Monday, June 30, 2014

House Democrats Freaking Out: "All Hope Is Lost"


These people are Govt./Central Planning, Health Care. "All Hope Is Lost", so send us your money. 

Psychiatry is Govt. Health Care. No Govt. funding, no Psychiatry, at least not as the criminal behemoth it currently exists as. 
weaselzippers;



Latest email title from the DCCC:
If all hope is lost, why would anyone donate?
Thank You Zip.

snicker, snicker.

Irony Alert: Obama Taps Private Sector P&G CEO To Fix Govt. HC/VA After ObamaCare Takes Over 1/6th of American Economy Because Govt. Bureaucrats Can Do It Better

West Point Grad Former P&G Head Is Obama's Choice To Lead Veteran's Affairs.

He couldn’t find a former community organizer.
[Ed; It's doubtful that a Community Organizer exists with the pay to play muscle of a major corporation such as P&G. Another Public/Private partnership perhaps?]
President Barack Obama plans to nominate former Procter & Gamble executive Robert McDonald as the next Veterans Affairs secretary, as the White House seeks to shore up an agency beset by treatment delays and struggling to deal with an influx of new veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
An administration official said Obama would announce McDonald’s appointment Monday. If confirmed by the Senate, McDonald would succeed Eric Shinseki, the retired four-star general who resigned last month as the scope of the issues at veterans’ hospitals became apparent.
In tapping McDonald for the post, Obama is signaling his desire to install a VA chief with broad management experience. McDonald also has a military background, graduating near the top of his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and serving as a captain in the Army, primarily in the 82nd Airborne Division.
The administration official insisted on anonymity in order to confirm McDonald’s appointment before the president’s announcement.
The VA operates the the largest integrated health care system in the country, with more than 300,000 fulltime employees and nearly 9 million veterans enrolled for care. But the agency has come under intense scrutiny in recent months amid reports of patients dying while waiting for appointments and of treatment delays in VA facilities nationwide.
Thank You Stars and Stripes, WZ, and Dapandico.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

The VA Scandal/Atrocity: Senator Tom Coburn's Press Room Release

This should give you some indication of the magnitude of the horror the VA's "We Don't Care, We Don't Have To, We're the VA." has inflicted on our Service People and Vets.

from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok)


(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator and doctor Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), today released his new oversight report “Friendly Fire: Death, Delay, and Dismay at the VA.”  The report is based on a year-long investigation of VA hospitals around the nation that chronicled the inappropriate conduct and incompetence within the VA that led to well-documented deaths and delays.  The report also exposes the inept congressional and agency oversight that allowed rampant misconduct to grow unchecked.
“This report shows the problems at the VA are worse than anyone imagined.  The scope of the VA’s incompetence – and Congress’ indifferent oversight – is breathtaking and disturbing.  This investigation found the problems at the VA are far deeper than just scheduling.  Over the past decade, more than 1,000 veterans may have died as a result of the VA’s misconduct and the VA has paid out nearly $1 billion to veterans and their families for its medical malpractice.  As is typical with any bureaucracy, the excuse for not being able to meet goals is a lack of resources.  But this is not the case at the VA where spending has increased rapidly in recent years,” Dr. Coburn said.
“The Administration and Congress have failed to ensure our nation is living up to the promises we have made to our veterans,” Dr. Coburn added.  “As a physician who has personally cared for hundreds of Oklahoma veterans, this is intolerable.  As a senator, I’m determined to address the structural challenges of the Department of Veterans Affairs so we can end this national disgrace and improve quality and access to health care for our veterans.  But make no mistake.  Whatever bill Congress passes cannot ignore the findings of this report.  While it is good that Congress feels a sense of urgency we are at this point because Congress has ignored or glossed over too many similar warnings in the past.  Our sense of urgency should come from the scope of the problem, not our proximity to an election.”
Key findings in the report include:
A CULTURE OF MANIPULATION PERMEATES THE DEPARTMENT.
  • The cover up of waiting lists for doctor’s appointments at the VA is just the tip of the iceberg, reflecting a perverse culture within the department where veterans are not always the priority and data and employees are manipulated to maintain an appearance that all is well.
  • Bad employees are rewarded with bonuses and paid leave while whistleblowers, health care providers, and even veterans and their families are subjected to bullying, sexual harassment, abuse, and neglect.  For example, female patients received unnecessary pelvic and breast exams from a sex offender, a noose was left on the desk of a minority employee by a co-worker, and a nurse who murdered a veteran harassed the family of the deceased to get them to admit guilt for the death.
  • The care at more centers is getting worse and some VA health care providers have lost their medical licenses, and the VA is hiding this information from patients. 
  • Delays exist for more than just doctors’ appointments—disability claims, construction, urgent care, and registries are also slow or behind schedule.
  • Despite a nursing shortage, many VA nurses spend their days conducting union activities to advocate for better conditions for themselves rather than veterans.
VA MADE WAITING LISTS WORSE.
  • As waiting lines were growing, the VA expanded eligibility in 2009 to those who already had insurance without any service related injuries, making the delays longer.
  • Despite having the authority to do so, the VA was reluctant to let vets off the waiting lists by freeing them go to doctors outside of its system while sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars intended for health care that went unspent year to year.
  • VA doctors are seeing far fewer patients than private doctors and some even leave work early.
VA EMPLOYEES BEHAVE AS IF THEY ARE ABOVE THE LAW.
  • Criminal activity at the department is pervasive, including drug dealing, theft, and even murder.  A VA police chief even conspired to kidnap, rape and murder women and children.
  • Many VA doctors and staff are overpaid and underworked, some are paid not to work and more and more employees are not even showing up for work.
THE VA WASTES AND MISMANAGES BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
  • The report identifies $20 billion in waste and mismanagement that could have been better spent providing health care to veterans.
  • The federal government has paid out $845 million for VA medical malpractice since 2001.
  • Most VA construction projects are over budget and behind schedule, inflating costs by billions of dollars.
THE SENATE VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE HAS BEEN AWOL WHEN IT COMES TO KEEPING PROMISES MADE TO VETERANS.
  • The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee largely ignored the warnings about delays and dysfunction at the VA for decades, abdicating its oversight responsibilities and choosing to make new promises to veterans rather than making sure those promises already made were being kept.
  • This report details how Congress was repeatedly alerted and warned of the problems plaguing the VA over decades.
  • The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee has only held two oversight hearings the last four years, and was even profiled in Wastebook 2012 for being among the committees in Congress holding the fewest number of hearings.
Click here to read the entire report or here for a summary.  
The top 10 most outrageous VA behaviors are here.
The top 10 VA boondoggles are here
###

Dean Emeritus Moonbat @ Johns Hopkins: "U.S. Healthcare System Must Address Climate Change"

The Romans had a saying.

Caveat Emptor.

fiercehealthcare;

Sommer: "Getting people to be concerned about the future is tough"
The United States healthcare system must prepare for climate change's impact, Al Sommer, M.D., dean emeritus of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins Universitytold Kaiser Health News in an interview.

The effect of climate change on hospitals is often overlooked, Sommer told KHN.In heavily populated areas, excessive heat could lead to situations similar tothe 1995 Chicago heat wave, when 700 people died in a one-week period.

Sommer helped oversee development of a report released this week, "American Climate Prospectus: Economic Risks in the United States," which examines the effects of climate change on economics, and elaborated on the ramifications to the healthcare system.

"The challenge is like every challenge in public health," Sommer said. "The average CEO is worried about making quarterly profits, so they don't care. Getting people to be concerned about the future is tough."

Large amounts of people without the means to move in response to increased temperatures means the healthcare system will experience a "surge" due to health problems associated with excessive heat, Sommer said. Healthcare systems understand they have to prepare, he said, but paying for the preparation is another matter entirely. In the meantime, he said, they can put pressure on policymakers to address the issue. Hospitals in areas like Miami, he said, which will see temperatures and water levels rise, may  go out of business due to a mass exodus, meaning hospitals in less at-risk states may need to expand to deal with the shift.

Healthcare CEOs can lead the discussion, Sommer told KHN. "I'm sure they've talked about pandemic flu, but I doubt they've talked about this," he said. "The fact that you can predict the amount of people who will show up in ER with heat stroke, [then] you can start assessing it."

Last year, healthcare executives called for action on climate change, calling it "an issue that will affect everyone in the world," citing consequences like the spread of mosquito-borne diseases and increased respiratory problems downwind of coal-power plants, FierceHealthcare previously reported. There are several ways for healthcare facilities to address the risks posed by climate change, including energy conservation and green renovations.

To learn more:
- check out the 
report
- read the 
interview

Related Articles:
Healthcare execs call for action on climate change
Hospital rebuilding vital to protect NYC from climate change
4 ways for hospitals to address climate change
Sustainability efforts save hospitals millions
Hospital leadership support crucial in going green

Thank You Mr Budryk and Fierce Healthcare.


"School of Public Health" 

Public, as in thinking of Individuals as pieces of a Set, rather than Individuals, or as we know this line of thinking: Collectivism - The health of the Collective comes before the health of You.

ISSA Expands IRS Investigation: Subpoenas 28 Years of Lois Lerner's Emails.

thegatewaypundit;

Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, June 25, 2014, 7:05 PM

Lois Lerner, the controversial director of the tax-exempt organizations division at the Internal Revenue Service, has a long sordid history of targeting conservatives.



Under the direction of Lois Lerner, the Federal Election Commission sued the Christian Coalition in the 1990s. She harassed the Christian Coalition for three election cycles. Eventually, she lost her case. At one point Lerner even asked a targeted conservative if Pat Robertson prayed over him. (Sound familiar?)
al lois
Al Salvi – Lois Lerner
In 1996, while at the FEC, Lois Lerner harassed Republican Senate candidate Al Salvi and made him this outrageous offer“Promise me you will never run for office again, and we’ll drop this case.”
* * * * * * * * * * *
Today House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) turned up the heat on Lois Lerner and subpoenaed 28 years of Lerner’s emails from 1986 until the present day.Political Ticker reported:
Expanding investigation by more than two decades, House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-California, has sent a subpoena to the Federal Elections Commission for all communications involving former IRS administrator Lois Lerner from January 1, 1986 to the present day.
This new search is the broadest-yet for records in a year-long investigation by Issa and congressional Republicans, who are trying to assess why the agency targeted tea party and other political groups for extra scrutiny.
Issa issued the subpoena to Lee Goodman, head of the Federal Election Commission, on Tuesday for communications involving Lerner, who is seen as a central figure in the controversy because she ran the division that executed the targeting.
She resigned last year after the Treasury Department’s inspector general found those working under her used “inappropriate” criteria to scrutinize certain groups. Since then, Lerner has refused to testify before Congress, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. This has added to the Republican push to find any documents related to Lerner and her time in government.
In the on-going, determined GOP effort, Republicans are now reaching back to her career before the IRS.
Lerner joined the FEC in 1981, first working in the general counsel’s office. Issa subpoena focuses on her work after 1986, when Lerner became the head of the FEC’s enforcement division.

Thank You Mr. Hoft and Gateway Pundit. 

Govt. Report: Obama Admin Has Spent $4.8 Billion On ObamaCare Exchanges So Far

Don't sweat it. The people paying for it aren't, . . . because they haven't even been born yet.
weaselzippers;


They’ve spent nearly $5 billion on basic e-commerce websites that the private sector could have built for a fraction of the cost.
The federal government has spent nearly $5 billion to establish federal and state exchanges for Obamacare, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
The funding was provided by a section of the Affordable Care Act that allowed for “indefinite” funding at the discretion of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is incurring significant administrative costs to support [federally-facilitated exchanges] FFE operations,” the report, which was released earlier this month, said.
According to CMS, the government spent $456 million to support “exchange operations” between fiscal years 2010 and 2012, before the law went into effect. In 2013 the government spent $1.545 billion for administrative costs associated with the exchanges, and expects to spend an additional $1.390 million this year. The agency has requested another $1.788 billion for 2015.

Thank You WFB and Zip.