HEALTH REFORMERS MEET THEIR VILLAIN. A group called "Conservatives for Patients' Rights" promises a $20 mln ad campaign to warn that Obama's health reform effort will hurtle the country toward socialized medicine. Ezra Klein of Prospect.org noted (3/3) that its leader is Richard L. Scott, former president of Columbia/HCA, who built up the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain in the 1990s "and promised to squeeze blood from every one."
More than any other single company, Klein noted, HCA "was responsible for the cruelty that turned the public against managed care" as it pioneered ruthless cost-cutting. Scott was ousted in 1997 after a federal investigation uncovered widespread fraud that bilked the federal government of hundreds of millions of dollars. The corporation later pleaded guilty to a variety of fraud charges and agreed to pay $1.7 bln in the largest fraud settlement in US history. "So, to recap: The first major health care group fielded in opposition to Obama's initiative comes from a for-profit hospital executive who resigned amidst the largest fraud case in United States history and means to sell an anti-government message using the same PR firm that helped the Swift Boat veterans," Klein wrote. "There's an old saying: It is good to be lucky in your friends. But it is even better to be lucky in your enemies. Health reform, it would seem, is lucky in its enemies." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WebTV Dawgs/Dittos" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/WebTV-Pals -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
