http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/legislature/article994468.ece

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1013031.html
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From: "GAETZ.DON.WEB"
Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 4:56 PM
Subject: Not read: ...and you're doing WHAT about this??
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From: "GAETZ.DON.WEB"
Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 4:54 PM
Subject: Not read: Not read: Re: Not read: Medicaid Fraud
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From: "GAETZ.DON.WEB" Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 4:56 PM Subject: Not read: ...and you're doing WHAT about this??
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Original Message
From: Carol
To: GAETZ.DON.WEB
Cc: altman.thad.web@flsenate.gov​ ; aronberg.dave.web@flsenate.gov​ ; atwater.jeff.web@flsenate.gov​ ; baker.carey.web@flsenaste.gov​ ; bennett.mike.web@flsenate.gov​ ; bullard.larcenia.web@flsenate.gov​ ; constantine.lee.web@flsenate.gov​ ; crist.victor.web@flsenate.gov​ ; dean.charles.web@flsenate.gov​ ; detert.nancy.web@flsenate.gov​ ; deutch.ted.web@flsenate.gov​ ; portilla.alex.web@flsenate.gov​ ; dockery.paula.web@flsenate.gov​ ; fasano.mike.web@flsenate.gov​ ; GAETZ.DON.WEB​ ; garcia.rudy.web@flsenate.gov​ ; gardiner.andyd.web@flsenate.gov​ ; gelber.dan.web@flsenate.gov​ ; haridopolos.mike.web@flsenate.gov​ ; hill.tony.web@flsenate.gov​ ; jones.dennis.web@flsenate.gov​ ; joyner.arthenia.web@flsenate.gov​ ; justice.charlie.web@flsenate.gov​ ; king.james.web@flsenate.gov​ ; lawson.alfred.web@flsenate.gov​ ; lynn.evelyn .web@flsenate.gov​ ; oelrich.steve.web@flsenate.gov​ ; peaden.durell.web@flsenate.gov​ ; pruitt.ken.web@flsenate.gov​ ; richlnan.web@flsenate.gov​ ; richter.garrett.web@flsenate.gov​ ; ring.jeremy.web@flsenate.gov​ ; siplin.gary.web@flsenate.gov​ ; smith.chris.web@flsenate.gov​ ; sobel.eleanor.web@flsenate.gov​ ; storms.ronda.web@flsenate.gov​ ; wilson.frederica.web@flsenate.gov​ ; wise.stephen.web@flsenate.gov​ ; villalobos.alex.web@flsenate.gov​ ; charlie.crist@myflorida.com Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 10:16 AM
Subject: Medicaid Fraud
http://floridacapitalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090326/CAPITOLNEWS/903260320&theme=

Senator Gaetz:

If you really want to stop Medicaid Fraud in Florida, then you need to close the loopholes that for-profit hospitals slip through, such as Sacred Heart (Ascension Health) that I discussed with the local Medicaid Fraud office last year, who informed me there is nothing they can do because it IS a "loophole." This "loophole," Senator, costs the State of Florida billions of dollars annually, and no one is doing anything about it. Local news media won't report on it because Sacred Heart is a major advertiser.

Sacred Heart Hospital had approved me for their Uncompensated Care Program, but then when it was time to renew, they waffled about it, leaving me with no care, and endangering my life because I suffer from a serious immune system disorder that requires IvIg infusion for the rest of my life. They questioned me repeatedly about how soon I'd be approved for SSDI & Medicaid, as they know they can bill Medicaid back one year. They began scheduling me for unnecessary testing & promising me the tests would be covered under the UCP, but then billed me afterwards. I refused to go along with their dishonest scheme, and in retaliation, they terminated me as a patient, & continue to dun me for payment for bills I don't owe them.   Pensacola Sleep Disorders, after telling me the study was covered under SH's UCP, told me afterwards I would be billed. They knew I didn't have the money, and to this day, refuse to release the results of the study, and the FL Dept. of Health will do absolutely NOTHING about this to retrieve my study results.   I filed a legal action in Escambia County last July, but I can't pursue it because I can't afford the subpoenas, because of Florida's unconstitutional 2004 legislation charging court fees to the indigent, and Ernie Magaha, Escambia County Clerk of Court, refuses to respond to my e-mails. (Believe you me, this is going to jump up & bite you all on the ass, perhaps sooner than you think.)

I receive my healthcare now though Baptist, a non-profit hospital. If SH had just kept their mouths shut & not been so greedy, they would have eventually profited once I was approved for SSDI & Medically Needy/Medicaid, but instead, they got greedy and "shot themselves in the foot."   Sacred Heart Hospital, nor Pensacola Sleep Disorders care about anything except money...the rest is all political rhetoric.

It is up to you, Senator Gaetz, to see that such travesties of justice & unconscionable treatment of the poor STOP NOW! This is why we so desperately need single-payer health care in this country.

This is what happens from deregulation. We need sufficient regulation & enforcement in this state that requires hospitals to provide to the state documentation regarding patients on their UCPs & to prevent them from denying these patients care, & sending them for unnecessary testing so they can bill Medicaid later.   I look forward to your response.

Carol Tucker, MA
Court Reform-NOW
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/equaljusticeforall