Posted on Sunday, March 14, 2004 by Robb: Gouging the Poor (criminalization of illness piece) This appears to have shown up elsewhere earlier, but I just noticed it in the "Funny Times" that just landed in my snailmailbox yesterday. Gouging the Poor (snip) To compound the sufferings of the sick and sub-affluent, hospitals now routinely charge uninsured people several times more than the insured. The Fort Lauderdale Sun- Sentinel reports that one local hospital charged an uninsured patient $29,000 for an appendectomy that would have cost an insured patient $6,783. According to the Los Angeles Times, in one, albeit for-profit, California hospital chain, the uninsured account for only 2 percent of its patients, but 35 percent of its profits. The explanation for such shameless gouging of the poor? Big insurance companies and HMOs are able to negotiate "discounts" for their members, leaving the uninsured to pay whatever fanciful amounts the hospital cares to charge, such as, in one reported case, $50 for the use of a hospital gown. (more) http://www.progressive.org/feb04/ehr0204.html Posted on Sunday, March 14, 2004 by Robb - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Posted on Sunday, March 14, 2004 by undergroundpanther: Heh money money. When will people get sick of this game society plays,when will we stop playing make believe,about business leaders,politics and right and wrong..and do the kinds of things to the people who do stuff like gouge the poor,that say we mean it? The rich are rich because they are criminals because WE will not be like them we get screwed,but there is one other part because we tolerate criminals in suits and do not call these businessmen what they are,they get away with it.Enron come to mind? Why do we as a culture that has a majority that is middle class or poor let the rich few take everything away from us,especially if they do it slowly and say things we like to hear while they pillage us and hoard ? The rich will not stop stealing from us,they will never have enough.If we let them take without challenges they'll even steal the sense of compassion we should have for each other and destroy our social safety nets, and freedoms we all worked to put there? How dare the rich grab more for themselves than we all deserve as living human beings. Posted on Sunday, March 14, 2004 by undergroundpanther - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - End of forwarded messages Join the discussion at the source of the above posts at: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az- =view_all&address=103x39815 Jai Maharaj http://www.mantra.com/jai Om Shanti Panchaang for 24 Phalgun 5104, Sunday, March 14, 2004: Shubhanu Nama Samvatsare Uttarayane Moksh Ritau Meena Mase Krshn Pakshe Bhanu Vasara Yuktayam Mool-Poorvashadh Nakshatr Vyatipat-Variyan Yog Taitil-Gar Karan Navami Yam Tithau Hindu Holocaust Museum http://www.mantra.com/holocaust Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy http://www.hindu.org http://www.hindunet.org The truth about Islam and Muslims http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read, considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number. o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are not necessarily those of the poster.
On 14 Mar 2004 21:26:32 GMT, [email protected] (Dr. Jai Maharaj) wrote or quoted : >The Fort Lauderdale Sun- Sentinel reports that one >local hospital charged an uninsured patient $29,000 >for an appendectomy that would have cost an insured >patient $6,783. That same apendectomy in Canada would cost you about $600 a year for your insurance. If you can't afford it there is a sliding scale. If you make under $12K a year it is free. The actual costs are 25% lower since the numbers are in Canadian dollars. -- Canadian Mind Products, Roedy Green. Coaching, problem solving, economical contract programming. See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/jgloss.html for The Java Glossary.
