GAMING THE TAXPAYER FUNDED HEALTHCARE SYSTEM WAS NEVER MORE PROFITABLE FOR HCA ET AL
I NO LONGER SUBSCRIBE TO THE TENNESSEAN---where I cut my teeth writing and reporting---but very occasionally skim my neighbor's paper delivered outside her door before the dawn's early light. This morning I snuck outdoors in my nightgown early and perused the headlines as I sat on my steps sipping my coffee. Two things caught my eye.
First this on executive pay increases for Tennessee execs in 2010. Rarely does much of anything disgust me anymore; however the gargantuan executive pay and increases of the top two CEOs both in the healthcare business (which fattens its coffers off Medicare and Medicaid, ie taxpayers monies)---HCA and Community Health Systems---really made me wince with disdain and disgust. How utterly, utterly ridiculous! I thought to myself.
I mean, how does this kind of hubris happen, even if it is paid in stock options? Why praytell aren't stockholders raising hell and doing something about this kind of outrage? Do stockholders and corporate boards hold anyone accountable anymore or are they all in bed together? Does everyone buy and hold stock for just a quick buck with absolutely no regard for what management is doing or the fact the company is being run into the ground?
To be clear, HCA the biggest, most disgusting culprit has gone public, then private, then public again last year. They wouldn't have gone public again unless they smelled a ton of money that could be made gaming some system. It's clear from the pay of their latest CEO that momentarily have made lots of money off their stock.
Still, what do these kind of payouts to CEOs do to the morale of the thousands of people who work for these companies and struggle to make ends meet and who aren't getting raises themselves? How can a fat cat CEO really lead? It can't be good for morale. It can't ultimately be good for every day stockholders either.ough It's time stockholders and taxpayers stopped these fat cats from skimming the cream off all the profits.
Read the whole thing.
Enough is enough... Declare me hereby thoroughly disenchanted and disgusted!
Fred Smith at FedEx doesn't bother me as much as the healthcare guys who milk the system for billions in Medicare reimbursements. Smith started and grew that company which provides a great service to all of us. Look how much less by comparison he makes.
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