General @ Wednesday July 09, 2008 02:34 pm by WunderKraut
I may be on TV tonight.
The local NBC affiliate had a story about one of the local hospitals and the monopoly they have in this city. I wrote an email to the station in response to the story and they called me the next day for an interview.
I just finished up the interview and it should be on tonight. Maybe they will have the video on their website, but I doubt it.
Anyone want to record it for me?
6 Responses to “Hey Ma! Look At Me!”
“Super Star” show us your letter!
Well, I didn’t make the cut for the early news. I guess I could make it on the 11 o’clock one.
If not there’s always tomorrow. If not, they will be hearing from my agent…
No dice.
Maybe I ended up on the cutting room floor. Too bad.
And I looked good yesterday.
Hey Mike,
I did not see your comments or the report, but have kept up with the hospital fighting. While one hospital has brought high tech services to an area where better than 70% of our patients are “Self Pay”, in other words, they don’t pay anything, the other hospital is part of HCA. HCA is the largest hospital conglomerate in the country. HCA chooses which hospitals it funds compared to the area of service.
One example of current interest is Obstetrics. While the current percentage of insured deliveries is at 10%, 90% are non payer. The HCA hospital wants to take on Obstetrics…thus, taking a percentage of the insured patients. The HCA hospital has made numerous statements that “they also treat uninsured patients”. When they were challenged on this fact, they were able to provide only 1 patient that has been treated with no compensation to the hospital!
There are no easy answers. A lot of press has been given to such mouths as John Bagnato. he claims that he has been “fighting for the uninsured”. Dr. Bagnato left Albany Surgical to practice at the HCA hospital. He now does Weight Loss Surgery…Lap Band, etc. If you go into his office to get Gastric bypass or restrictive band surgery, he will not touch you until you pay $17,000.00 up front. How many poor/indigent care patients has he treated since becoming such an advocate….NONE!
Just some food for thought.
Dennis
Thanks for the comment Dennis.
I agree it is a mess and there has to be a solution somewhere.
As you and I talked a few weeks ago, the whole healthcare/insurance/hospital question is a ticking time bomb and there are no easy fixes.
My complaint is that I have perfectly acceptable insurance that is widely accepted across Georgia, yet Phoebe will not accept it. I understand the position they are in with having to treat the uninsured, but I feel they are punishing me for having insurance.
Since they offer the most services, when they are picky about insurance, it hurts the local economy. I understand not accepting some fly by night insurance, but we’re talking United Healthcare here. They are huge and are accepted everywhere.
In my interview, apparently never to be seen on air, my only complaint is the insurance issue. I just want them to do what most hospitals across Georgia do: accept United Healthcare.
The big solution to this mess is bigger than me and I honestly don’t have any solutions or suggestions.
Mike,
I think the whole United Healthcare issue is that Phoebe actually had United up until last year. With some political wrangling, they went seperate ways. Perhaps after the dust has settled this year, they will accept it. When they had it, it was through a 3rd party too, so that may be an issue.
dennis