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"We got an email from Harry yesterday," Jessica said. "And one from Brenda." Brenda? Oh yeah. My Indian cousin, or whatever. "What's Harry have to say?" "Interesting developments is all he said. And come by at our convenience." "How about Brenda?" "She'll be in town next week. So we can talk to Harry now, see what he's got." They finished their coffee, Jessica looking at something on her tablet, tapping and scrolling. Afterwards Alex helped her carry the dishes to the sink and they went out on the back deck. Leaves were growing fast, the temperature was mild almost ever day now. Birds flew about, occasionally landing somewhere for a while, sometimes perching for a while, other times departing in just a few seconds. "You think birds think about things?" Alex asked. "Or just fly around all the time like they're trying to figure out what to do next?" "Beats me," Jessica said, "I wonder sometimes myself. Supposedly animals are just reacting to stimuli, whether it's just their normal activities or what they do when they're startled. Of course our pets, dogs and cats, seem to do some sort of thinking. Emotions, or something." "Seems not having to think might be nice." he said. "Most of the thinking I do seems to be about unpleasant things. Of course it's other people that make them unpleasant." "That's usually the problem, a lot of people aren't very nice. You've been through a bad time, apparently because of some of them. Maybe someday when this is behind us, that will change." "Hope so."
"I showed you the organization." Harry said. "I dug into one area - the LTACH operations. They seem to like those. They're building a big one there in Texas. They own a hospital, everything goes in their pockets. If they buy one, it's an LTACH. Must be some kind of profitable." "Long-term care means long-term money." Alex said. "Exactly. One of the things, the way they work, there are certain rules. To maintain their status. The average patient stay has to be at least 25 days." "Average." Jessica said. "So..." "Yep. Bring in an old person, they're iffy anyhow when they get sick. Drop granny in there with the flu, five or six days later she checks out. You have to make up that nineteen or twenty days from the ones still breathing." "The incentive for fraud is built in." Alex said. "If you didn't know better, you might think it was planned that way." "So you defraud insurance companies, Medicare, Medicaid," Jessica said, "and you sell a few body parts on the side. Nice folks." "Yep. That little hospital in Jonesboro, 44 beds, taking in upwards of thirty million a year. Exact figures are hard to get, but they slip out here and there. I figure CHC is skimming off five to ten million in consulting and management fees, they own medical supplies and equipment providers, taking a little bite out of everything. The one they're building is supposed to be eighty beds, twice the size of this one and they own the whole shootin' match. Every dime of every dollar." "I'd ask who they found to run it," Jessica said, "but I guess there's always someone. Wonder what they pay." "In a legitimate operation, a million a year wouldn't be uncommon." Harry said. "If you consider a non-profit hospital making that kind of money legitimate. I haven't found out yet, but it's probably doable. I suspect two to three million, with half being kicked back to CHC. The half he keeps is more than he could make anywhere else around here. If he could get hired. And there's always bonuses and other incentives. He's probably doing pretty well." "Something special we don't know about him?" Alex asked. "He'd have trouble getting a job as a bus driver, with his record." "That's encouraging." Jessica said. "What are his qualifications? If any?" "On paper," Harry said, "they're decent. Has two or three degrees. One in theology and one in psychology. And one in business administration." Theology? Jessica thought so too. "Theology?" she asked. Harry grinned. "It was in fact his first degree. They he got one in psychology, and one in business administration." "I'd guess a lot of people have those." Jessica said. "He have any hospital experience?" "Nope. "Am I the only one who finds that strange?" Jessica asked. Nope. "Anyone paying attention would," Harry said, "but most people don't. If more people paid attention a lot of things would be different. Especially politics, and politics is how the medical industry got the way it is. Same human greed and lust of power. People got their jobs and family, trying to make a living, what news they do get - when they can stop watching the other garbage - is corporate propaganda. Which is government propaganda, since they're the same animal. "But yeah, it was set up that way. The people that write the laws write them for their own benefit. And the politicians wouldn't care if they knew what was in them." |
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