REAL Health Care Reform?? Try This On for Size!!!

After listening to the clowns in DC argue over health care reform and drug costs reductions as Shugar and I struggle to meet almost $1500 a month in drug, Oxygen and CPAP machine costs needed to keep her alive with no chance on insurance other that a government run public option (no insurance company will insure her at any cost do to her diabeties, COPD lung and kidney problems).... after a bit of research an idea came to mind recently!!!

having checked the costs of meds on the wholesale level and in Canada on some popular ones used widely (My own experience was acetometophine and codine...30 day supply: On Medicare;$1.99...No Insurance:$99.99 ...that was from Kroger's here in Parkersburg WV... I'm sure most of you have similar stories to tell....

It seems to me that the major drug & health insurance companies are no different than oil companies and others who fix their prices as high as they can get away with and gouge their customers to the max....the main difference here is its not an inconvenience ..... ITS A DEATH SENTENCE!!!

Then i did some more research in the "Law Libraries" on line and found some intresting imnformation not being too widley distributed to the public in all the rancorous debate.....

Price fixing is the conspiracy by several manufacturers to set prices for goods or services above the normal market rate. The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are the regulatory bodies responsible for determining whether companies are involved in price-fixing tactics. Both bodies have the ability to impose heavy fines on those companies found to be conspiring to fix prices.

The health care industry has been scrutinized many times for price fixing, especially companies that manufacture vitamins. In 1995, the Justice Department fined three vitamin manufacturers a total of $750 million dollars for conspiring to fix vitamin prices. In addition, three vitamin distributors were also found guilty of price fixing that same year; their fines totaled $137 million for fixing the prices for a handful of popular vitamins, and they had to pay just over $1 billion to 1000 corporate buyers of bulk vitamins, an amount reflecting overcharges during the years of the conspiracy.

Roche Holdings AG, which holds forty percent of the global vitamins market, agreed to pay a fined of $500 million and as of 1999 was the object of class-action lawsuits and investigation by the European Commission. Because of the various price-fixing scandals, Roche and other vitamin manufacturers may have trouble raising prices in the future, or even stabilizing them. The price-fixing conspiracy lasted from 1990 through 1999 and affected vitamins A, B2, B5, C, E, and beta carotene. It also included vitamin premixes, which are added to breakfast cereals and other processed foods. The Justice Departments probe of price fixing was expected to continue as the government attempted to build cases against other vitamin manufacturers.

In 1996, the FTC and the DOJ issued a revised Statement of Antitrust Enforcement Policy in Health Care. Under this new enforcement policy, the FTC and the DOJ will not necessarily view joint agreements on price between previously competing providers as unlawful price fixing if the integrated delivery system is sufficiently integrated.

So does that make all this legal??? Fat Chance.. People meet my friend RICO.....

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly referred to as RICO Act or RICO) is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was enacted by section 901(a) of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (Pub.L. 91-452, 84 Stat. 922, enacted October 15, 1970). RICO is codified as Chapter 96 of Title 18 of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 1961–1968. While its intended use was to prosecute the Mafia as well as others who were actively engaged in organized crime, its application has been more widespread.

Under RICO, a person who is a member of an enterprise that has committed any two of 35 crimes—27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $250,000 and/or sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of "racketeering activity." RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such an enterprise to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages.

When the U.S. Attorney decides to indict someone under RICO, he or she has the option of seeking a pre-trial restraining order or injunction to temporarily seize a defendant's assets and prevent the transfer of potentially forfeitable property, as well as require the defendant to put up a performance bond. This provision was placed in the law because the owners of Mafia-related shell corporations often absconded with the assets. An injunction and/or performance bond ensures that there is something to seize in the event of a guilty verdict.

In many cases, the threat of a RICO indictment can force defendants to plead guilty to lesser charges, in part because the seizure of assets would make it difficult to pay a defense attorney. Despite its harsh provisions, a RICO-related charge is considered easy to prove in court, as it focuses on patterns of behavior as opposed to criminal acts.

There is also a provision for private parties to sue. A "person damaged in his business or property" can sue one or more "racketeers." The plaintiff must prove the existence of a "criminal enterprise." The defendant(s) are not the enterprise; in other words, the defendant(s) and the enterprise are not one and the same. There must be one of four specified relationships between the defendant(s) and the enterprise. A civil RICO action, like many lawsuits based on federal law, can be filed in state or federal court.

Both the federal and civil components allow for the recovery of treble damages (damages in triple the amount of actual/compensatory damages).

Well my friends there it is in a nutshell....What the damn Government should do is have the balls to SUE... Thats right....SUE every damn one of these drug and health care companies that are fixing drug and health care costs so that only a select... and rapidly shrinking few can afford the cost of being sick.....yes , price fixing IS a federal crime!!!

Believe me if, God forbid, anything happens to Shugar due to lack of care and medicens we cannot afford You better believe I will sue the hell of of every damn drug manufacturer, pharamacutical company who makes the drugs and the Federal government for allowing this to happen in this country while Congressmen get their care for free and we pay the price...

I intended to do more research on the feasibility of filing a class action lawsuit on this and am curious about how everyone else might feel.... sorry if I ran long....

The Prosecution rests.....

Oh and BTW Hoser...Heard Sara Palin's headin up to the Great White North To speak to some hospital group about health care...Better get the hip boots on ...its gonna be gettin reaaaaal deep!