The Observation Deck

I just got a solicitation from the Cleveland Clinic Philanthropic Foundation.

------- How much should I ask for????????

Stan,

Ask for a few million. Or, better yet, ask them to give the tax payer's money back that they stole.

I have mentioned here before that I believe that CCf, Summers and Extended Company have allegedly been money laundering our hospital money. They allegedly have quite a racquet going on here in Lakewood. In more ways than one!

I will donate 10% of the cost of a Cat Scan, if they provide that service for free, last time it cost me $2,500.00, it took all of 1 minute. Hasn't that machine been paid for already, at $2,500.00 a pop? wtf ? A plumber charged me $350.00 for an hour and a half of work, his time, I thought that was ridiculous, but it solved the problem, the Cat Scan doesn't fix it, it just tells me, there is a problem or not. No wonder why folks don't take advantage of the system if it works for them... Sex with Donald Trumps wife wouldn't cost $2,500.00 and insurance doesn't cover it... I could eat out, every day for a year at the Tick Tock restaurant for that cash. just venting.

very funny & clever Lori. your comment.

Cleveland Clinic Philanthropy?

How about charging reasonable prices to patients as an alternative to self-congratulatory philanthropy?

EKG in Premier Physician's office - $140

EKG at Cleveland Clinic Main - $1478

Same machine, same time to perform.

Nothing to distinguish the machine or procedure yet the bill was TEN TIMES as much.

That CC charge did not include the physician fee to "read" the strip. At the private physician office it DID include the interpretation.

Now, tell us again, WHY did we give the Cleveland Clinic a non-compete clause? So we can be roped into using an over-priced and overrated hospital system?

Thanks, Mayor Summers.

Bridget Conant wrote:Cleveland Clinic Philanthropy?

How about charging reasonable prices to patients as an alternative to self-congratulatory philanthropy?

EKG in Premier Physician's office - $140

EKG at Cleveland Clinic Main - $1478

Same machine, same time to perform.

Nothing to distinguish the machine or procedure yet the bill was TEN TIMES as much.

That CC charge did not include the physician fee to "read" the strip. At the private physician office it DID include the interpretation.

Now, tell us again, WHY did we give the Cleveland Clinic a non-compete clause? So we can be roped into using an over-priced and overrated hospital system?

Thanks, Mayor Summers.

Wow! Why are insurance companies and Medicare/Medicaid letting them get away with this price gouging?

I posted this a few months ago in a thread about the Cleveland Clinic. I’m reposting it here, with a few mods and additions, as it seems relevant to the discussion….

When it comes to local health care the Clinic is not the problem or the enemy. The Cleveland Clinic is a cog (a big cog) in a medical industry that, like the financial sector, is almost completely beyond redemption. The medical industry is another Wonderland, so far removed from normalcy that it’s become hard to fathom its why’s and wherefores….

Our national health care system is the enemy. In what other industry can providers….

1) Refuse to disclose the price of your product/service before you provide and charge for it. At least the banks have to tell you that your interest rate is 0.01% before you deposit your money. The Clinic won’t tell you that a pleurisy diagnosis and a prescription for some antibiotics cost $3000 until the bill arrives. Or that a cortisone shot is $1200.

2) Charge wildly different prices for the exact same product/service from the exact same place/time, depending on irrelevant factors (e.g. your insurance status).

3) Charge 100 times more for a product in one country than in another, then collude to make it illegal to import that product. A product that might save your life.

4) Form cartels and near monopolies and engage on other anti-competitive practices without incurring the wrath of the Sherman, Clayton and Robinson-Patman Acts?

5) Organize as non-profit “charity” organizations to evade taxes, then STRIVE to avoid providing charity care?

6) Partner with “insurers” to make the entire delivery system an enormous, opaque, expensive morass?

7) And who knows what else? I don’t follow the medical industry like I do financial. I just see the tip of its iceberg and have little understanding of what resides underwater.

And since I first wrote the above, I have an addition….

8... Peddle so-called “insurance” that in no way is real insurance. Half of us know we’re relatively unhealthy. We’re older or have chronic health issues. We WANT the so-called “insurance” because we KNOW we’re going to spend less on health care that way. The other half of us know that we’re relatively healthy. We’re younger or we otherwise know we’re relatively healthy. We’d rather pay for health care “a la carte,” but insurance is shoved down our throats. Health insurance bears no resemblance whatsoever to real insurance.

We have come to accept such medical industry practices as normal and acceptable, when we instead should be aghast. The problems go way beyond the crap pulled by the Cleveland Clinic. The Clinic is a symptom, not a disease. It’s no different anywhere else. The medical industry is second only to the financial industry in the extent to which their practices and government collusion harm the financial well-being of the American people, and medical care is on a trajectory to soon become #1. Medical issues are the leading trigger of bankruptcy filings today. Yet we put our heads in the sand and watch as health care balloons to 19% of our GDP, almost TWICE as high as any other developed country, but with outcomes that are no better. We watch as it does next to nothing to encourage prevention and wellness. Medical costs are bankrupting us. If any industry deserves to be fully nationalized, it’s health care. I don’t want to see ANY industry nationalized because that guarantees massive inefficiency, but medical care is already there and has shown no inclination whatsoever to reform itself….

I tend to write about national issues. That’s because (1) the bulk of our problems start there, (2) the problems are less obvious, and (3) insofar as the issues are “distant” they are inherently more difficult to solve. The whole Trump phenomenon is a manifestation of the recognition, finally, that we need to start looking to D.C. as what ails us, not what aids us. Healthcare (really “sick care”) is just one such ailment, but certainly one of the most important. Unfortunately it’s also a very divisive issue, with many of us favoring “nationalized” healthcare, and many of us favoring “market-based” approaches. I have thoughts of my own on that issue, maybe I’ll write ‘em up someday….

Jackie,

Unfortunately, I was not trying to be clever or funny. Summers and Extended Company and CCF ARE alleged money launderers. Look at all the facts that have been posted here on the Deck over the past year, with the alleged theft of Lakewood resident's homes, alleged misuse of HUD funding, ( North Coast Health? ), and most importantly, the alleged money laundering with OUR hospital.

Our city leaders are all alleged thieves that are stealing and dealing our city away, one property at a time!

I believe Summers and Extended Company should be in jail with all the alleged crimes they have committed against the tax payers of Lakewood.

Vote AGAINST issue 64. It is our only chance at starting to regain back our city.

For all the Mayor's cheerleaders that will respond to this: Please bring the documentation! How about the records that Butler appears to be holding hostage? That would be a great place to start!

Tim Liston wrote:I posted this a few months ago in a thread about the Cleveland Clinic. I’m reposting it here, with a few mods and additions, as it seems relevant to the discussion….

When it comes to local health care the Clinic is not the problem or the enemy. The Cleveland Clinic is a cog (a big cog) in a medical industry that, like the financial sector, is almost completely beyond redemption. The medical industry is another Wonderland, so far removed from normalcy that it’s become hard to fathom its why’s and wherefores….

Our national health care system is the enemy. In what other industry can providers….

1) Refuse to disclose the price of your product/service before you provide and charge for it. At least the banks have to tell you that your interest rate is 0.01% before you deposit your money. The Clinic won’t tell you that a pleurisy diagnosis and a prescription for some antibiotics cost $3000 until the bill arrives. Or that a cortisone shot is $1200.

2) Charge wildly different prices for the exact same product/service from the exact same place/time, depending on irrelevant factors (e.g. your insurance status).

3) Charge 100 times more for a product in one country than in another, then collude to make it illegal to import that product. A product that might save your life.

4) Form cartels and near monopolies and engage on other anti-competitive practices without incurring the wrath of the Sherman, Clayton and Robinson-Patman Acts?

5) Organize as non-profit “charity” organizations to evade taxes, then STRIVE to avoid providing charity care?

6) Partner with “insurers” to make the entire delivery system an enormous, opaque, expensive morass?

7) And who knows what else? I don’t follow the medical industry like I do financial. I just see the tip of its iceberg and have little understanding of what resides underwater.

And since I first wrote the above, I have an addition….

8... Peddle so-called “insurance” that in no way is real insurance. Half of us know we’re relatively unhealthy. We’re older or have chronic health issues. We WANT the so-called “insurance” because we KNOW we’re going to spend less on health care that way. The other half of us know that we’re relatively healthy. We’re younger or we otherwise know we’re relatively healthy. We’d rather pay for health care “a la carte,” but insurance is shoved down our throats. Health insurance bears no resemblance whatsoever to real insurance.

We have come to accept such medical industry practices as normal and acceptable, when we instead should be aghast. The problems go way beyond the crap pulled by the Cleveland Clinic. The Clinic is a symptom, not a disease. It’s no different anywhere else. The medical industry is second only to the financial industry in the extent to which their practices and government collusion harm the financial well-being of the American people, and medical care is on a trajectory to soon become #1. Medical issues are the leading trigger of bankruptcy filings today. Yet we put our heads in the sand and watch as health care balloons to 19% of our GDP, almost TWICE as high as any other developed country, but with outcomes that are no better. We watch as it does next to nothing to encourage prevention and wellness. Medical costs are bankrupting us. If any industry deserves to be fully nationalized, it’s health care. I don’t want to see ANY industry nationalized because that guarantees massive inefficiency, but medical care is already there and has shown no inclination whatsoever to reform itself….

I tend to write about national issues. That’s because (1) the bulk of our problems start there, (2) the problems are less obvious, and (3) insofar as the issues are “distant” they are inherently more difficult to solve. The whole Trump phenomenon is a manifestation of the recognition, finally, that we need to start looking to D.C. as what ails us, not what aids us. Healthcare (really “sick care”) is just one such ailment, but certainly one of the most important. Unfortunately it’s also a very divisive issue, with many of us favoring “nationalized” healthcare, and many of us favoring “market-based” approaches. I have thoughts of my own on that issue, maybe I’ll write ‘em up someday….

Many thanks for repeating this. I missed it the first time around.

To very crudely oversimplify: "Health care is changing - for us. We're taking away your hospital. Deal with it"
Here's how I dealt with it. I voted Against Issue 64.

CCF has always over charged for just about everything. Maybe this is to help them and Summers and Extended Company with their alleged money laundering scheme!