Politics As Usual
Shining a Light on Power and Policy
Tom Shine covers congressional politics for ABC News.
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"FOR THE PURPOSES OF MEDICARE, THIS HOSPITAL IS LOCATED IN CHICAGO"
August 13, 2007 8:53 AM
The NEW YORK TIMES in its Sunday edition says House members, MOSTLY DEMOCRATS, have found a way to INCREASE MEDICARE PAYMENTS TO A SELECT 40 HOSPITALS in what some Republicans are labeling "HOSPITAL PORK."
According to the article this is how it works. A hospital located 40 miles, maybe 200 miles outside a major U.S. city like Chicago or New York, is for the purposes of medicare given a Chicago or New York address which enables the hospitals to get much higher medicare payments than they normally would qualify for if they applied using their real addresses. The NYT says the legislation, a bill to help low income kids get health care, does not actually name the hospitals, but instead "DESCRIBES THEM IN CRYPTIC TERMS, SO THAT IDENTIFYING A BENEFICIARY IS LIKE SOLVING A RIDDLE." the NYT did some investigating and came up with some of the names of hospitals and the members who want to get them some EXTRA TAXPAYER DOLLARS.
August 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (0)
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