How To Use The False Claims Act To Prevent Nursing Home Fraud And Patient Abuse
As the baby boom generation moves from middle age to retirement, tens of millions of Americans will be entitled to Medicare benefits. Nursing home care and home health care are two of the fastest rising areas of Medicare spending.
It has been estimated by the General Accounting Office (GAO) that as much as 10 percent of the federal budget is lost to fraud and abuse. The Federal False Claims Act, with its "qui tam" provision, has become one of the primary means the government has for fighting fraud in the Medicare, and Medicaid programs.
The False Claims Act, sometimes referred to as "Lincoln's Law," was passed at the urging of President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 to combat the fraud being perpetrated on the Union by profiteers selling shoddy, defective, or nonexistent goods. The act provided that the individuals who provided information were compensated by receiving bounties of up to 50 percent of the money the lawsuit recovered for the Treasury. This bounty or "qui tam" was the reward given whistle blowers for information.
The Congress amended the Act in 1986 to provide successful qui tam plaintiffs at least 15 percent and up to 30 percent of the funds they help recover from the defendant.
The latest figures show in 1998, that 60 percent of the cases involved health care. In 1998, the government filed 472 cases and recovered 394 Million dollars for false claims. On average, the amount paid by the government to individuals who provided information as their share has been 17 percent.
A small but growing number of cases have been b brought under the False Claims Act alleging fraud in the context of nursing home care, either by improper billing for supplies, unnecessary care, and more recently, substandard care.
We can all help our government by coming forward with information we have concerning Medicaid or Medicare fraud. A personal injury attorney can help review the case and direct the "whistle blower" in the proper channels.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
False Claims Act "Qui Tam" Whistleblower Cases Recover More Than $1 Billion In Latest Year, Justice Department Announces
Once again displaying the effectiveness of the False Claims Act in combating government fraud, the Justice Department has announced that it recovered $2 billion in fraud cases in the latest fiscal year that ended September 30, 2007. Qui tam whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act accounted for at least $1.45 billion of those recoveries, with the whistleblowers (or "relators') sharing in those recoveries.
In all but one year since 2000, False Claims Act cases have generated at least $1 billion in recoveries, with whistleblowers responsible for cases that produced most of those judgments and settlements.
Health care fraud cases involving Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs once again generated the most dollars--$1.54 billion, more than 75% of the total recoveries.
Pharmaceutical companies paid the lion's share of the health care fraud recoveries. The government's settlements with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Medco Health Solutions, Inc., Purdue Pharma L.P., Purdue Frederick Co., and InterMune, Inc. totalled over $800 million.
The Justice Department has focused on cases of Pharma's “off-label” marketing; kickbacks to physicians, wholesalers, and pharmacies to induce sales of drugs or medical devices; inflating the drug "prices" that federal programs use to reimburse providers, then "marketing the spread” between the federal reimbursement and the provider’s lower cost; and failing to report the drug company’s actual “best price” so as to reduce rebates required to be paid.
In addition to the federal dollars recovered, states recovered an additional $264 million in pharmaceutical fraud cases--demonstrating why state versions of the False Claims Act such as those enacted in 2007 by New York, Georgia, and Oklahoma are such a good idea.
The defense industry once again holds the number two position in government fraud, accounting for more than $48 million.
For an understanding of the False Claims Act, please see our in-depth article explaining the False Claims Act and its increasing importance in combating fraud by rewarding whistleblowers for stepping forward.
http://www.whistleblowerlawyerblog.com/2007/11/false_claims_act_qui_tam_whist.html?
In all but one year since 2000, False Claims Act cases have generated at least $1 billion in recoveries, with whistleblowers responsible for cases that produced most of those judgments and settlements.
Health care fraud cases involving Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs once again generated the most dollars--$1.54 billion, more than 75% of the total recoveries.
Pharmaceutical companies paid the lion's share of the health care fraud recoveries. The government's settlements with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Medco Health Solutions, Inc., Purdue Pharma L.P., Purdue Frederick Co., and InterMune, Inc. totalled over $800 million.
The Justice Department has focused on cases of Pharma's “off-label” marketing; kickbacks to physicians, wholesalers, and pharmacies to induce sales of drugs or medical devices; inflating the drug "prices" that federal programs use to reimburse providers, then "marketing the spread” between the federal reimbursement and the provider’s lower cost; and failing to report the drug company’s actual “best price” so as to reduce rebates required to be paid.
In addition to the federal dollars recovered, states recovered an additional $264 million in pharmaceutical fraud cases--demonstrating why state versions of the False Claims Act such as those enacted in 2007 by New York, Georgia, and Oklahoma are such a good idea.
The defense industry once again holds the number two position in government fraud, accounting for more than $48 million.
For an understanding of the False Claims Act, please see our in-depth article explaining the False Claims Act and its increasing importance in combating fraud by rewarding whistleblowers for stepping forward.
http://www.whistleblowerlawyerblog.com/2007/11/false_claims_act_qui_tam_whist.html?
Warren Buffett called on Congress to maintain the estate tax
Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett called on Congress to maintain the estate tax, saying that plans to repeal the levy would benefit a handful of the richest American families and widen U.S. income disparity.
Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc., told the Senate Finance Committee that advocates of repeal were ``dead wrong'' to call the levy a ``death tax.''
It would be more appropriate to call it a ``death present,'' said Buffett, 77, who is the third-richest person in the world, according to Forbes Magazine. ``A meaningful estate tax is needed to prevent our democracy from becoming a dynastic plutocracy.'' Heirs to vast fortunes, he said, have already won the ``ovarian lottery'' and shouldn't be further rewarded by the tax system.
Congressional Democrats are likely to seize on Buffett's comments to bolster their argument that repeal of the estate tax amounts to a windfall for a few wealthy families. Republicans have pushed to permanently eliminate the tax or reduce the rate and increase the value of exempt estates.
Buffett said that in the last 20 years, tax laws have allowed the ``super-rich'' to get richer.
``Tax-law changes have benefited this group, including me, in a huge way,'' he said. ``During that time the average American went exactly nowhere on the economic scale: He's been on a treadmill while the super rich have been on a spaceship.''
Dormant Issue
The estate tax has been a dormant issue for the last year after Republicans failed to lure enough Democrats to agree to a repeal or permanent reduction of the levy. In August 2006, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, tried to win Democratic votes by tying repeal to an increase in the minimum wage.
Lawmakers are under pressure to reach some agreement on the future of the tax because a law enacted by Congress in 2001 gradually phases it out through 2010, when it will be fully repealed for one year. The tax is scheduled to return in 2011 with a top rate of 55 percent on estates worth more than $1 million. For this year, individual estates valued at more than $2 million are taxed at a top rate of 45 percent. By 2009, estates valued at less than $3.5 million will be exempt.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said today that less than 1 percent of U.S. households currently pay the tax. He said repeal lacked support in the Senate and the purpose of the hearing today was to solicit ideas for replacing the shifting rules and uncertainty of the current system.
`Taxable Event'
Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the panel, said the estate tax should be repealed because ``death should not be a taxable event.''
``As long as a person has accumulated an estate in accordance with the law, the government should not be able to profit from that person's death,'' he said. He said, however, that he may be willing to accept a compromise short of repeal, as long as lawmakers ``are looking out for small business owners and family farmers.''
Buffett urged the committee to keep the estate tax in some form and to use the $24 billion it raises to give a $1,000 tax rebate to low-income households.
`Shifting' Tax Burden
``We need to raise about 20 percent of GDP to fund the programs the American people want from the federal government,'' he said. ``Further shifting this burden away from the super-rich is not the way to go.''
He said that if he had his ``druthers,'' the tax code would be restructured to remove some of the burden from households earning less than $20,000 a year. Those households pay a 15.3 percent Social Security and Medicare tax, he said, while top money managers at hedge funds and private-equity firms pay a 15 percent rate on most capital gains, dividends, and profits they earn.
``I can't imagine a tougher problem than living in the United States and having a $20,000 income and having $3,000 taken out of that,'' Buffett said.
Weighing in on another tax issue being debated in Congress, he said he favored increasing the tax rate on so-called carried interest, the compensation that executives at buyout and venture- capital firms, as well as real estate partnerships, receive for investment services. Carried interest is currently taxed at the 15 percent capital-gains rate. The House passed a measure last week that would require it to be taxed as income, at rates as high as 37.9 percent.
Bill Gates
Other billionaires have joined Buffett in urging Congress to keep the estate tax, including Bill Gates, the world's richest man and founder of Microsoft Corp. Gates told a Senate panel in March that he agrees with his father, William H. Gates Jr., who wrote a book in support of the estate tax.
George Soros, a billionaire investor, has joined Buffett in signing a petition sponsored by an activist group called Responsible Wealth that calls on lawmakers to preserve the tax. More than 2,000 people whose estates would be subject to the tax have signed the petition, according to the group's Web site.
Republicans say the estate tax threatens small family businesses and farms because heirs are often forced to sell the business to be able to pay the levy.
Eugene Sukup, founder and chairman of Sukup Manufacturing Co. told the committee today that the tax is ``one of the greatest threats to our family-owned business.'' He told the panel that if he and his wife die, his sons would have to sell the Sheffield, Iowa-based company, which makes grain-handling equipment, to pay as much as $20 million in taxes.
Tax Planning
Sukup said tax-planning strategies that minimize that liability cost his company money that otherwise would be reinvested.
Dean Rhoads, a rancher and state senator from Nevada, testified that his family had to sell a ranch in the 1970s when his parents died and they owed $300,000 in estate tax. The family owed an additional $340,000 in 1995 when his father-in-law died.
``Because of this, I can say without a doubt that we have not made very many capital improvements to our ranch,'' he said.
Mark Bloomfield, president of the American Council for Capital Formation, a Washington group that has lobbied for repeal of the levy, said the Senate hearing today is a prelude to a congressional compromise on the issue next year.
Missing Votes
``I don't think complete repeal has the votes, has not had the votes for a few years, and won't have the votes in the future,'' Bloomfield said.
A compromise that exempts estates worth several million dollars and sets a rate on those valued at more than that at between 15 percent and 35 percent may be achievable, he said.
Committee members appeared to be leaning to an overhaul that would raise the exemption to between $4 million and $6 million and lowering the rate.
``The parameters for a deal are there. They've been there for the last couple of years. The politics have gotten in the way,'' he said. The thorniest disagreement, Bloomfield said, has been over setting the rate. Republicans such as Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, want it to be 15 percent, while Democrats have rejected a 30 percent rate as too low.
Buffett said lawmakers should find a compromise that creates certainty for taxpayers and businesses.
Senator Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, pointed out that Buffett has pledged to donate the bulk of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and will largely avoid paying estate tax on that amount.
In an interview after the hearing, Buffett said that after his wife's death in 2004, her estate paid $82 million in federal taxes and $32 million in state estate tax. He said he would give the Gates Foundation his Berkshire Hathaway stock, valued at more than $40 billion, and estate taxes would be paid on the assets he leaves his children.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan J. Donmoyer in Washington at rdonmoyer@bloomberg.net Alison Fitzgerald in Washington at Afitzgerald2@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 14, 2007 14:38 EST
Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc., told the Senate Finance Committee that advocates of repeal were ``dead wrong'' to call the levy a ``death tax.''
It would be more appropriate to call it a ``death present,'' said Buffett, 77, who is the third-richest person in the world, according to Forbes Magazine. ``A meaningful estate tax is needed to prevent our democracy from becoming a dynastic plutocracy.'' Heirs to vast fortunes, he said, have already won the ``ovarian lottery'' and shouldn't be further rewarded by the tax system.
Congressional Democrats are likely to seize on Buffett's comments to bolster their argument that repeal of the estate tax amounts to a windfall for a few wealthy families. Republicans have pushed to permanently eliminate the tax or reduce the rate and increase the value of exempt estates.
Buffett said that in the last 20 years, tax laws have allowed the ``super-rich'' to get richer.
``Tax-law changes have benefited this group, including me, in a huge way,'' he said. ``During that time the average American went exactly nowhere on the economic scale: He's been on a treadmill while the super rich have been on a spaceship.''
Dormant Issue
The estate tax has been a dormant issue for the last year after Republicans failed to lure enough Democrats to agree to a repeal or permanent reduction of the levy. In August 2006, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, tried to win Democratic votes by tying repeal to an increase in the minimum wage.
Lawmakers are under pressure to reach some agreement on the future of the tax because a law enacted by Congress in 2001 gradually phases it out through 2010, when it will be fully repealed for one year. The tax is scheduled to return in 2011 with a top rate of 55 percent on estates worth more than $1 million. For this year, individual estates valued at more than $2 million are taxed at a top rate of 45 percent. By 2009, estates valued at less than $3.5 million will be exempt.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said today that less than 1 percent of U.S. households currently pay the tax. He said repeal lacked support in the Senate and the purpose of the hearing today was to solicit ideas for replacing the shifting rules and uncertainty of the current system.
`Taxable Event'
Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the panel, said the estate tax should be repealed because ``death should not be a taxable event.''
``As long as a person has accumulated an estate in accordance with the law, the government should not be able to profit from that person's death,'' he said. He said, however, that he may be willing to accept a compromise short of repeal, as long as lawmakers ``are looking out for small business owners and family farmers.''
Buffett urged the committee to keep the estate tax in some form and to use the $24 billion it raises to give a $1,000 tax rebate to low-income households.
`Shifting' Tax Burden
``We need to raise about 20 percent of GDP to fund the programs the American people want from the federal government,'' he said. ``Further shifting this burden away from the super-rich is not the way to go.''
He said that if he had his ``druthers,'' the tax code would be restructured to remove some of the burden from households earning less than $20,000 a year. Those households pay a 15.3 percent Social Security and Medicare tax, he said, while top money managers at hedge funds and private-equity firms pay a 15 percent rate on most capital gains, dividends, and profits they earn.
``I can't imagine a tougher problem than living in the United States and having a $20,000 income and having $3,000 taken out of that,'' Buffett said.
Weighing in on another tax issue being debated in Congress, he said he favored increasing the tax rate on so-called carried interest, the compensation that executives at buyout and venture- capital firms, as well as real estate partnerships, receive for investment services. Carried interest is currently taxed at the 15 percent capital-gains rate. The House passed a measure last week that would require it to be taxed as income, at rates as high as 37.9 percent.
Bill Gates
Other billionaires have joined Buffett in urging Congress to keep the estate tax, including Bill Gates, the world's richest man and founder of Microsoft Corp. Gates told a Senate panel in March that he agrees with his father, William H. Gates Jr., who wrote a book in support of the estate tax.
George Soros, a billionaire investor, has joined Buffett in signing a petition sponsored by an activist group called Responsible Wealth that calls on lawmakers to preserve the tax. More than 2,000 people whose estates would be subject to the tax have signed the petition, according to the group's Web site.
Republicans say the estate tax threatens small family businesses and farms because heirs are often forced to sell the business to be able to pay the levy.
Eugene Sukup, founder and chairman of Sukup Manufacturing Co. told the committee today that the tax is ``one of the greatest threats to our family-owned business.'' He told the panel that if he and his wife die, his sons would have to sell the Sheffield, Iowa-based company, which makes grain-handling equipment, to pay as much as $20 million in taxes.
Tax Planning
Sukup said tax-planning strategies that minimize that liability cost his company money that otherwise would be reinvested.
Dean Rhoads, a rancher and state senator from Nevada, testified that his family had to sell a ranch in the 1970s when his parents died and they owed $300,000 in estate tax. The family owed an additional $340,000 in 1995 when his father-in-law died.
``Because of this, I can say without a doubt that we have not made very many capital improvements to our ranch,'' he said.
Mark Bloomfield, president of the American Council for Capital Formation, a Washington group that has lobbied for repeal of the levy, said the Senate hearing today is a prelude to a congressional compromise on the issue next year.
Missing Votes
``I don't think complete repeal has the votes, has not had the votes for a few years, and won't have the votes in the future,'' Bloomfield said.
A compromise that exempts estates worth several million dollars and sets a rate on those valued at more than that at between 15 percent and 35 percent may be achievable, he said.
Committee members appeared to be leaning to an overhaul that would raise the exemption to between $4 million and $6 million and lowering the rate.
``The parameters for a deal are there. They've been there for the last couple of years. The politics have gotten in the way,'' he said. The thorniest disagreement, Bloomfield said, has been over setting the rate. Republicans such as Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, want it to be 15 percent, while Democrats have rejected a 30 percent rate as too low.
Buffett said lawmakers should find a compromise that creates certainty for taxpayers and businesses.
Senator Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, pointed out that Buffett has pledged to donate the bulk of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and will largely avoid paying estate tax on that amount.
In an interview after the hearing, Buffett said that after his wife's death in 2004, her estate paid $82 million in federal taxes and $32 million in state estate tax. He said he would give the Gates Foundation his Berkshire Hathaway stock, valued at more than $40 billion, and estate taxes would be paid on the assets he leaves his children.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan J. Donmoyer in Washington at rdonmoyer@bloomberg.net Alison Fitzgerald in Washington at Afitzgerald2@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 14, 2007 14:38 EST
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
NCFE president loses law team
The former president of the defunct National Century Financial Enterprises Inc. is for the time being facing criminal charges without legal representation.
Lawyers for Lance K. Poulsen, a founder of Dublin-based NCFE, were allowed by U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley Nov. 2 to end their representation of the indicted executive. Thomas M. Tyack and James P. Tyack from Tyack Blackmore & Liston Co. LPA requested the discharge.
"Certain events relating to allegations of activities of Mr. Poulsen, including his arrest for a charge of obstruction of justice, have occurred since Oct. 17, 2007," the attorneys wrote to the court. "It has become apparent that in fact, as a result of the allegations raised and the circumstances surrounding thereto, counsel are in a position of being in a conflict of interest with Mr. Poulsen."
Neither lawyer was available for comment.
Lawyers for Lance K. Poulsen, a founder of Dublin-based NCFE, were allowed by U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley Nov. 2 to end their representation of the indicted executive. Thomas M. Tyack and James P. Tyack from Tyack Blackmore & Liston Co. LPA requested the discharge.
"Certain events relating to allegations of activities of Mr. Poulsen, including his arrest for a charge of obstruction of justice, have occurred since Oct. 17, 2007," the attorneys wrote to the court. "It has become apparent that in fact, as a result of the allegations raised and the circumstances surrounding thereto, counsel are in a position of being in a conflict of interest with Mr. Poulsen."
Neither lawyer was available for comment.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Moore said she and her husband, Richard Rainwater....
How Darla Moore’s gift to USC of $25 million ballooned to $37 million
Submitted by: John Warner on Aug 28, 2005 at 10:41 am
Tagged with: Academia
Source:
How gift to USC of $25 million ballooned
Darla Moore’s endowment to business school in 1999 has grown to $37 million
By JAMES T. HAMMOND
Staff writer
Lake City native Darla Moore’s 1999 gift of $25 million to the University of South Carolina business school has grown to more than $37 million.
It also spins off more than $1.25 million in income each year for the school that now bears her name.
How did the money grow so fast?
“We put it in such good investments, it was a home run for the school,” Moore said, adding the money is being managed by a Texas hedge fund. “It’s in a hedge fund that we started 10 or 12 years ago. We just left it in that fund.”
Moore said she and her husband, Richard Rainwater, invest money in the fund, too.
The hedge fund, she said, is made up of stocks commonly traded in the market, but the stocks are traded actively by skilled traders.
Submitted by: John Warner on Aug 28, 2005 at 10:41 am
Tagged with: Academia
Source:
How gift to USC of $25 million ballooned
Darla Moore’s endowment to business school in 1999 has grown to $37 million
By JAMES T. HAMMOND
Staff writer
Lake City native Darla Moore’s 1999 gift of $25 million to the University of South Carolina business school has grown to more than $37 million.
It also spins off more than $1.25 million in income each year for the school that now bears her name.
How did the money grow so fast?
“We put it in such good investments, it was a home run for the school,” Moore said, adding the money is being managed by a Texas hedge fund. “It’s in a hedge fund that we started 10 or 12 years ago. We just left it in that fund.”
Moore said she and her husband, Richard Rainwater, invest money in the fund, too.
The hedge fund, she said, is made up of stocks commonly traded in the market, but the stocks are traded actively by skilled traders.
PREPARING FOR THE INCREASING RISK OF RECESSION IN 2008
November 10, 2007
PREPARING FOR THE INCREASING RISK OF RECESSION IN 2008, WHILE TRYING TO TRANSFORM OUR OWN MINDS, IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE A GLOBAL RENAISSANCE!
SANTA BARBARA, CA/11.10.07--Dear Sisters and Brothers: In my Sept. 13th letter to you all, entitled "UCLA Study Predicts a 'Near Recession' For The U.S.," I suggested all should consider becoming more frugal, as America's--and our world's--belt is about to be tightened, and the wise will have set aside something to tide them over during the rainy days ahead.
This looming recession is now nearer, as those even cursorily monitoring Wall Street have noticed, since that barometer is looking six-to-twelve months into America's corporate and economic future. My own global business--which is entirely in the discretionary income field--began to reflect this in October. After almost perfectly tracking 2006 revenue through September, October's income fell by 66%, and this substantial drop-off is continuing here in November.
Discretionary income, as all know, is that extra bit in everyone's budget which can be spent on non-essentials. Thus, during recessions, when discretionary income gets seriously squeezed, people become worried about the future and cut back on discretionary spending. This means, of course, that they don't have to fast, or eat out in restaurants as often, just as many decide to skip seeing their doctor or dentist for things they normally might have.
Like a growing swell in the mighty ocean that is our world's most powerful economy, marry this growing lack of consumer confidence about our economy to individual fears about one's job or the ability to pay off one's credit cards, car payments or mortgage, and you can literally feel the increased suffering which attends all contracting economies.
THE PARENTS of many of us endured America's Great Depression, when an enormous percentage of the population lost their jobs and wound up in soup lines, still holding onto their pride by wearing their Sunday dresses, suits and hats--almost comical in its tragedy. Our global economy, which is presently stronger than America's, will eventually be affected, as well, since we're the importing market keeping the Chinese and Indian growth miracles booming, just as our buying helps the economies of Europe, Latin and South America. In other words, when America gets the flu, the rest of the world will eventually suffer, as well.
Again, please be wise and take this opportunity to save for the rainy days ahead. No one has to tell those just entering America's job market during this growing slowdown, that firms everywhere are not only cutting back on their hiring, but beginning to lay off employees in increasing numbers. This, in turn, puts more in the unemployment lines, while frightening those still working into spending less, as the snowball picks up speed rolling downhill.
America's retailers just reported their worst October sales in 14 years. General Motors just posted its largest loss in history--$39 billion. Wall Street brokerages, banks and mortgage lenders are in the process of writing off what may turn out to be a quarter-trillion dollars in bad loans, as a result of the current sub-prime mortgage implosion and resultant credit crunch.
Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate are crafting legislation to try to shift some of the tax burden off the backs of the working poor and middle class, and onto the wealthy whom Bush's tax cuts have favored during his two terms, at all others expense, just as corporate welfare ensured by armies of K Street lobbyists in Washington have enabled more than 60% of U.S. corporations to pay no taxes at all (and that doesn't include the growing number setting up offshore operations to avoid U.S. taxes altogether, or those shifting plants to China, India, Mexico, Ireland and elsewhere around the world where they can pay workers significantly less, resulting in millions upon millions of lost jobs which are not coming back.
THOSE OF US a bit longer in the teeth have suffered through recessions before, and know to start saving and preparing for harder times. Those of you who've not yet experienced such prolonged, economic downdrafts will want to follow our lead, as the fear of recession in 2008 continues to mount. Homelessness is already growing, just as the number of Americans unable to pay their mortgages has skyrocketed during the past year, throwing millions more into the rental market in every city, driving rents even higher with their competition for living space.
Meanwhile, the price of a barrel of oil is climbing inexorably toward $100 (hit $98 this week), and exogenous events from chaos in once-democratic Pakistan (now under martial law in a virtual military dictatorship in that dicey nuclearized nation housing bin Laden and more radical Islamic jihadists than perhaps any Muslim nation on Earth) to more than 100,000 heavily-armed Turkish troops massed on their border with Iraq, threaten to drive prices of a gallon of the gas most of us need to get to work, etc., before we know it to $4.00, causing our economy to further contract as consumers spend more on gas and heating oil, leaving them less for even basic needs, let alone 'discretionary' ones such as rewarding themselves with FAR greater health, happiness and healing power through prolonged scientific fasting.
The Federal Reserve, unfortunately, is caught between a rock and a hard place. If it lowers interest rates further to help stimulate the economy, it drives the value of the dollar down even further, increasing the prices of imports (including all that Made-In-China stuff filling the shelves of FAR more U.S. chains than just Wal-Mart), which fuels inflation just as surely as does the increasing prices of oil and commodities. We're already seeing the results in higher prices every time we go shopping for food.
Only the wealthiest among us will not feel pain. Ask any homeowner who's watched the value of her/his home depreciate over the past year, knowing things are not going to get better in the housing market anytime soon, just as these huge, gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs which Detroit's shortsighted automakers have flooded our nation with, are driving them to record losses which also will not stop anytime soon, forcing them to continue cutting prices and offering 0-interest loans just to move their bloated inventory, not unlike U.S. retailers already announcing price-cutting not normally seen until the day AFTER Christmas. . .a Christmas when we might all be giving each other oranges, if the lowered expectations of America's retailers are indicative of what's shaping up to be a disastrous holiday season--normally, their busiest period of each year.
THE BUDDHA, in his wisdom, mentioned that we should all learn to live with both poverty and plenty. As our severely-threatened home called Earth moves more rapidly toward resource wars--particularly over oil (the TRUE reason for the Bush/Cheney invasion of Iraq, sitting astride the world's second-largest known reserves, just as Iran sits atop the third, unless you're factoring in Canadian oil sands)--and devastating climate change resulting from over-population and over-pollution, the suffering will increase exponentially, with my own generation bequeathing our children and theirs a world so fraught with wall-to-wall problems they'll all have to be geniuses to even attempt to solve them. . .while trying to pay off America's staggering $9.1 TRILLION national debt, which presently works out to $30,030 for every one of our 303,496,748 citizens, and thanks to the present Administration's perpetual wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (not to mention the one they're itching to start in Iran before they're forced from office in January of 2009), has been increasing at an average of $1.49 BILLION per day since Sept. 29, 2006.
Are such wars inevitable? Will there be any Social Security, MediCare or corporate retirement plans left for our children and theirs? Will the debt-ridden American empire go the way of the British, Ottoman, Romansand Mongolian before us? Will we continue reproducing our over-polluting selves into climate-changing disaster? Is there anything else we can do beyond fiddling, while Russia's oil-rich President Putin embraces Iran's oil-rich President Ahmadinejad--the former systematically taking out his challengers just as ruthlessly as President Musharraf is right now in a devolving, nuclearized Pakistan, while Ahmadinejad insanely denies the Holocaust ever happened and pledges to erase Israel from the face of our Earth.
Meanwhile, the no-longer-sleeping dragon known as China, having developed an insatiably increasing appetite for commodities and oil to continue stacking skyscraper-level billions in national SURPLUSES as our world's largest sweatshop, supplies arms to both Iran--threatening America's geopolitical designs there--and Sudan, enabling a genocide long in uninterrupted progress there. . . .and not just small arms.
China is now promoting its FBC2 and J10A fighters to Iran. The J10A was officially offered on the overseas market this year, but under the name FC20. The new generation YJ6-2 and C802A anti-ship missiles are also being promoted to Middle East countries including Iran. Sudan is reportedly seeking to acquire FC1 fighters from China.
As China faces an ever-greater demand for energy, it is challenging America's hegemony by importing more crude oil from Middle Eastern countries. It is also exerting greater political and military influence upon this region, through expanded sales of military weapons. The long shadow of Chinese weapons has fallen over all six Gulf countries, and continues to do so. Iran has already become an important source of oil for China, as well as a key target-market for China's arms exports.
And the U.S., bogged down in unwinnable wars in opium-rich Afghanistan and oil-rich Iraq, burning our nation's national treasure as rapidly as California wildfires, has its foreign and military policy in the hands of a small, radical, extreme, right-wing cabal of neoconservative Masters of War who've never served our nation in war one day, themselves, yet thump their collective chest while shipping others' precious sons and daughters into their perpetual meatgrinders, forcing those naive young men and women into second, third and fourth tours which increase their chances of being blown apart, maimed for life, or becoming victims of stress-related suicide and broken marriages, already showing up back on America's streets joining that one-fourth of our nation's homeless population who are Viet Nam vets and will similarly never be 'right' again.
Who are these Masters of War controlling our nation's foreign policy, supported by precisely the Military-Industrial Complex our Five-Star Army Gen. and President Dwight Eisenhower warned us against in his "Farewell Address To America" upon leaving office. . Masters of War INCREASING by tens of thousands the number of U.S. troops in Iraq despite the MAJORITY of the U.S. electorate rejecting their Iraq War last November--finally understanding it was based in its entirety on lies, fabrications and deceits. . .a war about to enter it's fifth year, engineered by these Masters of War who chose NOT to serve our country (as I did as a paratrooper for three years--two in Asia--in America's famed 82nd Airborne Division, whose members derisively referred to all on the following list as "chickenhawks") when their own generation was called during the Vietnam Era, such as Bush (who hid out in the Alabama National Guard after allowing taxpayers to spend over a million dollars training him as a pilot), Cheney (similarly gamed the system for five deferments, none for physical reasons), Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove, Richard Perle, Scooter Libby, Douglas Feith, Eliot Abrams, John Bolton and William Kristol, holding others' coats right along with their armchair comrades such as Dennis Hastert, Tom Delay, Roy Blunt, Bill Frist, Mitch McConnell, Rick Santorum, Trent Lott, John Ashcrof, Jeb Bush, Saxby Chambliss, Vin Weber, Richard Shelby, Jon Kyl, Tim Hutchison, Christopher Cox and Newt Gingrich.
With Bush/Cheney having presently moved four U.S. Navy carrier groups into that Middle East caldron for their next war in Iran, they've similarly no exit plan, let alone care much in their game of global hegemony, about what will happen if Iranian missiles--purchased from Russia and China--plug the Strait of Hormuz with sufficient tankers to drive the price of oil well over $200, sending global markets and ALL our retirement investments into a bloody tailspin that will increase the present, unnecessary suffering of our looming recession by several orders of magnitude.
WHAT TO DO? Well, besides immediately paying off credit-card debt and saving for the coming rainy days of recession, you might go see a film just released nationwide as an urgent, impassioned wake-up call for our nation. Entitled "Lions For Lambs," starring Academy Award winners Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, along with 3-time Academy Award nominee Tom Cruise, the lions are the soldiers who do the fighting; the lambs are the unworthy politicians who send them into battle, and "Lions for Lambs" is a feature-film response to the war in Iraq, and to currents in post-9/11 American life.
Some say our society's values are reflected in the politicians we elect to represent us in Washington. As a lifelong political Independent, I've never believed all the best ideas or politicians were in any particular party. However, it's clear to all but those with their heads in the sand that our nation's democracy was hijacked during the final decade of the last century when few were paying attention, and that we're presently a Corporate Oligarchy led by Big Oil, which pulled George Bush and Dick Cheney right out of their Oil Patch and twice bought their way into our White House.
Perhaps it's time we changed ourselves, so that we can then begin to change those we elect to guide our nation, in our name? How to do this? Well, my friend and teacher since 1982, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, invited 40 of the world's most innovative thinkers to his Dharamsala, India, home-in-exile (where I was blessed to meet one-on-one with Him three times in late 1987, after returning from Tibet with my son Atisha, then 12, and daughter Malika, then 10, and asking Him how I could help; He asked me to write a book on the "Tibetan Crisis," which I did--"Tibet: The Final Solution"--for which he wrote the Foreword), to discuss precisely how we CAN begin to solve our world's problems.
That film, about another type of mind transformation, has been making the rounds of the world's best film festivals, today premiering in both New York and Los Angeles at one-day screenings. Thus, it's not out yet, but will be soon enough. Entitled "Dalai Lama Renaissance," it's narrated by Harrison Ford, and you can check out its video trailer at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBbuyZIRXjA). As Harrison notes in introducing one of the most thought-provoking films of our time: "Everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing her- or himself."
After watching the trailer, you might wish to click just to the right of it for "Related Videos." There, you'll discover a treasure trove of others, from Barbara Walters' interview with His Holiness, to a three-part "Dalai Lama--Exclusive Interview 1 (ONE)," in which H.H. responds to a devil's-advocate interviewer giving China's view of Tibet's current appeal for autonomy. Know that a couple of the videos there are unworthy, including some satirical garbage entitled "Steven Seagal--Dalai Lama," and another showing President Bush's meeting in the White House with His Holiness, into which the filmmaker unfortunately introduced out-takes from previous Dalai Lama teachings to make his points.
Several among those reading this know the Columbia University Chair of the Religious Studies Department, Bob Thurman, Ph.D. (father of Uma and four others), who's one of the half-dozen most dynamic speakers I've heard in my life. Bob gives a superb introduction to a priceless, four-part video you can view there entitled "Dalai Lama: The Four Noble Truths." Other excellent ones include: "10 Questions For the Dalai Lama," "Dalai Lama In Chicago," "Dalai Lama Visits UB 2006" (Univ. of Buffalo in upstate New York), "The Dalai Lama At Woodstock," "Dalai Lama In Harvard University," "Compassion--Dalai Lama, Muhammad Ali, Thomas Merton," "Dalai Lama Speaking In Long Beach," et. al. Kick back and relax with some good organic juice, and just surf there to your heart's content.
TWICE IN THE PAST YEAR, I've taken three-day, mind-transformation teachings with thousands of other fortunate beings in New York and San Francisco, given by the Dalai Lama. I've been blessed to take Atisha, Malika, her husband Rob, and other friends on this Esoteric List with me. Those teachings were among the most precious and meaningful I've received from any human being during my 66 years on this Earth. My longtime friend and teacher who gave them will be 73 next July, and will not be here forever, just as you and I will not. Thus, if you ever have the chance, do yourself an enormous favor.
As a lifelong social activist, I've provided the above overview in hopes it inspires you to prepare intelligently for the more difficult days ahead. . .for all of us, both in America and around our globe. My hope and prayer is for each of you to enjoy a stable, meritorious life. Alone, we're helpless to solve our world's growing problems, but collectively--once we've learned to open our hearts to ALL living beings, with equanimity--we CAN perhaps achieve the quantum leap in human consciousness I believe is now required to save humanity from itself. . .and leave our children and theirs a world worth inheriting.
Beyond that, my Sisters and Brothers, may you each be happy; may you be healthy; may you be peaceful and at ease, and may you be filled with loving kindness. May goodness and virtue flourish. Practice, as much as possible, loving kindness, compassion, empathic joy and equanimity, remembering these words from His Holiness: "The key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion." Big Love; your friend, Dennis
Posted by dpaulson at November 10, 2007 11:10 AM
PREPARING FOR THE INCREASING RISK OF RECESSION IN 2008, WHILE TRYING TO TRANSFORM OUR OWN MINDS, IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE A GLOBAL RENAISSANCE!
SANTA BARBARA, CA/11.10.07--Dear Sisters and Brothers: In my Sept. 13th letter to you all, entitled "UCLA Study Predicts a 'Near Recession' For The U.S.," I suggested all should consider becoming more frugal, as America's--and our world's--belt is about to be tightened, and the wise will have set aside something to tide them over during the rainy days ahead.
This looming recession is now nearer, as those even cursorily monitoring Wall Street have noticed, since that barometer is looking six-to-twelve months into America's corporate and economic future. My own global business--which is entirely in the discretionary income field--began to reflect this in October. After almost perfectly tracking 2006 revenue through September, October's income fell by 66%, and this substantial drop-off is continuing here in November.
Discretionary income, as all know, is that extra bit in everyone's budget which can be spent on non-essentials. Thus, during recessions, when discretionary income gets seriously squeezed, people become worried about the future and cut back on discretionary spending. This means, of course, that they don't have to fast, or eat out in restaurants as often, just as many decide to skip seeing their doctor or dentist for things they normally might have.
Like a growing swell in the mighty ocean that is our world's most powerful economy, marry this growing lack of consumer confidence about our economy to individual fears about one's job or the ability to pay off one's credit cards, car payments or mortgage, and you can literally feel the increased suffering which attends all contracting economies.
THE PARENTS of many of us endured America's Great Depression, when an enormous percentage of the population lost their jobs and wound up in soup lines, still holding onto their pride by wearing their Sunday dresses, suits and hats--almost comical in its tragedy. Our global economy, which is presently stronger than America's, will eventually be affected, as well, since we're the importing market keeping the Chinese and Indian growth miracles booming, just as our buying helps the economies of Europe, Latin and South America. In other words, when America gets the flu, the rest of the world will eventually suffer, as well.
Again, please be wise and take this opportunity to save for the rainy days ahead. No one has to tell those just entering America's job market during this growing slowdown, that firms everywhere are not only cutting back on their hiring, but beginning to lay off employees in increasing numbers. This, in turn, puts more in the unemployment lines, while frightening those still working into spending less, as the snowball picks up speed rolling downhill.
America's retailers just reported their worst October sales in 14 years. General Motors just posted its largest loss in history--$39 billion. Wall Street brokerages, banks and mortgage lenders are in the process of writing off what may turn out to be a quarter-trillion dollars in bad loans, as a result of the current sub-prime mortgage implosion and resultant credit crunch.
Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate are crafting legislation to try to shift some of the tax burden off the backs of the working poor and middle class, and onto the wealthy whom Bush's tax cuts have favored during his two terms, at all others expense, just as corporate welfare ensured by armies of K Street lobbyists in Washington have enabled more than 60% of U.S. corporations to pay no taxes at all (and that doesn't include the growing number setting up offshore operations to avoid U.S. taxes altogether, or those shifting plants to China, India, Mexico, Ireland and elsewhere around the world where they can pay workers significantly less, resulting in millions upon millions of lost jobs which are not coming back.
THOSE OF US a bit longer in the teeth have suffered through recessions before, and know to start saving and preparing for harder times. Those of you who've not yet experienced such prolonged, economic downdrafts will want to follow our lead, as the fear of recession in 2008 continues to mount. Homelessness is already growing, just as the number of Americans unable to pay their mortgages has skyrocketed during the past year, throwing millions more into the rental market in every city, driving rents even higher with their competition for living space.
Meanwhile, the price of a barrel of oil is climbing inexorably toward $100 (hit $98 this week), and exogenous events from chaos in once-democratic Pakistan (now under martial law in a virtual military dictatorship in that dicey nuclearized nation housing bin Laden and more radical Islamic jihadists than perhaps any Muslim nation on Earth) to more than 100,000 heavily-armed Turkish troops massed on their border with Iraq, threaten to drive prices of a gallon of the gas most of us need to get to work, etc., before we know it to $4.00, causing our economy to further contract as consumers spend more on gas and heating oil, leaving them less for even basic needs, let alone 'discretionary' ones such as rewarding themselves with FAR greater health, happiness and healing power through prolonged scientific fasting.
The Federal Reserve, unfortunately, is caught between a rock and a hard place. If it lowers interest rates further to help stimulate the economy, it drives the value of the dollar down even further, increasing the prices of imports (including all that Made-In-China stuff filling the shelves of FAR more U.S. chains than just Wal-Mart), which fuels inflation just as surely as does the increasing prices of oil and commodities. We're already seeing the results in higher prices every time we go shopping for food.
Only the wealthiest among us will not feel pain. Ask any homeowner who's watched the value of her/his home depreciate over the past year, knowing things are not going to get better in the housing market anytime soon, just as these huge, gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs which Detroit's shortsighted automakers have flooded our nation with, are driving them to record losses which also will not stop anytime soon, forcing them to continue cutting prices and offering 0-interest loans just to move their bloated inventory, not unlike U.S. retailers already announcing price-cutting not normally seen until the day AFTER Christmas. . .a Christmas when we might all be giving each other oranges, if the lowered expectations of America's retailers are indicative of what's shaping up to be a disastrous holiday season--normally, their busiest period of each year.
THE BUDDHA, in his wisdom, mentioned that we should all learn to live with both poverty and plenty. As our severely-threatened home called Earth moves more rapidly toward resource wars--particularly over oil (the TRUE reason for the Bush/Cheney invasion of Iraq, sitting astride the world's second-largest known reserves, just as Iran sits atop the third, unless you're factoring in Canadian oil sands)--and devastating climate change resulting from over-population and over-pollution, the suffering will increase exponentially, with my own generation bequeathing our children and theirs a world so fraught with wall-to-wall problems they'll all have to be geniuses to even attempt to solve them. . .while trying to pay off America's staggering $9.1 TRILLION national debt, which presently works out to $30,030 for every one of our 303,496,748 citizens, and thanks to the present Administration's perpetual wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (not to mention the one they're itching to start in Iran before they're forced from office in January of 2009), has been increasing at an average of $1.49 BILLION per day since Sept. 29, 2006.
Are such wars inevitable? Will there be any Social Security, MediCare or corporate retirement plans left for our children and theirs? Will the debt-ridden American empire go the way of the British, Ottoman, Romansand Mongolian before us? Will we continue reproducing our over-polluting selves into climate-changing disaster? Is there anything else we can do beyond fiddling, while Russia's oil-rich President Putin embraces Iran's oil-rich President Ahmadinejad--the former systematically taking out his challengers just as ruthlessly as President Musharraf is right now in a devolving, nuclearized Pakistan, while Ahmadinejad insanely denies the Holocaust ever happened and pledges to erase Israel from the face of our Earth.
Meanwhile, the no-longer-sleeping dragon known as China, having developed an insatiably increasing appetite for commodities and oil to continue stacking skyscraper-level billions in national SURPLUSES as our world's largest sweatshop, supplies arms to both Iran--threatening America's geopolitical designs there--and Sudan, enabling a genocide long in uninterrupted progress there. . . .and not just small arms.
China is now promoting its FBC2 and J10A fighters to Iran. The J10A was officially offered on the overseas market this year, but under the name FC20. The new generation YJ6-2 and C802A anti-ship missiles are also being promoted to Middle East countries including Iran. Sudan is reportedly seeking to acquire FC1 fighters from China.
As China faces an ever-greater demand for energy, it is challenging America's hegemony by importing more crude oil from Middle Eastern countries. It is also exerting greater political and military influence upon this region, through expanded sales of military weapons. The long shadow of Chinese weapons has fallen over all six Gulf countries, and continues to do so. Iran has already become an important source of oil for China, as well as a key target-market for China's arms exports.
And the U.S., bogged down in unwinnable wars in opium-rich Afghanistan and oil-rich Iraq, burning our nation's national treasure as rapidly as California wildfires, has its foreign and military policy in the hands of a small, radical, extreme, right-wing cabal of neoconservative Masters of War who've never served our nation in war one day, themselves, yet thump their collective chest while shipping others' precious sons and daughters into their perpetual meatgrinders, forcing those naive young men and women into second, third and fourth tours which increase their chances of being blown apart, maimed for life, or becoming victims of stress-related suicide and broken marriages, already showing up back on America's streets joining that one-fourth of our nation's homeless population who are Viet Nam vets and will similarly never be 'right' again.
Who are these Masters of War controlling our nation's foreign policy, supported by precisely the Military-Industrial Complex our Five-Star Army Gen. and President Dwight Eisenhower warned us against in his "Farewell Address To America" upon leaving office. . Masters of War INCREASING by tens of thousands the number of U.S. troops in Iraq despite the MAJORITY of the U.S. electorate rejecting their Iraq War last November--finally understanding it was based in its entirety on lies, fabrications and deceits. . .a war about to enter it's fifth year, engineered by these Masters of War who chose NOT to serve our country (as I did as a paratrooper for three years--two in Asia--in America's famed 82nd Airborne Division, whose members derisively referred to all on the following list as "chickenhawks") when their own generation was called during the Vietnam Era, such as Bush (who hid out in the Alabama National Guard after allowing taxpayers to spend over a million dollars training him as a pilot), Cheney (similarly gamed the system for five deferments, none for physical reasons), Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove, Richard Perle, Scooter Libby, Douglas Feith, Eliot Abrams, John Bolton and William Kristol, holding others' coats right along with their armchair comrades such as Dennis Hastert, Tom Delay, Roy Blunt, Bill Frist, Mitch McConnell, Rick Santorum, Trent Lott, John Ashcrof, Jeb Bush, Saxby Chambliss, Vin Weber, Richard Shelby, Jon Kyl, Tim Hutchison, Christopher Cox and Newt Gingrich.
With Bush/Cheney having presently moved four U.S. Navy carrier groups into that Middle East caldron for their next war in Iran, they've similarly no exit plan, let alone care much in their game of global hegemony, about what will happen if Iranian missiles--purchased from Russia and China--plug the Strait of Hormuz with sufficient tankers to drive the price of oil well over $200, sending global markets and ALL our retirement investments into a bloody tailspin that will increase the present, unnecessary suffering of our looming recession by several orders of magnitude.
WHAT TO DO? Well, besides immediately paying off credit-card debt and saving for the coming rainy days of recession, you might go see a film just released nationwide as an urgent, impassioned wake-up call for our nation. Entitled "Lions For Lambs," starring Academy Award winners Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, along with 3-time Academy Award nominee Tom Cruise, the lions are the soldiers who do the fighting; the lambs are the unworthy politicians who send them into battle, and "Lions for Lambs" is a feature-film response to the war in Iraq, and to currents in post-9/11 American life.
Some say our society's values are reflected in the politicians we elect to represent us in Washington. As a lifelong political Independent, I've never believed all the best ideas or politicians were in any particular party. However, it's clear to all but those with their heads in the sand that our nation's democracy was hijacked during the final decade of the last century when few were paying attention, and that we're presently a Corporate Oligarchy led by Big Oil, which pulled George Bush and Dick Cheney right out of their Oil Patch and twice bought their way into our White House.
Perhaps it's time we changed ourselves, so that we can then begin to change those we elect to guide our nation, in our name? How to do this? Well, my friend and teacher since 1982, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, invited 40 of the world's most innovative thinkers to his Dharamsala, India, home-in-exile (where I was blessed to meet one-on-one with Him three times in late 1987, after returning from Tibet with my son Atisha, then 12, and daughter Malika, then 10, and asking Him how I could help; He asked me to write a book on the "Tibetan Crisis," which I did--"Tibet: The Final Solution"--for which he wrote the Foreword), to discuss precisely how we CAN begin to solve our world's problems.
That film, about another type of mind transformation, has been making the rounds of the world's best film festivals, today premiering in both New York and Los Angeles at one-day screenings. Thus, it's not out yet, but will be soon enough. Entitled "Dalai Lama Renaissance," it's narrated by Harrison Ford, and you can check out its video trailer at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBbuyZIRXjA). As Harrison notes in introducing one of the most thought-provoking films of our time: "Everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing her- or himself."
After watching the trailer, you might wish to click just to the right of it for "Related Videos." There, you'll discover a treasure trove of others, from Barbara Walters' interview with His Holiness, to a three-part "Dalai Lama--Exclusive Interview 1 (ONE)," in which H.H. responds to a devil's-advocate interviewer giving China's view of Tibet's current appeal for autonomy. Know that a couple of the videos there are unworthy, including some satirical garbage entitled "Steven Seagal--Dalai Lama," and another showing President Bush's meeting in the White House with His Holiness, into which the filmmaker unfortunately introduced out-takes from previous Dalai Lama teachings to make his points.
Several among those reading this know the Columbia University Chair of the Religious Studies Department, Bob Thurman, Ph.D. (father of Uma and four others), who's one of the half-dozen most dynamic speakers I've heard in my life. Bob gives a superb introduction to a priceless, four-part video you can view there entitled "Dalai Lama: The Four Noble Truths." Other excellent ones include: "10 Questions For the Dalai Lama," "Dalai Lama In Chicago," "Dalai Lama Visits UB 2006" (Univ. of Buffalo in upstate New York), "The Dalai Lama At Woodstock," "Dalai Lama In Harvard University," "Compassion--Dalai Lama, Muhammad Ali, Thomas Merton," "Dalai Lama Speaking In Long Beach," et. al. Kick back and relax with some good organic juice, and just surf there to your heart's content.
TWICE IN THE PAST YEAR, I've taken three-day, mind-transformation teachings with thousands of other fortunate beings in New York and San Francisco, given by the Dalai Lama. I've been blessed to take Atisha, Malika, her husband Rob, and other friends on this Esoteric List with me. Those teachings were among the most precious and meaningful I've received from any human being during my 66 years on this Earth. My longtime friend and teacher who gave them will be 73 next July, and will not be here forever, just as you and I will not. Thus, if you ever have the chance, do yourself an enormous favor.
As a lifelong social activist, I've provided the above overview in hopes it inspires you to prepare intelligently for the more difficult days ahead. . .for all of us, both in America and around our globe. My hope and prayer is for each of you to enjoy a stable, meritorious life. Alone, we're helpless to solve our world's growing problems, but collectively--once we've learned to open our hearts to ALL living beings, with equanimity--we CAN perhaps achieve the quantum leap in human consciousness I believe is now required to save humanity from itself. . .and leave our children and theirs a world worth inheriting.
Beyond that, my Sisters and Brothers, may you each be happy; may you be healthy; may you be peaceful and at ease, and may you be filled with loving kindness. May goodness and virtue flourish. Practice, as much as possible, loving kindness, compassion, empathic joy and equanimity, remembering these words from His Holiness: "The key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion." Big Love; your friend, Dennis
Posted by dpaulson at November 10, 2007 11:10 AM
Medicare whistleblowers under attack
Monday, November 12, 2007
Medicare whistleblowers under attack
A day after legislation was introduced in the House calling for a moratorium on a controversial Medicare auditing program, the Atlanta-based company at the center of the California fight came out swinging. PRG-Schultz International officials, breaking their silence Friday for the first time since the controversy erupted this summer, disputed charges that it is mishandling the audits. They said that millions of dollars in overcharges they have identified at rehabilitation hospitals are returning money to the Medicare program just as Congress intended – and that only a fraction of its determinations are being overturned on appeal. Even so, they said the company has voluntarily agreed to forgo commissions that it is entitled to under its contract on decisions that are later overturned on appeal.
"They believe we are bounty hunters," N. Lee White, who heads U.S operations for PRG-Shultz International, said of California lawmakers and the California Hospital Association. "I don't appreciate the characterization."
California House members, prodded on the hospital association, have complained about the targeting of rehabilitation hospitals treating elderly patients recovering from knee and hip replacement surgery. More than 90 percent of those claims have been rejected by the auditors on grounds that they are not medically necessary. Auditor decisions have led to millions of dollars being withdrawn from the hospitals, putting some of them in financial jeopardy and altering treatment decisions for future patients.
On Thursday, Reps. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, and Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, introduced a bill that would halt the program for a year while it is studied more deeply by CMS – the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – which oversees it, and by the Government Accountability Office, the auditing arm of Congress. The two lawmakers charged that CMS has failed to answer questions about the program. The agency ordered a "pause" in PRG-Schultz's review of rehabilitation hospitals because of the concerns, but the lawmakers were unable this week to find out if the auditing has resumed.
White said the pause is still in effect, meaning that it has been extended longer than the month that was initially envisioned. The fact that the rejection rate has been so high, he said, is a reflection of how patients are being unnecessarily directed into the high-cost rehabilitation hospitals, taking money out of the Medicare program that otherwise would be going to serve other patients. But White noted that many of the 85 or so rehabilitation hospitals whose claims have been reviewed have had no rejections. "This implies that there are others who are doing it disproportionately wrong," he said. "Our charge is to find the people who have overcharged for whatever reason and recoup the money."
White also disputed critics' charges that it is the only for-profit company doing the audits. PRG-Schultz advertises itself as the largest recovery auditing company in the world, and White said it has many other government agencies and large companies among its client list. "We are a serious company, and we take this seriously," he said. The auditing program is part of a pilot project authorized by Congress that began in 2005 in California, Florida and New York. PRG-Schultz is the contractor selected for California, and it hopes to expand its work to other states when the program begins to expand nationally next year. The program was intended to help control skyrocketing Medicare costs by adding another tool to check for claims errors.
"To date, more than $230 million in overpayments to health care providers have been found in California alone," according to a recent handout the company said was distributed to California lawmakers. One criticism of the program is that it uses "recovery auditors" who are paid commissions. The hospital association said PRG-Schultz receives 25 to 30 cents on every dollar it recoups. In a two-hour meeting with McClatchy Newspapers on Friday, White declined to confirm that rate but didn't dispute it, either.
White acknowledged that auditors have focused heavily on rehabilitation hospitals' work with knee and hip replacement patients. He said that it is examining these claims because the GAO had identified the area as one likely to involve overcharges. "Although some joint replacement patients may need admissions to an inpatient rehabilitation facility, our analysis showed that few of these patients had comorbidities that suggested a possible need for the intensity of services offered by an IRF," the GAO said in an April 2005 report. Comorbidities are medical conditions in addition to the surgery that could complicate a patient's recovery. Because rehabilitation hospitals are prepared to handle the most needy of patients, their rates are much higher than alternative facilities such as nursing homes.
"The issue is not whether a joint replacement patient needs rehabilitation," White said. "It's the level of care needed. The issue is what is medically necessary for that patient."
Capps said in a statement Friday that she and Nunes introduced their bill because the auditing program was hurting health care for the elderly and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was refusing to answer questions about it. "I'm as concerned about ending Medicare fraud as anyone, but I'm also concerned when a poorly managed government program is running quality providers like the Santa Barbara Rehabilitation Institute out of business for no good reason," she said. Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the hospital association, said, "We stand by our previously expressed concerns."
Medicare whistleblowers under attack
A day after legislation was introduced in the House calling for a moratorium on a controversial Medicare auditing program, the Atlanta-based company at the center of the California fight came out swinging. PRG-Schultz International officials, breaking their silence Friday for the first time since the controversy erupted this summer, disputed charges that it is mishandling the audits. They said that millions of dollars in overcharges they have identified at rehabilitation hospitals are returning money to the Medicare program just as Congress intended – and that only a fraction of its determinations are being overturned on appeal. Even so, they said the company has voluntarily agreed to forgo commissions that it is entitled to under its contract on decisions that are later overturned on appeal.
"They believe we are bounty hunters," N. Lee White, who heads U.S operations for PRG-Shultz International, said of California lawmakers and the California Hospital Association. "I don't appreciate the characterization."
California House members, prodded on the hospital association, have complained about the targeting of rehabilitation hospitals treating elderly patients recovering from knee and hip replacement surgery. More than 90 percent of those claims have been rejected by the auditors on grounds that they are not medically necessary. Auditor decisions have led to millions of dollars being withdrawn from the hospitals, putting some of them in financial jeopardy and altering treatment decisions for future patients.
On Thursday, Reps. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, and Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, introduced a bill that would halt the program for a year while it is studied more deeply by CMS – the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – which oversees it, and by the Government Accountability Office, the auditing arm of Congress. The two lawmakers charged that CMS has failed to answer questions about the program. The agency ordered a "pause" in PRG-Schultz's review of rehabilitation hospitals because of the concerns, but the lawmakers were unable this week to find out if the auditing has resumed.
White said the pause is still in effect, meaning that it has been extended longer than the month that was initially envisioned. The fact that the rejection rate has been so high, he said, is a reflection of how patients are being unnecessarily directed into the high-cost rehabilitation hospitals, taking money out of the Medicare program that otherwise would be going to serve other patients. But White noted that many of the 85 or so rehabilitation hospitals whose claims have been reviewed have had no rejections. "This implies that there are others who are doing it disproportionately wrong," he said. "Our charge is to find the people who have overcharged for whatever reason and recoup the money."
White also disputed critics' charges that it is the only for-profit company doing the audits. PRG-Schultz advertises itself as the largest recovery auditing company in the world, and White said it has many other government agencies and large companies among its client list. "We are a serious company, and we take this seriously," he said. The auditing program is part of a pilot project authorized by Congress that began in 2005 in California, Florida and New York. PRG-Schultz is the contractor selected for California, and it hopes to expand its work to other states when the program begins to expand nationally next year. The program was intended to help control skyrocketing Medicare costs by adding another tool to check for claims errors.
"To date, more than $230 million in overpayments to health care providers have been found in California alone," according to a recent handout the company said was distributed to California lawmakers. One criticism of the program is that it uses "recovery auditors" who are paid commissions. The hospital association said PRG-Schultz receives 25 to 30 cents on every dollar it recoups. In a two-hour meeting with McClatchy Newspapers on Friday, White declined to confirm that rate but didn't dispute it, either.
White acknowledged that auditors have focused heavily on rehabilitation hospitals' work with knee and hip replacement patients. He said that it is examining these claims because the GAO had identified the area as one likely to involve overcharges. "Although some joint replacement patients may need admissions to an inpatient rehabilitation facility, our analysis showed that few of these patients had comorbidities that suggested a possible need for the intensity of services offered by an IRF," the GAO said in an April 2005 report. Comorbidities are medical conditions in addition to the surgery that could complicate a patient's recovery. Because rehabilitation hospitals are prepared to handle the most needy of patients, their rates are much higher than alternative facilities such as nursing homes.
"The issue is not whether a joint replacement patient needs rehabilitation," White said. "It's the level of care needed. The issue is what is medically necessary for that patient."
Capps said in a statement Friday that she and Nunes introduced their bill because the auditing program was hurting health care for the elderly and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was refusing to answer questions about it. "I'm as concerned about ending Medicare fraud as anyone, but I'm also concerned when a poorly managed government program is running quality providers like the Santa Barbara Rehabilitation Institute out of business for no good reason," she said. Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the hospital association, said, "We stand by our previously expressed concerns."
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