Why Would Cancer Centers Be Donating Millions To FreedomWorks To Fight Obama?

[babylonsister]

http://samuel-warde.com/2014/08/cancer-centers-donating-millions-freedomworks-fight-obama/

Why Would Cancer Centers Be Donating Millions To FreedomWorks To Fight Obama?
August 4, 2014
Posted by: Mindy Fischer


FreedomWorks calls itself one of the leading grassroots Tea Party groups who believe in individual liberty and Constitutionally-limited government. And one of the things that this group loves to brag about it how they make their money from small individual donations from regular middle-class Americans. Of course that’s simply not true, but they continue to say it, nonetheless.

The truth is that FreedomWorks receives most of its funding from corporate donors and one-percenters. One of those extremely wealthy donors is Richard Stephenson. Stephenson has been described as a hard core believer in the Libertarian cause. He originally was on the board of an advocacy group founded by the Koch brothers called Citizens for a Sound Economy. This group made news because they fought the Clinton administration on many things including their health care reform plans.

In 2003, the Citizens for a Sound Economy split into two separate groups. The Koch brothers split off into Americans for Prosperity, while Stephenson, Dick Army, and Matt Kibbe started FreedomWorks.

Stephenson is a FreedomWorks board member and also the founder of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). According to documents obtained by Mother Jones, both Stephenson and the CTCA gave very large donations to FreedomWorks. Stephenson’s son was put in charge of overseeing the financial support that his family gave to the Tea Party group. And he reportedly said in a 2010 email that the goal was “creating a tsunami of change directed at DC that is and will be historic.” But the Stephenson family also had another goal. They fully expected to see some real returns in exchange for their large financial donations, both for the CTCA and their family. In other words, millions and millions of dollars has been donated to FreedomWorks with some very big strings attached.

snip//

I just can’t help but wonder why a large Cancer hospital would rather spend millions of dollars buying political capital instead of investing in Cancer research. I mean, why would a large chain of hospitals be pumping huge amounts of money into a Tea Party group who is blatantly against Obamacare?

Maybe I’m being overly skeptical on this one, but it truly gives me the feeling that maybe the CTCA is more interested in keeping people sick. It certainly is better for them financially if they have more patients. And it would make some sense of the fact that they are giving millions to a group who is openly against any kind of health care reform.

[randys1]

1. Disgusting...running out of words

[onenote]

2. because CTCA is a for profit organization that preys on people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_Treatment_Centers_of_America

Given that they've been cited by the FTC for their fraudulent actions, why would anyone be surprised that they support Republicans (who believe government regulation is anti-American).

[alarimer]

3. Bingo.

They are fraudulent and it pisses me off to see all those commercials on TV.

[HereSince1628]

4. Yes, and I suppose like many clinics they don't like the

reimbursement schedule from medicare.

[lunasun]

27. Donating to tea party conservatives will raise the Medicare rate payout rate?

Medicare they don't take?

[tammywammy]

5. +1 they're frauds.

[DocwillCuNow]

9. Wow.... what a bunch of charlatans, and to think I called them and asked them if they

were aware of the cancer/acidic body connection. The lady said they were but I had no idea they were a bunch of frauds. Pity that.

[FarPoint]

26. They use a bunch of hoaxy vitamins, electric stimulus therapy...

Non traditional therapy stuff . They charm the desperate patient by giving them room service, have lovely gardens...that kind of snake oil therapy.

[blkmusclmachine]

6. ,

,

[The Magistrate]

7. And That, Ma'am, Is On Top Of Dick Armey's 'Go Away' Millions....

These people paid the grease for easing him out of the organization a couple years back.....

[mercuryblues]

8. because

cancer centers are total scams. When your insurance stops paying, you are kicked out. Because when your prognosis is dire they will kick you out, so as not to Skew their "survival stats". Because if you are too sick you are not accepted.

IOW the only patients they accept are treatable cancers, as long as you have insurance and/or the cash to pay.

[Delmette]

10. In my opinion ....

They are all about treating cancer not preventing cancer. The big bucks are in treatment. Preventing it would mean fewer patients and going against the big corporations that pollute the air, water and food with carcengenic toxins. Just my opinion.

[proverbialwisdom]

18. Lance Armstrong was moving liveSTRONG in that direction and for that I admire him to this day.

TX: http://www.livestrong.org/What-We-Do/Our-Approach/Reports-Findings/Prop-15-Case-Study
CA: http://www.livestrong.org/yeson29/

[Delmette]

20. Good of him.

I'm sorry it all got cut short.

[proverbialwisdom]

25. Update.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/19/sport/lance-armstrong-doping-cycling/

Lance Armstrong: 'Day-to-day life is positive'
By Matt Majendie, for CNN
August 20, 2014 -- Updated 1219 GMT (2019 HKT)

[Fred Sanders]

11. Making millions off of cancer patients and donating it to the fascists....what a special man he is.

How much did he donate to cancer prevention and cure research?

CTCA is another cancer, the ads playing on hope and emotion are disgusting if your true motive is profiteering.

And they do take not Obamacare plans, I would wager, not near enough in fees.

[gerogie2]

12. CTCA doesn't accept Medicare or medicaid

The company wants the government to pay the full rate for providing cancer treatment to Medicare and Medicaid patients. Just like the Hep C cure companies wants government to $80k+ for a treatment that costs $1000 to make.

[DocwillCuNow]

13. When I look at the information on this page, it makes it rather difficult for me to pass them off

as a bunch of phonies.

http://www.cancercenter.com/treatments/neurosurgery/

[babylonsister]

15. From Reuters...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/06/us-usa-cancer-ctca-idUSBRE9250L820130306

Special Report: Behind a cancer-treatment firm's rosy survival claims

snip//

The oncology information specialist "said don't bring her here," he recalled. "I said you don't understand; we're going to lose her if you don't treat her. She told me I'd just have to accept that."

Vicky Hilborn never got another appointment with CTCA. She died on September 6, 2009, at age 48.

CTCA is not unique in turning away patients. A lot of doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers in the United States decline to treat people who can't pay, or have inadequate insurance, among other reasons. What sets CTCA apart is that rejecting certain patients and, even more, culling some of its patients from its survival data lets the company tout in ads and post on its website patient outcomes that look dramatically better than they would if the company treated all comers. These are the rosy survival numbers that attract people like the Hilborns.

[Major Hogwash]

17. in other words, they treat the patients that have better chances for success.

It's like a medical Ponzi scheme, they'll treat you if you're not too sick, but if you're really sick, don't even bother trying to get them to answer their phone to set up an appointment.

[DocwillCuNow]

23. I get it, I'll fix your automobile if it isn't too broken.... shitty way of doing business. n/t

[slipslidingaway]

19. When payments are based on the outcome this will naturally occur ...

but this type of thinking could go further with new policies. Hospitals cannot always be held responsible for what takes place once a patient is discharged.

http://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/linking-quality-to-payment.html?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

"Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program - The Affordable Care Act authorizes Medicare to reduce payments to acute care hospitals with excess readmissions that are paid under CMS's inpatient prospective payment system, beginning October 1, 2012. The program initially focuses on patients who were readmitted for selected high-cost or high-volume conditions, namely, heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia...."

[Princess Turandot]

21. Since CTCA hospitals generally do not accept Medicare...

this Medicare specific rule does not apply to most of them.

[slipslidingaway]

22. Sorry should have explained further, what happens when Medicare adopts a similar policy based ...

on outcomes?

[bunnies]

14. wow. Their marketing/pr firm is really good. Had me fooled.

[GeorgeGist]

16. Probably because ...

GOVERNMENT INSURANCE
Some CTCA physicians have made the decision to limit the number of new Medicare patients they serve each month. They have done this because Medicare does not cover the cost of providing high quality comprehensive cancer care, especially for hospitals like ours that receive no government subsidies. However, if you are a beneficiary of a government health insurance program, such as Medicare, we’ll attempt to help you find another resource for the care you need. Consult our

Resource Guide, or call us at [phone] to speak with one of our representatives.
MEDICARE
Some CTCA physicians have made the decision to limit the number of new Medicare patients they serve each month. They have done this because Medicare does not cover the cost of providing high quality comprehensive cancer care, especially for hospitals like ours that receive no government subsidies. However, if you are a beneficiary of a government health insurance program, such as Medicare, we’ll attempt to help you find another resource for the care you need. Consult our

Resource Guide, or call us at [phone] to speak with one of our representatives.

http://www.cancercenter.com/becoming-a-patient/insurance/

[Lee-Lee]

24. The are Ayn Rand style doctors

They want full freedom to choose or reject any patient, so they only take cases they want.

They demand full, top dollar payment from every patient. Poor and on Medicaid/Medicare? No medical care for you at CTCA because what they pay isn't enough for the 1%er doctors there.

CTCA is what medical care would be like all over if the folks at Freedomworks got their brand of "freedom"- free to throw you in the gutter for being too sick or too poor.

[woodsprite]

28. I knew right away this referred to Cancer Trtmnt Ctrs of America. n/t