Frist's HCA was sued in 2004 for gouging uninsured

[rainbow4321]

Funny, did anyone in the MSM ever question Frist on how he felt about his family screwing the uninsured? How much has his "blind trust" benefited from the higher fees that were collected??


http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/hca_suit.html

Health care giant HCA faces a class-action lawsuit over what it charges patients who have no health insurance.

The plaintiffs in the suit claim the rates they were charged not only exceeded the industry norm, but in all cases were higher than those charged to insured patients.

The suit, filed in Clark County, Nevada, charges Mountainview Hospital, an HCA property, also initiated harassing and predatory collection efforts against the uninsured patients.

"Charging a small and disenfranchised element of our society outrageous prices that result in economic and emotional ruin is not the answer to solving our national health care funding conundrum," attorney Archie Lamb said.

[gademocrat7]

1. When is Frist going to be indited?

A pattern of abuse toward poor people. He is a real Christian.

[rainbow4321]

3. Now would be a good time for him to answer alot of questions

about why he still takes money from a company which was rejected by Australia for what was believed to be shady business deals...HCA tried to start up their hospital system til some people over there protested. Then once the company's fraud surfaced the company and they didn't open any hospitals in Australia.


http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/health/access_columbia_hca.html

[HereSince1628]

2. uninsured patients almost always pay more, they lack buying power

as individuals.

Hosptials, even as non-profits, must pay their bills. Insurance companies and HMO's guarantee paying customers but in return demand that the hospitals charge less.

It often seems unfair. The costs to the hospital are quite similar for an insured and an uninsured person, but the fees the hospital charges are almost always different.

And everyone's fees are higher than they would be if a national health plan covered the _costs_ for everyone. As it is medicare doesn't even cover the hospitals' costs, and the costs of poor patients are shifted to the gang with the money. Members of insurance plans guarantee a reliable revenue stream that the hospitals compete for by lower prices to the insurance company.

[Mandate My Ass]

4. The Frists are a crime family just like th Bushes

Columbia HCA ripped off Medicare for hundreds of millions of dollars. Next thing you know, the Hannibel Lechter of the feline world is running the Senate.

[rainbow4321]

6. "HCA Insiders Painted Sunny Picture as They Sold off Stock"

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB15JAN7EE.html

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating HCA Inc., the hospital chain founded by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's family, the company said Thursday.

Documents show that while HCA insiders were selling millions of dollars of their own stock this year, they were also painting an upbeat picture of the company's outlook for investors.

Victor Campbell, HCA's senior vice president of corporate communications and government relations, soothed investor concerns about unpaid patient debts and worries about patient volumes. He advocated for a still-pending Senate bill that would limit the establishment of physician-owned specialty hospitals.

In the month before the speech, Campbell sold about $12 million worth of stock. It was part of a massive insider sell-off at HCA that totaled some $112 million between this January and June.

[Mend]

5. By the time HCA and Charter, its evil twin, were

finished, they had permanently eliminated psychiatric coverage from insurance company policies. In the 1980's most insurance companies had up to one million dollars psychiatric hospitalization coverage. These two companies set up private psychiatric hospitals all over the country and kept people, especially kids, hospitalized up to two years until their benefits ran out. Now you can't get any psych. hospitalization or substance abuse coverage at all. Thanks Dr. Frist....all these deaths from lack of care are blood on your body.