Screw the Patient #2
Health Care Industry*
Campaign Contributions
(Total all States in $ Millions)
2000 $58.9
2001 $8.1
2002 $101.2
2003 $20.2
2004 $121.7
2005 $176.4
2006 $175,5
2007 $15.1
2008 $121.4
2009 $12.4
2010 $150.9 156% increase
TOTAL- $961.5
*Professionals, Hospitals, Health Care Insurance,
Pharmaceuticals, Health Products, Etc.
SOURCE: Followthemoney.org
Screw the Patient #1
Health Care Industry*
Federal Influence
(In Millions of $)
Lobbyists Campaign PACS
Contributions
10 year
increase 150% 63% 147%
2000 $208.7 $48.7 $22.1
2001 $225.1
2002 $251.6 $39.3 $25.5
2003 $280.4
2004 $308.0 $90.2 $31.6
2005 $347.8
2006 $383.0 $61.1 $39.8
2007 $448.1
2008 $487.8 $118.5 $49.2
2009 $552.6
2010 $522.6 $79.4 $54.6
Total $ $4,012.5 $437.2 $222.8
*Professionals, Hospitals, Health Care Insurance,
Pharmaceuticals, Health Products, Etc.
SOURCE- http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=H
Stupid is as ... #9
Fact: The South Florida news media devoted far more coverage to the Miami Dolphins football team’s miserable performance in 2010 and 2011 than it did to the horrific trends in health care.
Small wonder a Pew Research Center for People & the Press survey revealed 69% of Americans found details of the Obama administration’s Health Care Reform “hard to understand.”
For example:
Here’s some stunning data that went unreported in both the Miami Herald and the Sun-Sentinel....
Average Family Health Insurance Premium
2003 2010
Consumer Price Index 19%
Premium Cost:
United States $9,249 $13,871 50%
% median
family income 15.2% 20.6%
Florida $9,331 $15,032 61%
% median
family income 16.4% 24.4%
Source:
The Commonwealth Fund – November 2011
Stupid is as ... #8
Discounting Mom's Hysterectomy
To continue our portrayal of America’s profit-driven health care system as a Persian rug market version of capitalism, where only the ignorant and/or less fortunate pay retail….
Hospital patients blessed with governmental or private health care insurance will pay only a fraction of their charges.
While patients lacking health care insurance are legally responsible for the full amount of their hospital bills … which too often end up sold at a discount to avaricious bill collectors.
Thus, for the growing millions of America’s working poor lacking health care insurance, financial ruin is only one major illness away.
But none of this prevents the smug-majority of our free market enamored politicians from hailing America’s health care system “as the finest in the world.”
Which is gross bullshit.
Anyhow…
In our last installment, we featured an American health care “consumer” discovering the grotesque range in the sticker price for a hysterectomy at various Broward Hospitals --- with a high of $66,800 and a low of $18,500.
Hopefully, our “consumer” facing a hysterectomy was covered by insurance.
Because if she wasn’t….
$35,000 - mean Florida hospital sticker price for a hysterectomy which an uninsured “consumer” is legally obligated to pay. (100% of bill)
$11,375 – average amount reimbursed by a private insurer (32.5% of bill)
$7,210 – reimbursed by Medicare (20.6% of bill)
$6,755 – reimbursed by Medicaid (19.3% of bill)
SOURCE: Florida Agency for Health Care Administration
Stupid is as ... #7
Talking a Hospital Sticker Price
Free market versus rug market
The easiest way to grasp the business model of any hospital is to think of it as giant hotel offering a costly menu of life-saving services to its guests.
Because – like your basic Holiday Inn – your typical hospital is all about the “bottom line” generated by its paying-buns-in-beds.
Only the “guest services” at a hospital are far more expensive, emotion-charged and techo-mysterious than a Motel 6.
Oh yes.
Again, like most hotels and motels, the sticker price for “guest services” at various hospitals can be as insanely diverse as a hot sheet motel versus a five-star resort.
For example:
Suppose Mom needs of a hysterectomy .
Naturally, as a good Republican familiar with America’s “free market” health care system, Mom sets out to nail down the best deal on a hysterectomy in Broward County.
Which she’s able to do, thanks to a internet data base maintained Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration at http://www.floridahealthfinder.gov/comparecare/CompareFacilities.aspx
Trouble is, as Mom quickly learns, the "free market" price range for a hysterectomy is straight out of a tourist’s worst nightmare in an Arab Bazaar.
Hospital Hysterectomy Sticker Price
Low End High End
State average $23,811 $46,500
Northwest $43,373 $66,870
Florida Medical $38,908 $57,818
Westside $36,656 $56,435
Holy Cross $34,237 $49,836
Plantation $31,094 $42,497
Memorial South $29,978 $41,919
Memorial Pembroke $29,257 $46,387
Memorial Miramar $28,378 $40,136
Memorial West $26,263 $34,875
Imperial Point $25,106 $36,653
Memorial Regional $24,166 $30,891
Broward General $23,259 $32,701
Cleveland Clinic $22,859 $38,088
North Broward $21,776 $30,806
Coral Springs $18,576 $31,214
Stupid is as ... #6
True or False:
A - Competition between hospitals
serves to combat the increase in
patient care charges.
B - Florida hospitals have suffered
a severe loss in surplus revenue
during the past decade.
All Florida Hospitals
2000 2009
Adjusted
Admissions* 2,739,842 3,739,788 36%
All Revenue $18.9 billion $35.8 billion
Per Adj. Admit* $6,891 $9,566 39%
In 2009 $** $8,615 $9,566 11%
Surplus Revenue $937,605,135 $2,043,457,747
Per Adj. Admit* $342 $546 60%
In 2009 $** $428 $546 28%
* Standard health care industry baseline which allows for the
comparison of one hospital to another.
**Adjusted for inflation (CPI 2000-2009 = +25%)
SOURCE: Agency for Health Care Administration http://ahca.myflorida.com/MCHQ/CON_FA/Publications/2009_HOSPITALFINANCIALDATABOOK.pdf
Stupid is as ... #5
When it comes to America’s profit-driven health care system, most elected officials, thought leaders and media types are tragically crippled by ignorance.
For example, the majority of them believe the nation’s “free” market health care system offers the best possible care at the lowest possible cost thanks to competition generated by Adam Smith’s “invisible hand.”
Which, when it comes to denial-based ignorance, runs a close second to believing "the Man in the Sky" arranges lottery winners and cancer deaths.
But then, as Hemingway once wrote, it’s too often “pretty” to avoid the truth.
However….
Regarding the effectiveness of the "free" market and Adam Smith’s "invisible hand" controlling the cost of health care in America:
US Health Care Expenditures
Annual - Per Capita
Adjusted for Inflation
1980 2008 +%
$2,004 $7,586 279%
Bottom line?
When it comes to the cost of health care, either our nation's leaders, or Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” have been jerking off the American public. JKdeG
Paradox Redux
The internet has generated a tsunami
of fascinating data…
While the news media has become
increasingly superficial.
For example*:
ARCHDIOCESE OF MIAMI
1980 2009
Total Catholics 3,406,900 4,299,000 26%
Parishes 133 111 (17%)
Priests 500 397 (21%)
Male Religious 193 134 (31%)
Female Religious 662 281 (58%)
SOURCE:
http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dmiam.html
*Which you'll not see reported in
either the Miami Herald or the
South Florida Sun-Sentinel!
Holy Markup - #2
“We uphold the ethical and moral teachings of the
Catholic Church in all policies and practices.”
Holy Cross, Sisters of Mercy Mission Statement
Healthcare - Jesus Style
Medicare Charges
Major Joint Replacement
or reattachment of
lower extremity
(MS-DRG 470-469)
Holy Cross Cleveland Clinic Shands
Fort Lauderdale Weston U of Florida
$63,407 $44,601 $53,550
SOURCE: www.ahd.com
Soundtrack:
When a patient does not pay his bill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqp89bkFe8k&feature=related
The Horror, the Horror!
It's Possible the Taliban
Just May Have a Point
www.toetagdiary.com