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Michelle Obama Oversaw Contentious Program (Kicking the uninsured out of her hospital's ER)
Red Orbit News ^ | August 23, 2008

Posted on 08/23/2008 8:12:17 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Michelle Obama's job at the University of Chicago Medical Center included responsibility for a program to steer the uninsured away from its emergency room.

The wife of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is now on leave from her position. She was earning $317,000 a year as vice president of the hospital.

Some top Obama advisers are also involved with the Urban Health Initiative, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Dr. Eric Whitaker took over the program when the hospital hired him in 2007, and the hospital contracted with a company owned by David Axelrod, Barack Obama's top strategist, for a public relations campaign.

Another Obama adviser, Valerie Jarrett, heads the medical center's board and approved the hiring of Whitaker's company.

Hospital officials say uninsured patients seeking treatment for minor illness and injury were overwhelming the emergency room. The program tried to find doctors in the neighborhood for those patients and says they will get faster treatment elsewhere.

"Senator Obama sees community health centers as a vital part of efforts to invest in prevention and reduce costs," said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman..

Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle said some doctors and nurses have complained to her that the medical center is dumping patients.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: 2008; axelrod; chicago; election; electionpresident; elections; healthcare; michelleobama; obama; obamatruthfile; uichospital; whitaker
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Democrats: Looking out for the little guy.
1 posted on 08/23/2008 8:12:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

PAGING CMS for obvious EMTALA violations!


2 posted on 08/23/2008 8:14:51 PM PDT by dodger
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
In case nobody's experienced it, the unspoken policy is to ignore uninsured people in the ER. Even if they drop dead, as long as there has been no medical acknowledgement, there is no liability.

It's a despicable business, indeed.

I wonder if her involvement is why she always struck me as particularly wicked. Or maybe it was just the things she said and the way she said them.

3 posted on 08/23/2008 8:18:05 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (when you're bot, you're pwn3d)
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To: dodger
PAGING CMS for obvious EMTALA violations!

You beat me to it...Can't wait to read all the delicious details. $25K per identifiable infraction.

4 posted on 08/23/2008 8:20:04 PM PDT by NautiNurse (Plants are people too)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If only they had universal health care, Michelle would not have had to do this.

Remember folks, just like children, uninsured sick people are burdens.

Surprised she didn’t call for some 90th trimester abortions.


5 posted on 08/23/2008 8:23:28 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: the invisib1e hand

She must have saved them a TON of money doing this to justify them paying her $317,000 a year.


6 posted on 08/23/2008 8:24:28 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I wonder whether these patients each received their federally mandated medical screening exam and stabilization prior to inquiry about their ability to pay.

Drs. and nurses complaining about patient dumping is enough to launch an investigation.

7 posted on 08/23/2008 8:25:57 PM PDT by NautiNurse (Plants are people too)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

lol!


8 posted on 08/23/2008 8:27:19 PM PDT by ken21 (people die and you never hear from them again.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I bet they were the whiteys.


9 posted on 08/23/2008 8:28:01 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Michelle Obama’s job at the University of Chicago Medical Center included responsibility for a program to steer the uninsured away from its emergency room.
::::::::
These two should be in the Olypics if they had an event to see how much fraud and hypocrisy could be generated by just two people....


10 posted on 08/23/2008 8:28:41 PM PDT by EagleUSA
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To: Secret Agent Man

I experienced this at a hospital with my son in Florida. Spoke to a very good lawyer afterwards. It’s common enough practice that he could rattle off a bit of the the legal precedent (”600 years of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence...”) without batting an eye.


11 posted on 08/23/2008 8:28:50 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (when you're bot, you're pwn3d)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
...a program to steer the uninsured away from its emergency room.

My, how "compassionate" these Liberals are. Just another example of Change for America.

12 posted on 08/23/2008 8:30:27 PM PDT by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Fred Sanford, you old heathen!”


13 posted on 08/23/2008 8:30:59 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: dodger
"PAGING CMS for obvious EMTALA violations!"

For those of us not in the healthcare field, please explain what that means. Thanks!

14 posted on 08/23/2008 8:32:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Barack Obama: In Error and arrogant -- he's errogant!)
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To: NautiNurse

Is that true ..? If so, GOOD!

Found this on youtube today .... he’s wondering if the reason she’s still being paid that high salary while she’s on leave is because of the money she’s saving them.

You’ll also see, that according to his guy, Dr. Whitaker apparently is a school buddy of Obama’s from Harvard.

But now, seeing Alexrod is involved with the company they contracted, too???

Dearlord .. and these are the poor South Siders with no insurance most times.... THEIR neighbors and the ‘least among us,’ right?

****

Obamas pay off to Univ of Chicago Hospital

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rE0VO5tWu4


15 posted on 08/23/2008 8:35:10 PM PDT by STARWISE (They (Dims) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war-RichardMiniter, respected OBL author)
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To: the invisib1e hand

Can’t believe they could actually do that.
Shocking .. and my son’s an ER doc in the
Chitown suburbs.


16 posted on 08/23/2008 8:37:00 PM PDT by STARWISE (They (Dims) think of this WOT as Bush's war, not America's war-RichardMiniter, respected OBL author)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle said some doctors and nurses have complained to her that the medical center is dumping patients.

A $10,000 fine here.

In 1986, Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which forbids the practice known as patient dumping--denial of treatment to emergency patients or women in labor, or transferring them to another hospital in an unstable condition. Patients are usually "dumped" because they are poor or uninsured.

Hospitals and doctors responsible for patient dumping may also be fined up to $50,000 for each offense.

If you, or someone you know, suspect that you have been the victim of patient dumping, contact your regional office of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), within the Department of Health and Human Services.

Chicago (312) 353-2740

17 posted on 08/23/2008 8:38:51 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: STARWISE
Can’t believe they could actually do that. Shocking .. and my son’s an ER doc in the Chitown suburbs.

When I was a young stockbroker, I had a great client, a Jewish former petroleum distributor from Manhattan.

I'd call him to pitch him ideas and he'd balk, calling them bullsh(t.

When I replied that I felt the sources were trustworthy, he would say to me, over and over again, "people will say and do anything for money. People kill for money."

Now, of course, I've no need to contest his argument.

18 posted on 08/23/2008 8:40:43 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (when you're bot, you're pwn3d)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I don’t have a problem with this. If they can’t pay and don’t have insurance then they don’t deserve medical care. They can go to Cook County hospital.

Course, it’s hypocritical for liberals like the Obamas.


19 posted on 08/23/2008 8:41:05 PM PDT by FFranco
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“She was earning $317,000 a year as vice president of the hospital.”

Profiting from the poor and distressed — mostly black I presume.

The hospital administrators must have searched high and low before they finally found such a ‘caring’ person.

STE=Q


20 posted on 08/23/2008 8:41:50 PM PDT by STE=Q ("These are the times that try men's souls." -- Thomas Paine)
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