Post by jeffolie on Jul 5, 2011 13:54:44 GMT -6
NOW, not after the coming financial implosion .... NOW the federal govt cut money ... hospitals may close
Denninger rants of the 'legality' but the real impact is on average Americans while the upper 20% of income/wealthy can pay at private hospital
the fed govt via Obama & CONgress picked and chose ... the rich are not impacted while the old and poor will not be able to pay
==========================
Health Industry Admits Felony Intent (But Is Exempt)
That's right - here is your admission folks:
The new health care law trimmed Medicare payments to most providers. Many states, in fiscal distress, are cutting Medicaid, which is financed jointly by the federal government and the states. If Congress and the president now make additional cuts, hospitals say, they will close some services and increase charges to patients with private insurance.
In virtually any other industry an active conspiracy by an industry group to engage in price discrimination and cost-shifting such as this is a felony unlawful restraint of trade as it violates The Sherman Act (and probably Clayton as well.)
Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal. Every person who shall make any contract or engage in any combination or conspiracy hereby declared to be illegal shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding $100,000,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, $1,000,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
and
Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding $100,000,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, $1,000,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
Of course "health care" providers and industries have spent a lot of money to be exempt from these laws, either directly or indirectly.
It is precisely this cost-shifting, which is illegal in most industries as it cannot be maintained without collusion across virtually all providers of a given good or service in an economic area, that has led to the insane rise in health care costs across the economy.
See, it's not possible to maintain such a distorted market absent collusion. If your hospital "on its own" decides to cost-shift Medicare and Medicaid care onto the back of private patients (insured or not) the hospital across town will refuse Medicare and Medicaid entirely, not cost-shift, and will be much cheaper for private patients. The result will be the near-immediate business failure of the hospital that tries to run this crap.
The only way to avoid the market correcting this problem is to either make it illegal to refuse to treat people without money (e.g. EMTALA) or explicitly allow health providers and their cohorts to conspire together to constrain the supply of health care and fix prices.
The truth, ladies and gentlemen, is that Medicare and Medicaid cannot be fixed within the health care system we have today. We have a system that not only explicitly cost-shifts but also forces Americans to pay for the development costs of virtually all advanced medical technology; the $2 pill in Canada (sold at reproduction cost) is $20 here in America (reproduction plus all development costs.) Similar distortions exist in virtually every other part of the medical industry.
But now the reality of arithmetic has run up against the political demands to "protect" and "promote" certain industries and their ability to screw the public. And whether these industries - or Congress - likes it or not, the math always, eventually, wins.
market-ticker.org/
Denninger rants of the 'legality' but the real impact is on average Americans while the upper 20% of income/wealthy can pay at private hospital
the fed govt via Obama & CONgress picked and chose ... the rich are not impacted while the old and poor will not be able to pay
==========================
Health Industry Admits Felony Intent (But Is Exempt)
That's right - here is your admission folks:
The new health care law trimmed Medicare payments to most providers. Many states, in fiscal distress, are cutting Medicaid, which is financed jointly by the federal government and the states. If Congress and the president now make additional cuts, hospitals say, they will close some services and increase charges to patients with private insurance.
In virtually any other industry an active conspiracy by an industry group to engage in price discrimination and cost-shifting such as this is a felony unlawful restraint of trade as it violates The Sherman Act (and probably Clayton as well.)
Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal. Every person who shall make any contract or engage in any combination or conspiracy hereby declared to be illegal shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding $100,000,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, $1,000,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
and
Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding $100,000,000 if a corporation, or, if any other person, $1,000,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
Of course "health care" providers and industries have spent a lot of money to be exempt from these laws, either directly or indirectly.
It is precisely this cost-shifting, which is illegal in most industries as it cannot be maintained without collusion across virtually all providers of a given good or service in an economic area, that has led to the insane rise in health care costs across the economy.
See, it's not possible to maintain such a distorted market absent collusion. If your hospital "on its own" decides to cost-shift Medicare and Medicaid care onto the back of private patients (insured or not) the hospital across town will refuse Medicare and Medicaid entirely, not cost-shift, and will be much cheaper for private patients. The result will be the near-immediate business failure of the hospital that tries to run this crap.
The only way to avoid the market correcting this problem is to either make it illegal to refuse to treat people without money (e.g. EMTALA) or explicitly allow health providers and their cohorts to conspire together to constrain the supply of health care and fix prices.
The truth, ladies and gentlemen, is that Medicare and Medicaid cannot be fixed within the health care system we have today. We have a system that not only explicitly cost-shifts but also forces Americans to pay for the development costs of virtually all advanced medical technology; the $2 pill in Canada (sold at reproduction cost) is $20 here in America (reproduction plus all development costs.) Similar distortions exist in virtually every other part of the medical industry.
But now the reality of arithmetic has run up against the political demands to "protect" and "promote" certain industries and their ability to screw the public. And whether these industries - or Congress - likes it or not, the math always, eventually, wins.
market-ticker.org/