse is that this seeks to take advantage of some states' troubled financial position."
FULL STORY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-01/buying-prisons-require-high-occupancy/53402894/1
Sunday, April 29, 2012
American Minute with Bill Federer Apr. 29 - Admiral David Farragut "Damn the torpedoes - Full Speed Ahead!"
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
"Damn
the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" yelled Admiral David Farragut, who
had lashed himself atop the mainsail to see above the smoke. 
|
AmeriSearch, Inc | PO Box 20163 | St. Louis | MO | 63123
|
Saturday, April 28, 2012
American Medicine--No Trace of Compassionate Care
| Subject: | American Medicine--No Trace of Compassionate Care |
|---|---|
| Date: | Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:33:45 -0400 |
| From: | Veracare <veracare@ahrp.org> |
| To: | Infomail1@ahrp.org |
Alliance for Human Research Protection (AHRP)
Advancing Honest and Ethical Medical Research
www.ahrp.org
FYI
Three reports in this week's New York Times document the magnitude of harm produced by America's profit-driven, healthcare system affecting--not only the uninsured poor--but affecting all but today's Robber Barons, the .001% of Americans--who are being mistreated and pick-pocketed.
The commercialization of American Medicine has obliterated medicine's humanitarian mission, adopting a rapacious business model. Medical institutions are now being run as disreputable for-profit businesses.
Patients entering a hospital emergency room in need of medical care are being abused, detained and grilled, as if they were criminal suspects.
Healthcare providers and insurers, in the pursuit of increased profits, have resorted to ruthless tactics befitting Mafia enforcers or loan sharks, when interfacing with patients.
Insurance carriers are denying insured "middle class" taxpayers their paid-for entitlements by changing the reimbursement rates.
Hospitals, in turn, are demanding pre-payment from patients at the point of admission--the Emergency Room.
And, hospitals are hiring mercenary collection agencies--such as Accretive--whose agents run amok on hospital floors indistinguishable from hospital staff, terrorizing patients with demands for payment.
The Times reports, "Collection activities extended from obstetrics to the emergency room. In July 2010, an Accretive manager told staff members at Fairview Hospital that they should “get cracking on labor and delivery,” since there is a “good chunk to be collected there,” according to company e-mails."
Insurance companies and collection agencies are making a killing in profits and hospitals are part of the pivotal leg in that Troika.
The Times reports that: Accretive is one of the few companies specializing in hospital debt collection that is publicly traded. Last year, it reported $29.2 million in profit, up 130 percent from a year earlier.
Vera Sharav
New York Times
1. April 24, 2012. Insurers Alter Cost Formula; Patients Pay
The article describes how health insurers have pulled the rug from under insured Americans.
The insurance industry has shifted its reimbursement formula for hospital services. Insurance companies had paid 70% of "usual and customary cost" for hospital services. Now those insurers are shifting the major cost of hospital services to patients by adopting Medicare rates of reimbursement.
For example, Appendix removal: Amount billed: $7,704----under "usual & customary cost" Insurance paid $5,393, and patients paid $2,311.
By shifting the reimbursement rate to Medicare standards (depending on whether the hospital is within the insurance company network):
Insurance company pays only $653 to $1,166, and patient is charged $6,538 to $7, 051.
No, this is not a typo!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/nyregion/health-insurers-switch-baseline-for-out-of-network-charges.html
2. April 25, 2012. Debt Collectors Pursue Patients Inside Hospitals
"Hospital patients waiting in an emergency room or convalescing after surgery are being confronted by an unexpected visitor: a debt collector at bedside.
This and other aggressive tactics by one of the nation’s largest collectors of medical debts, Accretive Health, were revealed on Tuesday by the Minnesota attorney general, raising concerns that such practices have become common at hospitals across the country. The tactics, like embedding debt collectors as employees in emergency rooms and demanding that patients pay before receiving treatment, were outlined in hundreds of company documents released by the attorney general."
"And they cast a spotlight on the increasingly desperate strategies among hospitals to recoup payments as their unpaid debts mount. To patients, the debt collectors may look indistinguishable from hospital employees, may demand they pay outstanding bills and may discourage them from seeking emergency care at all, even using scripts like those in collection boiler rooms, according to the documents and employees interviewed by The New York Times."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/business/debt-collector-is-faulted-for-tough-tactics-in-hospitals.html
3. April 24, 2012. Confusion On Pricing At Hospitals Adds to Pain
"When Augie Hong awoke with severe abdominal pain nearly two years ago, he went to the hospital emergency room closest to his home in San Francisco. The diagnosis was acute appendicitis, and doctors removed his inflamed appendix.
Mr. Hong had health insurance, so he wasn’t too worried about paying. Then the bills started to arrive. “That’s when I got nervous,” said Mr. Hong, 36, who has insurance through his job at an investment firm. In all, Mr. Hong was charged $59,283, including $5,264 for the doctors.
"Hospital charges are all over the map: according to a report published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, fees for a routine appendectomy in California can range from $1,500 to — in one extreme case — $182,955. Researchers found wide variations in charges even among appendectomy patients treated at the same hospital."
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/the-confusion-of-hospital-pricing/
Friday, April 27, 2012
What about the state kidnapped child?
These people are the enemies of the family. I support Tax credits for BIOLOGICAL families only.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails. 
|
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)