Life is cheap! According to California State officials, Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest health maintenance organization, will pay a $2 million fine and give $3 million to an organ donor program because of mismanagement of a kidney transplant center. How many of the 100 or so who died at Kaiser centers while waiting for a kidney would be alive today if it weren't for the "mismanagement." Since when did "mismanagement" become a euphanism for "murder."
Until we hold health insurance companies to the same standards as others whose callous indifference to human life causes suffering and death, we soon will find it safer to walk the streets of the inner city than to enter a hospital.
It is time to treat them as the criminals they really are. $5 million is pocket change. A small price to pay for the profits they reap. Send them to prison where they belong!
About Me
- Hugh Ellis
- Throughout my varied professional career, I have always been the consummate storyteller. Whether in front of a college classroom, consulting with corporate executives, persuading a learned judge or a panel of arbitrators, or testifying before a congressional hearing, my ability to weave my thoughts and ideas into a convincing tapestry of words has been one of my professional strengths. Now retired from my multi-faceted career, I have turned my creative talents to that which I love best -- writing. Drawing on my vast experience, I now hope to enthrall my readers with stories filled with intriguing characters and exciting action. When not writing, my wife and I enjoy gardening, singing and cooking.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Thursday, June 08, 2006
It seems that every time I turn around I am battling a health insurance company. I am absolutely convinced that the overwhelming majority of insurance fraud is committed by the insurers -- not the insured. Sure, there are plenty of people who file false claims to collect money they don't deserve. But what about the intentional denial of claims that should be paid, knowing that most people don't have the knowledge or endurance to fight for what is rightfully theirs. Funny how every time I fight one of these cases, I win. How much money do they save by these fraudulent denials?
That's part of the reason I wrote Blue Vendetta. I wanted to make people think about this. So far, everyone that has read it agrees.
That's part of the reason I wrote Blue Vendetta. I wanted to make people think about this. So far, everyone that has read it agrees.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
A story is told of a man living in the Warsaw Ghetto. Every morning he would walk out into the middle of the street in front of his house and yell, “Peace! Love! Justice!”
At first, his neighbors were amused, but in time they grew weary of his morning ritual. Finally, one of them confronted him. “How can you do this?” the neighbor asked. “Look around you! On every corner there are soldiers with guns. People are afraid to look each other in the eye! Our homes are in shambles! Our families are taken away in the middle of the night! There is no peace; no love; no justice! Do you honestly believe that you are going to change the world this way?”
Undaunted, the man smiled at his neighbor. “Of course not,” he replied. “I just want to be sure the world doesn’t change me.”
Throughout my life I have always been outraged by injustice, and I have jousted with my share of windmills. While I may have gotten in a few good blows now and then, the passing years have brought me the realization that I may not be able to correct all that is wrong with the world in my lifetime. But like that man in the ghetto, I cannot allow the corruption and evil in the world to change me. My writing is my way of shouting, “Peace! Love! Justice!” And who knows? Maybe it will help my readers keep the world from changing them too.
At first, his neighbors were amused, but in time they grew weary of his morning ritual. Finally, one of them confronted him. “How can you do this?” the neighbor asked. “Look around you! On every corner there are soldiers with guns. People are afraid to look each other in the eye! Our homes are in shambles! Our families are taken away in the middle of the night! There is no peace; no love; no justice! Do you honestly believe that you are going to change the world this way?”
Undaunted, the man smiled at his neighbor. “Of course not,” he replied. “I just want to be sure the world doesn’t change me.”
Throughout my life I have always been outraged by injustice, and I have jousted with my share of windmills. While I may have gotten in a few good blows now and then, the passing years have brought me the realization that I may not be able to correct all that is wrong with the world in my lifetime. But like that man in the ghetto, I cannot allow the corruption and evil in the world to change me. My writing is my way of shouting, “Peace! Love! Justice!” And who knows? Maybe it will help my readers keep the world from changing them too.
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