Healthcare Crisis Goes Untreated, (and the Frist stock case).

[rodeodance]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1003-02.htm

Published on Monday, October 3, 2005 by the Los Angeles Times

Healthcare Crisis Goes Untreated, but the Cancer Is Spreading

by Ronald Brownstein



........Federal investigators are examining whether Frist benefited from inside information — which he denies — in the sale of his stock shortly before HCA, the giant hospital company his family founded, announced its second-quarter earnings would not meet analysts' expectations.

The question policymakers ought to be examining is why the company didn't meet its target. It turns out a significant factor was the growing cost of providing uncompensated care to some of the nearly 46 million Americans without health insurance.

In July, HCA reported that in the previous three months, it spent $459 million providing free or discounted care for low-income patients without insurance. What's especially head-turning is that the company is treating more uninsured patients even as the economy is improving.......