Lawyer is Health Care Hero

From the Janesville Gazette 6/15/05

MILWAUKEE - Class action lawsuits have been filed against three not-for-profit Wisconsin health care systems, accusing them of price-gouging their uninsured patients.The suits filed Tuesday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court allege that Covenant Healthcare System, Aurora Healthcare and Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital are part of a nationally coordinated effort which so far includes 46 similar lawsuits in 22 states.

The three systems are accused of systematically overcharging uninsured patients and offering those with insurance, or covered by Medicare and Medicaid, special discounted rates for which uninsured patients did not have the opportunity to bargain."

The size of a medical bill at the defendants' facilities changed drastically depending upon who was paying the bill," the lawsuit against Froedtert contends.It was filed for Michele MacMillan of West Bend by Milwaukee attorney Willard Techmeier, who said he got involved with the national effort directed by Mississippi attorney Richard Scruggs while representing MacMillan after an auto accident and trying to negotiate lower bills with Froedtert on her behalf. "They absolutely refused," Techmeier said. "They said that's not their policy to negotiate on the
claim. "

Scruggs' Oxford, Miss., law firm and 10 others began the series of suits nationally in federal court last year, but the suits now pending are in state courts, Techmeier said. Scruggs won a multibillion-dollar settlement in class action litigation against the tobacco industry in 1998.

Representatives of the three health systems declined to address the lawsuits' specific allegations, but instead outlined their programs for discounted and free care in charity cases in response to questions about the lawsuits."We work closely with patients to assure that they understand all programs that may be available to assist them," Froedtert spokeswoman Carolyn Bellin said in a statement. "We are aware that these lawsuits are being filed across the nation. While we haven't yet received nor reviewed the suit we intend to defend against it vigorously."

Aurora spokesman Jeff Squire said in a statement that his firm had provided more than $140 million in charity care during the last two years, and "any suggestion that Aurora deals unfairly with the uninsured is outrageous."

Covenant spokeswoman Anne Ballentine said that company was confident its "generous charity care program and other policies fulfill our mission and meet community need in assisting uninsured patients."

Greenconsciousness Notes: I personally know for a fact that UW_Hospital in Madison does the same thing and I have the e-mails to prove it. Moreover, the claims of charity will not withstand examination. They claim debts they are unable to collect as charity. TRY to get free services from any medical provider and you will see how charitable they are. If you have anything they will take it and throw you in the gutter to do it. Their "charity" consists of endless referrals to government programs which require you to be permanently disabled to qualify for aid. Then you die while you wait or you sign over your home to the hospital and prepare to be homeless.

The medical industry lies about their" charity" to make the sensitive do-gooders feel comfortable, knowing they will not question what they are told because they want to feel the poor are being cared for by the system. The middle class knows that without their employer provided insurance they would be unable to afford health care. So they want to believe that we do not let people live in pain, go blind and die without health care. But we do unless they have been stripped of every asset and live in homeless shelters. And then the medical system gives only emergency care when their disease is advanced and probably incurable.

There are "free" clinics in some communities who give exams for preventive care which is funded by some govt programs. The exam for anything else is brief and you are quickly referred to an unfree specialist. They (unfree specialist) will see you once for 10 minutes and tell you to come back another time . When you arrive the second time you are directed to the financial office. If you cannot pay, they send you home without care. And then you die or go blind. It is a cruel game.

Of course, if you have children you will get health care. If you are illegal alien you will get health care because you are cheap labor for the corporations, therefore a valuable resource. But if you are an individual citizen who did not breed because you could not afford to support a child, you will not be treated for any medical condition until it is so advanced that it will kill or cripple you. And if you are uninsured you will pay double and triple what the insured pay for medical care which will bankrupt you. Then you will find that the law has been changed so that it is more difficult for individuals to discharge such debts.

Don't believe me? Too harsh? Then you are in denial which is a defense mechanism cultivated by the comfortable so that they may continue to be comfortable.

The pharmaceutical/insurance/hospital complex is an enemy of everyone earning less than $35,000.00 in the United States and the entire corrupt system should be nationalized. However, if that actually happens some sort of control checks will have to be put in place to prevent the double billing, inflated pricing and theft that is occurring now in the Medicare/Medicaid system.

Keep reading to see the absolute misogyny of the anti-women's life movement.

MADISON, Wis. - Health care workers could legally say no to participating in stem cell research or withdrawing a person's feeding tube if they feel the procedures violated their religion under a Republican bill the state Assembly passed Tuesday.

It also would protect the workers from punishment for refusing to refer people elsewhere.

Democrats blasted the bill, saying it allows doctors to put their personal beliefs above patient needs."This turns the whole concept of ... professional ethics upside down," said Rep. Gary Sherman, D-Port Wing.

The bill's author, Rep. Jean Hundertmark, R-Clintonville, said the medical community wants lawmakers to let it follow its conscience. She called the measure a good balance between patients' and professionals' rights."It will only make health care in Wisconsin better," she said.

The Republican-controlled Assembly voted 60-33 to pass the measure. It now goes to the state Senate. That body must approve it and Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle must sign it before it can become law.

Doyle will never put his name on it, spokeswoman Melanie Fonder said."The governor has said repeatedly he won't sign a bill that would prevent patients from receiving care or access to medications," Fonder said.

Under current state law, health care workers can opt out of abortions and sterilization procedures on moral or religious grounds without fear of reprisal from their employers. The bill defines a half-dozen other medical procedures health care workers also could refuse to perform without consequences.
Among them:
removing nutrition from a person who isn't terminally ill and destroying a human embryo or using cells from one. Some stem cell research uses human embryonic cells.

Health care workers wouldn't face any liability if they refused to refer patients to others who might perform procedures they find objectionable.

State licensing agencies wouldn't be allowed to discipline any health care workers who refuse to participate in any of the activities the measure mentions.

Democrats railed against the bill for four hours. Republicans, including Hundertmark, remained silent for most of the debate, refusing to answer Democrats' questions about the legislation. They didn't need to engage the Democrats; they control the chamber 60-39. Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee, said the legislation is so vague it allows health care workers to refuse to dispense birth control pills, in effect discriminating against women. Hundertmark replied the bill clearly doesn't address contraceptives. " It is not clear in this bill at all, lady," Richards shot back. Rep. Sheldon Wasserman, D-Milwaukee, a practicing obstetrician, said the bill would allow his assistants to walk out on him while he was tying a woman's tubes, perhaps putting her life in jeopardy."This is a life-threatening bill," Wasserman said. "It's total abandonment."

Hundertmark rose just before the final vote on the bill, reading a letter from a medical student pleading with lawmakers to allow health care workers to follow their beliefs. She said the bill would help attract more doctors and pharmacists."Why deny anyone that choice to decide that life is sacred?" Hundertmark said. "I have to make clear how passionate I am about this."

"If she's so passionate about it, why all day long did she refuse to answer questions about it?" Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, fired back. "

This bill is an immoral attack on the women of this state."