Hospital Victims Project--something to get pissed about--sign petition

[Horse with no Name]

http://hospitalvictims.com/

Fight Back! Please sign our petition!

To Members of Congress,

Please stand with me and the uninsured Americans who are overcharged by our nation’s hospitals. Around the nation, in my neighborhood and yours, hospitals are charging people without health insurance three or four times as much as they charge people with insurance. These victims of hospital price gouging are often lower income workers who are least able to pay for it. I ask that you take action in demanding fair care, fair treatment, and fair pricing to all who seek affordable medical care from America’s hospitals.


Sign the petition!

Support Our Efforts by
Adding a link to your website!
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[merh]

1. I will happily sign the petition!

Thanks Horse! :hi:

[Horse with no Name]

3. Thanks Merh!

:hi:

[merh]

10. Thank you Horse!

:hug: I am so glad you posted this. I am going to link this thread everywhere I can!

[DanCa]

2. Done

And the embryo loving war monger crowd voted against health care. Tell me who did jesus charge when he healled people?

[Horse with no Name]

5. Thanks Dan!

:hi:

[Warpy]

12. Well, as a practical matter

you can't expect society's healers to have to go around in loincloths and with begging bowls. People need to eat.

However, sucking corporate profit out of sick people has got to end. What it's given us is an unworkable patchwork system that treats illness like a consumer decision (let's see, I didn't get that raise, so I'll have to put off that heart attack in favor of another cold this month) and a Big Pill industry dedicated to churning out vanity drugs while ignoring the fact that microorganisms are becoming resistant to all the antibiotics that came out through the 80s and early 90s.

Our system is broken past the point where tinkering with it via reforming the insurance industry will work. Insurance companies need to get OUT of the business, big pill needs government direction, and NIH research grants need to be increased in the areas of antibiotic and vaccine research. And that's just a start.

What we can no longer do is pretend that a deregulated, profit oriented system is a good idea in vital industries like healthcare.

[Horse with no Name]

21. well stated

:applause:

[merh]

4. Nominated & kick!

:kick:

This is very important folks!

[Horse with no Name]

7. It's very important

but not receiving the attention it deserves.:(
:grouphug:
Thanks Merh!

[merh]

11. We will keep it kicked!

:kick:

[merh]

13. kick

:kick:

[merh]

17. kick

:kick:

[merh]

19. kick

:kick:

[Neerav B. Trivedi]

6. Recommended (and kicked in the.......forget it)

Great work on this! Keep us updated!!! :)

[Horse with no Name]

15. Thanks Neerav

:hi:

[troubleinwinter]

8. Signed & Nominated! THANK YOU for this!!!!!!

[Horse with no Name]

20. Thanks trouble.

:hi:

[davsand]

9. There has been some small movement in that issue, lately.

I say this NOT to distract from this effort, but to offer some hope that it can be changed with citizen action. Both Minnesota and Massachusetts have seen some announcements in the last couple of months about agreements being reached on pricing for the uninsured and medically indigent. Both agreements came from state level efforts, I believe. One example is cited in this article from the Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/06/23/hospitals_cut_costs_for_uninsured/

There are people inside the industry who understand it and are beginning to move on it. I'll grant you, it isn't enough, but they are starting to look at it. There are people who have been actively working on the issue, and they have not pulled any punches at all with the hospital associations about the need for re-pricing.

Jim Unland the Editor of the Health Business Policy Journal is one of my favorite people. He's also done a LOT of work on the re-pricing issue (and continues to do so--he's speaking this week to a convention of hospital execs, in fact. Here's his website:

http://www.healthbusinessandpolicy.com/ExemptHospitals.htm

It is a lot to read, but it will teach you anything you want to know about the issue and why it is important to hospitals' long term financial security. Jim truly IS one of the good guys in this all...

I sent him that link, BTW, Horse With No Name. He'll be interested to see that.

I also want to add that the House Ways and Means Committee has been having hearings on the issues of hospitals and pricing and charity. They ARE looking at this issue, and I'd suggest considering sending a copy of this petition to them as well.

Keep up the good fight!



Laura

[Horse with no Name]

25. Thanks davsand

:hi:

[knitter4democracy]

14. Signed!

Boy, do we need that! It's terrible to make people who can't pay as much pay more than the companies do. It's a sin, really.

[Hun Joro]

16. Signed and passed on n/t

[Vincardog]

18. Done and KICK

[benburch]

22. Signed!

:kick:

[Rainscents]

23. Kick!

:kick:

[merh]

24. kick

:kick:

[merh]

26. kick

:kick:

[kevsand]

27. There could possibly be a problem with this petition.

While the cause is certainly worthwhile, and the problem undeniable, this particular website may bear a little further scrutiny.

hospitalvictims.com is a project of the Fairness Foundation in Indianapolis, which receives major funding from the Barre Seid Foundation, which also supports the Cato Institute and the Heartland Institute.

There are some troubling questions (to which I do not have the answers) raised here: http://allspinzone.com/blog/index.php?itemid=140

I have just begun to look at this, so I don't really know how all this fits together, but I would suggest caution, at least for now.

Can anyone shed further light on this?