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Thursday, January 2, 2003 |
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day."
- - Theodore Roosevelt (April 1906)
RHINO HERE:
With Trent Lott no longer Senate majority leader, is the nation in any better position to cure what ails it? I hope Lott's remarks will help the country take another step toward dealing with issues of race in a more up front & civil manner. Lott's replacement, senator and medical doctor Bill Frist, seems on the surface a good man.
Just yesterday, it's reported he was driving through the Everglades, stopped at a car wreck and was lauded by paramedics as having rendered life saving treatment. His reputation inside the Beltway already had Frist on a pedestal having come to the aid of the Congressional guards shot by a gunman in the Capitol building in 1998. As a former paramedic, I recognize he's that kind of good man.
CNN COVERAGE OF FRIST'S HELPING GUARDS
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/07/24/frist.shooting/
On the other hand, let's all remember, he is a doctor. That's what doctors are supposed to do; heal the sick, mend the wounded. Par. One important question about the man, about how really good is he, is what will he do for the people in the U.S. without adequate access to health care? With this heart & lung surgeon calling the shots on who runs the committees and what bills get introduced, will the "health care" issues that make the Senate radar benefit the medical services industry, or the patients?
The book, "Making a Killing: HMOs and the Threat to Your Health" (Common Courage Press) was authored by Jamie Court of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org
... & Frank Smith of the Civil Society Institute
http://www.civilsocietyinstitute.org
Their recent writings on what Frist's effect will be seem to predict that any potential for health care reform favoring patients will be D.O.A. Here's a few of their fears:
-- Patients' Rights
Instead of expanding patients' rights to hold HMOs accountable, the Senate debate will be about limiting rights of victims of medical delays & negligence to hold doctors, hospitals and the HMOs they work for accountable.
-- Medicare Prescription Benefit
Rather than price controls on the pharmaceutical industry, the Senate will create a "voluntary" prescription drug program with insurers selling a new product to seniors with new profits.
--Universal Coverage
Forget any new national health coverage. The Senate will focus on:
* Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) which force patients to pay for their health care;
* Bare bones insurance policies that don't pay for drugs, hospitalization or maternity costs;
* Mandatory insurance laws forcing patients to buy unaffordable, low-quality policies.
Below the line is a press release from Public Campaign, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that supports "Clean Money" campaign finance reform, a proposal to create public financing for state and federal offices.
http://www.publicampaign.org
The release contains a lot of damning reports about Doctor Bill being beholden to the "health" corporations. Can a good man take all that money from corporations in order to get elected, and then stand up for the lowly patients? A Rhino can hope.
8:11:42 AM 
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, December 20, 2002
PUBLIC CAMPAIGN CONTACT: Rick Bielke, 202-293-0222
"Who's on Frist? - Senate Majority Leader Hopeful Bill Frist:
Prescription for Health Care Campaign Contributors' Policy Paybacks"
Washington, DC -- Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN), a frontrunner for the position of Senate Majority leader, is deeply beholden to the health care interests thanks to the millions in campaign contributions he has taken from the industry, charged the nonpartisan campaign finance reform group Public Campaign today.
Frist has collected more than $2 million in campaign money from the health care industry in his campaigns for Congress, making him the top recipient of health campaign dollars in the new Senate, and millions more as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. During his career in the Senate, he has consistently championed the interests of the health care industry when its bottom-line interests conflicted with public health.
"Bill Frist isn't the senator from the State of Tennessee - he's the senator from the State of Health Care Industry Influence. He's gotten more than $2 million from the health care sector, giving him the dubious distinction of raising more cash from health care interests than 98 percent of his colleagues," said Nick Nyhart, executive director of Public Campaign.
"In turn, Frist has done many a favor for his health care contributors, to the detriment of public health. He has voted to weaken patients' ability to hold their HMOs accountable for withholding needed medical care. He's voted to subsidize the drug industry with taxpayer dollars rather than expand Medicare to help seniors get affordable prescription drugs. He's championed the interests of tobacco companies over our nation's kids, and he's opposed legislation to help insure that our food is safe of harmful bacteria." "If Frist succeeds in becoming the Senate Majority Leader, keep a careful watch on your vital signs. Our eroding health care system will only get worse." Follow the Frist Health Care Campaign-Money-and-Deeds Trail:...
THE REST OF THE RELEASE IS AT:
http://www.publicampaign.org/press_releases/pr12_20_02.htm
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law ( http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html ).
All copyrights belong to original publisher.
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7:51:26 AM
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