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How Hospitals Mark Up the Cost of Over-the-Counter Supplies Like Aspirin and Q-tips as Much as 1000%

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Chargemaster: Hospitals’ Killer App for Sucking Your Financial Blood Dry – Part 3

Hospitals charge their customers … er, patients, through the nose for simple products which anyone can purchase at WalMart for a fraction of the amount. In Part 1and Part 2 we detailed the ridiculous prices hospitals routinely charge their patients – like several thousand dollars a day – just for a room. In this installment we will go over the markups on products that are added on to patients’ bills.

Suffice it to say that for anything consumable, there will be a Chargemaster billing item. The Chargemaster is the giant computer file that lists the charge for every possible medical service and supply that a hospital provides. Nothing is “included.” Everything is billed out separately, ala carte.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Mayor Filner Takes to the Streets, Carl DeMaio Re-emerges to Obstruct Plans

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Mayor Bob Filner is making two high profile appearances as the week winds down to highlight pro-active aspects of his agenda for San Diego. Meanwhile, the proxy war aimed at thwarting his programs continues, as opponents wage their own media onslaughts.

This morning Filner’s holding a press conference with ex-councilwoman Donna Frye to announce details of an open government initiative designed to make the inner workings of the City more accessible to citizens. The Mayor’s decision to bring the popular ex-councilwoman into his administration has been widely lauded.

The Mayor’s defeated opponent, Carl DeMaio, is also taking the stage today, with an op-ed piece in UT-San Diego this morning and a morning speech at an event hosted by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. DeMaio’s message would seem to be a clarion call to warn San Diegans about Filner-approved ‘double-dipping’ for city pensioners.

The Mayor is trying to make it possible for Donna Frye to work in his administration and get paid for her time. Period. End of story.

Taking a cue from his Congressional brethren, DeMaio’s mission is to simply obstruct where ever possible, using alarmist rhetoric to cover his real intentions. You can bet that nobody in the mainstream San Diego media will see through this ruse; the ex-Councilman will be all over the evening news.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Welcome to Paul Ryan’s Budget Nightmare

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Congressman Paul Ryan’s blueprint for the Republican Party budget, rolled out for all to see this morning, presents a sweeping view of the future. (Here’s your copy.) In 10 years, the budget deficit will have disappeared. The progressive income tax structure will be replaced by a two tiered system. Obamacare will be gone.

It will be a dream come true if you happen to be wealthy.

INSIDE: Let the Poors Eat at Burger King, Some Taxes are More Equal Than Others, Gosh, I Wonder Why Trolley Ridership is Down?   [Read more…]

Health Insurance Scams Leave People High and Dry

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 Goldman Sachs, Blackstone Group make hundred of millions selling useless mini-med policies

Part Two of a series on the Business of Health

In Part 1 we told about how hospitals have a huge computer file called a Chargemaster that details prices for every possible item a hospital can charge for. These prices don’t have anything to do with reality because in fact there is no market for health care services.

In a truly capitalist economy there would be a competitive market by means of which people could check prices and choose the service that’s the most reasonable in terms of price and other factors. It’s called price discovery.

Hospital charges represent a dark market just like over the counter derivatives because it’s next to impossible to get hospitals to reveal their prices for any of their services. According to an extensive article in Time, the author was given the brushoff and even told it was illegal every time he tried to get pricing information. Therefore, the Chargemaster details prices that are sky high and out of sight compared to the paying abilities of most Americans.

In Part 2 we will cover the plight of many folks who thought they had sufficient health insurance coverage only to be told that their insurance policies were useless and they would be required to pay cash upfront if they wanted to access hospital services.
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Transient Ischemic Attack … ‘I Had a What?’

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Monday morning dawned bright and early and I looked forward to going to my physical therapy appointment at 7:00am. I love driving over Pt. Loma Avenue early in the morning to see the sun coming up over the mountains. This day was no exception.

My therapist, Eddy, worked me especially hard this morning because, after having breast cancer surgery 18 years ago, within the past 6 months I have developed a severe case of lymphedema.  There does not seem to be a cure, and we are trying to get the lymph fluid to flow out of the elephantine arm that used to be my left arm. It doesn’t hurt – just restrictive at times.

Following my therapy I had an appointment to see my Primary Care Physician for a routine check up and all was normal.  I left her office; did some shopping at Ralph’s, and walked in the door about 11:00am. One of my former students – Corrine – was coming in the front door as I was walking in the back door. She had an armload of tomato plants with her that she was going to plant in the backyard. When I said “Good Morning” to her I thought something might be wrong. With me. It sounded funny to my ears.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – End Welfare for UT-San Diego’s Owner and his Friends; Raise the Minimum Wage

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Today’s UT-San Diego editorial represents the height of hypocrisy.

Titled ‘Minimum wage hikes deliver maximum pain to the poor’, it goes on to tell us in no uncertain terms about the terrible things that will follow should Congress act on a bill introduced on Tuesday by Democratic Senators Tom Harkin of Iowa and George Miller of California that would raise the hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 — and add an annual adjustment to keep pace with the cost-of-living index.

At the heart of the issue over wages is a business model that relies upon ‘corporate welfare’ either through tax breaks or subsidies (including their labor costs).  Aside from the fact that it’s remarkably short-sighted, such a business philosophy also leads to increases in wealth differential. They get richer, everybody else gets poorer. And that’s exactly what’s happening in the US today.   [Read more…]

Chargemaster: Hospitals’ Killer App for Sucking Your Financial Blood Dry – Part 1

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We spend more on artificial knees and hips every year than Hollywood collects at the box office.

A recent exhaustive article in Time magazine details the exhorbitant charges that hospitals are imposing on the American people, charges that have nothing to do with the actual costs of services provided. A woman in Stamford, Connecticut suffering from chest pains called 911. She was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Stamford Hospital, a non-profit institution, four miles away.

After a few hours of tests she was told that she just had a case of indigestion; her heart was fine. So she went home. Her bill: $21,000 – for a false alarm. That breaks down to $995. for the ambulance ride, $3000. for the doctors and $17,000. for the hospital. Unfortunately, she had no insurance because she had been out of work for a year.

The American medical marketplace is such that those least able to pay are charged the most money. Their prices are determined by what is called a Chargemaster, a massive computer file thousands of items long. Every hospital has one.   [Read more…]

Dying for Free

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Dying for free

In the familiar comfort of your home, with your own family,

No No No cost of doctors and hospital fees,

No strangers, no logistics, no legal-ease,

Just old age, if you please, natural as can be,

Just dying for free.

“My body is old, and you can’t fix me, so just let me be, with my old tv…

Just dying for free.”

More inside….   [Read more…]

Congress’ Sequester Carries Dire Consequences for San Diego Innovation Economy

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Cuts to government funding for basic research–already at dangerously low levels–could have devastating long term economic effects nationally, locally

Basic research—the very foundation of the research cluster—depends heavily on federal dollars. Without it, research activity will slow to a crawl and could eventually wither away.

According to information distributed by Congressman Peters’ office, the sequestration (or amputation) threatens to cut $2.5 billion from the National Institute of Health’s budget (8.2%). To put that in local terms: In fiscal year 2012, San Diego research groups benefitted from 1,760 grants totaling more than $130 million from the National Science Foundation and $850 million from the NIH.

Nationally, cuts to research funding could mean that 2,300 fewer grants will be funded, costing 33,000 jobs. Locally, 4,500 research jobs could be lost, and according to Mark Cafferty, the president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, “the loss of a higher wage, high tech job in this region means the loss of another job.” That’s 9,000 jobs in just the research cluster alone.   [Read more…]

Massive Winter Snow Storms Hit New England and Midwest

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Winter storms now are almost always blizzards because they are accompanied by high winds. Take winter storm Nemo, for example, which hit the New England states on February 9, 2013. Over 700,000 people lost power. On Long Island, upwards of 40,000 people lost power, with downed wires from tree limbs and heavy snows being cited as the primary reason. Four states declared states of emergency – Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York.

Record snowfalls accompanied by high winds – blizzard conditions – these are some of the manifestations of global warming. In the summer record rainfall precipitation events are often accompanied by high winds and tornadoes. This is becoming the norm these days.
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No, Obamacare is Not Making Your Premiums Go Through the Roof

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by Joan McCarter / Daily Kos

It’s the heart of right-wing conventional wisdom: Obamacare is going make insurance premiums for everybody skyrocket. The Wall Street Journal calls it “ObamaCare health-insurance sticker shock.” The CEO of Aetna said “somebody has to pay for” insuring all Americans. Fox Newstrumpeted rising premiums for everyone.

As usual lately, conventional wisdom is having a big fail. Actually, according to a new reportfrom the Obama administration, double-digit premium rate increases are falling. Dramatically. The researchers looked at 15 states that make requests for rate increases by insurers public, and saw rate increases plummet, at least in the individual plan market.   [Read more…]

Monsanto Likely to Score Supreme Court Win with Far-Reaching Benefits for Corporate Farming

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Jill Richardson / Alternet

On Feb. 19, 2013, the Supreme Court heard yet another Monsanto case. (And yet again, Justice Clarence Thomas, former lawyer for Monsanto, did not recuse himself.) This time around, it was Monsanto vs. Vernon Hugh Bowman, an Indiana soybean and wheat farmer.

The issue in question is a familiar one for those who follow the issue of genetically engineered seeds. Each buyer of Monsanto’s patented seeds must sign a “Technology Agreement” and pay a technology fee. In the case of soybeans, soybeans themselves are seeds. A farmer who plants Monsanto’s patented soybean seeds will grow a crop of soybeans, which are themselves also seeds. The Technology Agreement prohibits the farmer from saving and replanting those seeds. It also forbids the buyer from doing research on Monsanto’s patented seeds.

In some cases, Monsanto licenses its genetically engineered seeds to other seed companies, like Pioneer (owned by DuPont). When a farmer buys Pioneer seeds with Monsanto patented genes in them, he pays one price for the seeds themselves – and that money goes to Pioneer – and a second fee, the Technology Fee, to Monsanto. The technology fee pays for Monsanto’s patented genes.   [Read more…]

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