In New Orleans yesterday:

[nickyt]

Bush health care official faces angry congress members over Charity hospital situation

05:50 PM CST on Thursday, January 26, 2006
Associated Press


The No. 2 health care official in the Bush administration faced a firing squad of questions at a congressional panel here Thursday addressing the failures of the state's crumbling health care system in the aftermath of last year's deadly hurricane.


"I'm saying, 'Shame on you,"' said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., addressing John Agwunobi, the assistant secretary of health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.


For the better part of an hour, the six members of the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Energy and Commerce tried unsuccessfully to get Agwunobi to answer questions on the funding of the only hospital for the uninsured in New Orleans -- a hospital now functioning as an encampment of tents.


Because the former Charity Hospital is working at a non-accredited site, they have not been reimbursed for their care since October, when the staff first began treating the city's returning poor. To be reimbursed, the hospital needs to obtain a waiver from the Department of Health and Human Services, a waiver for which they applied months ago.


Already, the Louisiana State University hospital system, which runs Charity, has laid off all but 400 of their 4000 employees. If the tent hospital continues to operate unfunded it will eventually run out of cash, said Cathi Fontenot, the medical director of Charity.


Asked about the waiver, Agwunobi said he didn't know the status of the application. Asked how long the application has been under consideration, Agwunobi said he wasn't sure. Asked how much longer the hospital should expect to wait, Agwunobi again said he didn't know.


And asked if a DHS program, created specifically to accelerate payments to health care providers whose businesses were damaged by Katrina, applies to doctors in New Orleans, Agwunobi again demurred.


"I have to admit, I don't know the details," he said.


Exasperated, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., told Agwunobi that the Bush administration needs to send a better informed spokesman.


http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWL012606tphealthcare.408cc252.html

[Lindsay]

1. Another day, another outrage

from BushCo.

They really just don't care about anything except their bloody agenda.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. This just adds further proof of Bush's attitude toward the poor.

Didn't care enough to improve the levees to keep their neighborhoods safe before Katrina, didn't care enough to evacuate them before the storm hit, didn't care enough to rescue them afterward and now doesn't care enough to provide medical facilities when they try to return home.

[newyawker99]

3. nickyt

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NYer99
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