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Summer Harrison
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Since April 2009 I've been blogging about the medical civil rights of children as well as adults with disabilities. As state budgets reacted to the larger economic picture, the rights of children with disabilities to remain at home with their families has been threatened by Medicaid budget cuts.
What has become obvious in the past two years is the extent of those cuts that are due to the privatization of Medicaid and Medicare: auctioning off state and federal contracts to for-profit corporations.
As of the first three months of 2011, more than $10 billion in Medicaid and Medicare funds are being paid out every month to companies more concerned with shareholders than policyholders. In the next five years, at the current rate of increase, this subsidy to the private health insurance could top $1 trillion.
There is little regulation and virtually no enforcement of minimum spending requirements. The top four companies already have a history of criminal Medicaid fraud, for reporting expenses bloated by up to 299%.
I also run an organization, the Children's Disability Rights Education Association. The website is directed towards providing practical information and advice to families and caregivers for children of all ages with disabilities to learn how best to secure their children's rights to medical care.
www.disabilitymom.blogspot.com
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Thursday, September 29, 2011
Supreme Court case could decimate the social contract to keep families together The Supreme Court will begin hearing the case that could turn everyone enrolled in Medicaid into second class citizens. Depending on how broadly the Court rules and the potential spill-over effect, states will be able to restrict federal rights. This is what has been happening in Hawaii where he state's Governor has just launched a new attack on the right of children with disabilities to live with their families.
Thursday, September 29, 2011Supreme Court case could decimate the social contract to keep families together The Supreme Court will begin hearing the case that could turn everyone enrolled in Medicaid into second class citizens. Depending on how broadly the Court rules and the potential spill-over effect, states will be able to restrict federal rights. This is what has been happening in Hawaii where he state's Governor has just launched a new attack on the right of children with disabilities to live with their families.
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Thursday, September 8, 2011
Son-of-a-glitch: The bi-partisan selling of Medicaid Policy moves have been initiated by the White House to deny Medicaid beneficiaries of court protections. Recently signed legislation in Hawaii puts this policy into effect, backed by the state's recently elected Democratic Governor.
Thursday, September 8, 2011Son-of-a-glitch: The bi-partisan selling of Medicaid Policy moves have been initiated by the White House to deny Medicaid beneficiaries of court protections. Recently signed legislation in Hawaii puts this policy into effect, backed by the state's recently elected Democratic Governor.
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Saturday, August 13, 2011
Romney says corporations are people, so why aren't HMO hoodlums going to jail? Mitt Romney's quote about corporations as people raises the question of why all the HMO hoodlums, caught stealing from taxpayers multiple times, aren't in jail. Obama, the Republicans and the big insurance companies are complicitly hiding the dirty secrets of the privatization of Medicaid and Medicare.
Saturday, August 13, 2011Romney says corporations are people, so why aren't HMO hoodlums going to jail? Mitt Romney's quote about corporations as people raises the question of why all the HMO hoodlums, caught stealing from taxpayers multiple times, aren't in jail. Obama, the Republicans and the big insurance companies are complicitly hiding the dirty secrets of the privatization of Medicaid and Medicare.
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Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Wall Street HMOs use government funds, fraud, to pad profits, outgrow S&P 500 by 25% The S&P 500 may have slid yesterday to a 10.4% loss for the year, but the private HMO industry is up by 13 -20%. The growth is being driven by government funds: contracts with individual states and the federal government to provide HMOs for Medicaid and Medicare populations. Top growing companies are all accused of fraud, but the White House has made it clear it will not interfere.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011Wall Street HMOs use government funds, fraud, to pad profits, outgrow S&P 500 by 25% The S&P 500 may have slid yesterday to a 10.4% loss for the year, but the private HMO industry is up by 13 -20%. The growth is being driven by government funds: contracts with individual states and the federal government to provide HMOs for Medicaid and Medicare populations. Top growing companies are all accused of fraud, but the White House has made it clear it will not interfere.
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Monday, August 1, 2011
Obama's $1 trillion subsidy to big business insurers White House pandering to big business health insurers could cost the country $1 trillion in the next five years. Quarterly SEC filings from the top ten insurers in the for profit Medicaid/Medicare industry are tracked from June 2008 through March 2011. Excessive profits are creating pervasive criminal fraud, yet the guilty companies keep getting more contracts.
Monday, August 1, 2011Obama's $1 trillion subsidy to big business insurers White House pandering to big business health insurers could cost the country $1 trillion in the next five years. Quarterly SEC filings from the top ten insurers in the for profit Medicaid/Medicare industry are tracked from June 2008 through March 2011. Excessive profits are creating pervasive criminal fraud, yet the guilty companies keep getting more contracts.
