Teman-teman, kutipan berita di bawah ini menunjukkan betapa seorang anggota DPR yang merasa mewakili konstituennya (dan bukan partainya) mempunyai perhatian yang sungguh-sungguh dalam suatu masalah kesehatan. Masalah yang dihadapi rakyat AS tentu sangat banyak, dari politik, ekonomi, pertahanan, hukum, dan sebagainya. Tetapi sekali-sekali ada masalah di luar itu yang muncul dan dianggap merugikan rakyat. Seorang anggota DPR atau DPD(Senat), tidak perlu menunggu restu ketua fraksi atau partai untuk mempersoalkannya. Bahkan secara individual melakukan penyelidikan dan kemudian mempertanyakannya. Lalu berencana mengusulkan undang-undang (bill) mengenai hal itu. Kapan anggota DPR/DPD kita mampu berinisiatif seperti itu, dan kapan partai-partai politik yang konon membela rakyat mengijinkan anggotanya untuk mengambil insiatif seperti itu? Mungkin menunggu sampai 100 tahun lagi. Salam buat para caleg yang akan maju dalam pemilu 2009, meskipun secara pribadi saya pesimis akan kesungguhan mereka membela rakyat. KM University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's rep as a charitable institution has been under fire since at least April, when a Wall Street Journal article reported on a patient who was required to pay $105,000 in cash up front to receive cancer treatment. The story did a number not only on the institution, but also not-for-profit hospitals generally, who were already under pressure from legislators to prove that they deserved their tax exemption. Now, the other shoe has dropped for the Texas healthcare facility. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has been questioning officials at M.D. Anderson vigorously, asking for details on its relationships with insurance companies collection policies, fundraising policies and of course, its charitable care efforts. The hospital, in defending itself, told Grassley and his team that it spent 7.6 percent of its budget on charitable care in 2007, or about $49 million. That's down from more than $86 million in 2004, a drop leaders attribute to more careful screening.
Grassley has been investigating non-profit hospitals for years. In 2005, he sent letters to 10 of the country's largest non-profit hospitals questioning whether they provide public benefits equal to the subsidies they receive. Grassley is considering filing a bill requiring tax-exempt hospitals to provide a minimum amount of charitable care (possibly 5 percent), as well as setting new standards for bill-collection practices and other financial matters. To learn more about Grassley's inquiry: - read this Houston Chronicle piece [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
