theWATCHER www.georgiawatch.org The newsletter of the state’s leading consumer watchdog Vol. IV, Winter 2006

NEW FEDERAL BILL PLACES 36 PERCENT CAP ON LOANS THE NEWS OFFERED TO MILITARY IS IN (AND IT BUT DOES IT GO FAR ENOUGH? ISN’T GOOD) REPORTS SHED LIGHT BY COLEY WARD dept. He was not the first soldier to fall ON MEDICATION ERRORS victim to a predatory lender, but with AND INFECTION RATES IN In 2004, Private Adam Jordan, 24, who any luck, he will be one of the last. In GEORGIA HOSPITALS is married with three small children, September, the U.S. Congress passed borrowed nearly $2,500 from a car a bill that will cap annual interest on all BY COLEY WARD title loan shop in Hinesville, near Fort commercial loans offered to members Stewart military base, using the title to In the last year several studies of the military and their families at 36 his 1998 Chevy Cavalier as collateral. have documented the dangers percent, beginning in October 2007. that are inherent every time you Shortly after receiving the loan he was The Talent-Nelson Amendment, are admitted to the hospital. deployed to Iraq, where he served for sponsored by Sens. Jim Talent and Bill These studies have confirmed 11 months. While he was overseas he Nelson, will protect our troops from what many consumer experts made monthly payments to the lender triple-digit interest rates, both here in already suspected: spend time in of $250 each, for a total of $2,695. Georgia and in other states. Currently, a Georgia hospital and you are at Private Jordan figured he was well on Georgia law allows car title lenders to risk for infection, doctor error and his way to paying back his loan. But he charge up to 300 percent annual interest. medication error. was wrong. They can repossess a borrower’s car THE DANGERS From each of the 11 payments Private if a payment is an hour late – with no Jordan made, only 46 cents went notification to the customer – and they In July, the Institute of Medicine towards the principal on his loan. By can sell that car after 30 days and keep (IOM) found that more than 1.5 the time he had finished his tour of any excess funds. For example, even million Americans are injured duty and returned home, he had paid if a car is sold for $15,000 to cover a every year by drug errors in the lender nearly $2,700, but had paid loan of only $1,000, the lender keeps hospitals, nursing homes and barely $5 of the $2,500 principal. At the the extra $14,000. doctors’ offices, a count that rate he was going, it was impossible for doesn’t even estimate patients’ The Talent-Nelson Amendment came him to repay the loan in his lifetime. own medication mix-ups. On in response to a July Department of average, a hospitalized patient is Private Jordan learned the hard way Defense (DOD) report that accused subject to at least one medication what many U.S. servicemen and predatory lenders of targeting service error per day. women have learned: car title loans are members and their families by an easy way to get stuck in a cycle of clustering around military bases and Drug errors aren’t the only cause CONTINUES ON PAGE 4 for concern for hospital patients. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in 20 patients, or about 2 million a year, contracts an infection in the hospital, and about 90,000 die as a result. Hospital acquired-infections increase the length of hospital stays up to 30 extra days, adding to the cost of health care and causing substantial, unnecessary pain and illness. CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

1 ACTIVIST PROFILE: Navigator/Bombardier, is severely Doctors tell Don that nothing can be handicapped, living in constant pain done. He tried to hold the surgeon D O N C O F F E E and frustration. Even things like eating accountable in court, but the statute of BY MAGGIE WHITE and breathing are difficult. limitations on his case expired while he was in bed recovering. A photograph on Don Coffee’s “I have lost 60 pounds,” Don says. “I refrigerator shows him smiling have vocal chord paralysis and my “I was unconscious half the time,” Don behind the wheel of his boat on Lake toes, fingers and gums are numb. I says. “I was trying to stay alive.” Lanier. In the photo he is tan, lean, and can’t distinguish flavors. All my solid Coffee has reached out to several full of youth. food must be shredded with a food attorneys, the surgeon, the hospital, processor to keep me from choking.” The photo was taken in 1999. Back other doctors, the state medical board, then, even at 79 years old, Don still That’s not all. Don also has chronic his state senator and representative, refused to act his age. He played golf diarrhea. He has to wear a support belt the lieutenant governor and the and tennis, walked 15 miles a week, 24 hours a day. And, as if to add insult governor, to no avail. Still, Don Coffee swam laps in the lake behind his to injury, he has a worse hernia than isn’t giving up. house, boated, and traveled. Today, before his surgery. His story is evidence that for patients the Don Coffee in the photo seems like His medical problems have also who have suffered because of a distant memory. become a financial burden. After three someone else’s negligence, justice In May of 2000, Don saw his doctor operations, Don required a full-time and accountability have always been about a small polyp at the end of his caregiver for months after leaving the hard to come by, even before Georgia colon. He was scheduled for outpatient hospital. Since his surgery, he has spent passed a devastating law in 2005 that surgery at the hospital and was sent $100,000 that he intended to give his limits the legal rights of victims of home the same day. 21 grandchildren – money he earned medical errors. flying combat over Germany, Korea But soon after he returned home, Don and in service during the Vietnam War. began to have excruciating abdominal pain and could not have a bowel movement. For several days, doctors dismissed his complaints. Finally, Don went to the emergency room where doctors discovered an infection that had spread throughout his body. During his surgery, the doctor had nicked his colon, allowing bacteria and feces to flow into his body. Then, while in intensive care, a breathing tube was left in his throat for too long, damaging his vocal cords. Today, the damage to Don’s body is devastating. The retired colonel, who served 25 years with the Air Force and has 15 medals for his service as a Lead Navigator, Bombardier, and Radar THE NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Yet, despite this high rate of The Public Citizen report says 36.2% From medical errors and unnecessary prescription error, doctors are seldom of physicians who were involved in treatments to misused drugs and held accountable – even when they prescription violations and/or use, bureaucratic waste, new research purposely commit prescription fraud. possession or distribution of controlled suggests such problems each year According to a report issued in August substances faced only “wrist-slap” cost private employers between by Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C.- punishments, such as fines, reprimands $1,700 and $2,000 per insured worker. based watchdog group, doctors who and mandatory educational programs. Premiums are up 16 percent this year commit crimes often escape harsh for most large employers, while smaller THE COSTS professional punishment by state companies are seeing even larger cost and federal agencies. Professional The Chicago-based Midwest Business increases, analysts say. disciplinary boards are particularly Group on Health claims that low- Drug errors are not just dangerous, but light on doctors who have been quality health care is costing nearly expensive. A preventable drug error can involved in crimes related to drugs, $400 billion a year, or about 30 percent add more than $5,800 to the hospital including prescribing violations and of the total $1.3 trillion spent annually bill of a single patient. Assuming that substance abuse. on medical expenditures in the U.S. 2 CONTINUES ON PAGE 6 The Court of Appeals’ ruling said the confidentiality waiver conflicts with the TORT REFORM federal Health Insurance Portability GOES UNDER THE KNIFE and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which guarantees the confidentiality of patient BY ALLISON WALL lawsuits to dictate the county where information. The ruling reaffirms that their case is heard. Last year, the access to patients’ information must delivered a present to Big Insurance, Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears in her be balanced with privacy protections. the hospital and medical lobbies, opinion wrote that the state Constitution Finally, the provision that restricts the and corporate giants Georgia Pacific, grants only trial judges, not defendants, use of expert witnesses has also come Home Depot, Georgia Power and the authority to transfer cases from under fire. It says an expert in medical Coca-Cola. It was called Senate Bill one county to another. For that reason, malpractice lawsuit must practice 3, and it severely changed the state’s the venue provision is unconstitutional, the same specialty that he or she is justice system. she said. testifying about? Senate Bill 3 limits what a jury can Another provision, “offer of Defendants have attempted to use that compensate any victim injured as settlement,” was first rejected in part of the law to say that an orthopedic the result of medical malpractice 2005 in a Gwinnett County court. surgeon cannot criticize a neurosurgeon, for physical loss and disability to Before going to trial, the plaintiffs even though they both perform many of $350,000 – even if the negligence had received an offer of $6,300 from the same surgeries. Georgia courts have kills a loved one. This one-size-fits- the defendant to settle the lawsuit. said that as long as the two doctors all approach brutally affects retirees, The plaintiffs decided to exercise both have the same specialty – both veterans, stay-at-home parents and their right to a jury trial and turned perform the same surgeries – then one anyone else who does not work or down the settlement offer. The jury can testify about another. works for modest pay. awarded the plaintiffs only $2,860. To add insult to injury, the plaintiff was The “expert witness provision” was The controversial bill also takes away instructed to pay the defendant’s found unconstitutional, to the extent the rights of patients injured or killed legal fees. it was to be applied retroactively, by in any of Georgia’s emergency rooms Judge Clayton in Cobb County last because of clear negligence. The ER Why? The “offer of settlement” year; but she just reversed herself last immunity provision of the law requires provision in Senate Bill 3 says that if a week in a new ruling (Mason v. Home patients to prove “gross negligence,” plaintiff turns down a settlement offer, Depot). A final ruling on the matter is which means proving that their medical and fails to receive a court judgment expected soon. provider willfully and knowingly that is at least 25 percent higher than mistreated them. This is virtually the settlement offer, then the plaintiff While the courts are cutting out the impossible to prove in an emergency is on the hook to pay the defendants’ unconstitutional parts of SB 3, some setting, after the fact. legal costs. In other words, victims groups are working hard to protect have to do more than just win – they the law. In a recent article on election What’s more, the law contains several have to win big. tampering, the Atlanta Journal- smaller provisions that have combined Constitution reported that, “The Safety to make it almost impossible for victims Gwinnett Superior Court Judge Michael and Prosperity Coalition, according to of medical malpractice to find justice Clark ruled against the “offer of settlement its web site, was formed largely to guard in a courtroom. But since the law provision,” saying, “To penalize the winning Georgia’s 2005 tort reform, limiting was signed in 2005, several of those parties simply for not winning enough, as liability for businesses when they are smaller provisions have been struck the statute apparently permits, would sued, from erosion in the courts. The down as a violation of Georgia citizens’ effectively chill ‘the right to prosecute or group, which could channel unlimited constitutional rights, or are awaiting a defend’ a cause of action in the courts of funds into television ads and other ruling from a higher court. this state.” efforts to influence voters ... had raised For example, lawmakers who supported Again this summer, the Georgia Court a reported $318,500 by the end of Senate Bill 3 claimed that the “venue” of Appeals struck down a provision September. Last week, it began airing changes would keep attorneys from in Senate Bill 3 requiring medical its first ad ... on network TV.” “shopping” their cases to get malpractice plaintiffs to give up the If you thought the fight over tort reform sympathetic jury pools. But the effect privacy of their medical records when in Georgia ended with the passage was to give insurance companies they file their lawsuits. of Senate Bill 3, think again. In many and their defense attorneys the The provision required the plaintiff ways, it has just begun. right to demand the most lenient, to file a medical authorization form friendliest courtroom. contemporaneously with the filing of a In February, the Georgia Supreme Court medical malpractice complaint. Failure ruled that it is unconstitutional to allow to provide the authorization would defendants in medical malpractice subject the complaint to dismissal.

3 FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR PUT GEORGIA WATCH ON YOUR GIFT LIST BY ALLISON WALL — EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR A librarian in Bainbridge needs to find health insurance for her son, who graduated school but has not found a job with health benefits yet. An older woman on a ventilator must decide whether to pay rent, her heating bill or her electricity bill. A soldier at Fort McPherson is fighting foreclosure. Georgia Watch is there when Georgia families are in need. We are the only group that partners with military bases and District Attorneys to offer free consumer workshops in communities of all sizes, in all four corners of the state, on topics like identity theft, flood insurance and credit scores. And Georgia Watch is one of few voices standing up to powerful special interest groups at the state Capitol, and defending the rights of consumers. Maybe the financial pressures of election season and the Christmas season have you thinking that the time for giving has come to a close. As you flip through the pages of The Watcher, I hope you’ll make room for one more gift. The gift of consumer protection. We’re asking you to please make a tax-deductible contribution to the consumer watchdog that is working hard for you. You can be a part of our Annual Fundraising Campaign by making your contribution by mail or online at www. georgiawatch.org. Even better, you can multiply your contribution by doing exactly what you do every Christmas – shop! Georgia Watch recently joined Benevolink, which works with online stores like Kmart, the Bass Pro Shop, the Gap, Best Buy, Office Depot, Barnes & Noble Booksellers and Home Depot to generate more contributions through your purchases all year long at no extra cost to you. You don’t pay any extra for the items you buy, or purchase things you don’t need. You don’t sign up for new credit or loyalty cards. There are no receipts, coupons or paperwork to keep up with. You simply shop for the things you want, and Georgia Watch receives charitable benefits that enable us to work even harder for a stronger Georgia. The first step is to register with Benevolink for free at www.benevolink.com. Then, shop online as you normally would at your favorite retailers’ Web sites. Based on your online purchases, participating stores will deposit charitable funds into your Benevolink account. Once a quarter, you visit the Benevolink Web site and direct your funds to Georgia Watch. Imagine that your total online shopping this Christmas adds up to $200. Given that the average retailer contribution is seven percent, you could earn an extra $15 for Georgia Watch while shopping for a few of your families’ favorite things. If it’s the thought that counts, than gifts purchased through the Benevolink program count two-fold. There’s never been a more rewarding way to promote consumer rights.

MILITARY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 lenders of targeting service members “Senators Talent’s and Nelson’s about their experiences with car title and their families by clustering around amendment to the Defense Authorization lenders. And their stories prove beyond military bases and using military terms bill provides financial body armor for a doubt that car title and payday loans in their advertising. The DOD report these service members,” Calhoun can be devastating. stated, “Predatory lending practices are said. “Military service members The Talent-Nelson Amendment was a prevalent and target military personnel, are particularly vulnerable to these long time coming. But there are still either through proximity and prevalence predatory loans, and we have a special questions regarding the bill. First and around military installations and online, obligation to protect them and their foremost, we are left to wonder what or through the use of affinity marketing families. These families must balance this will mean for civilian Georgia techniques.” the financial challenges of running a families who will continue to struggle household, often while one of them is Many consumer advocates applauded to pay triple-digit interest payments. on duty abroad.” the 36 percent APR cap on loans Does a sailor’s grandmother deserve offered to military personnel. Michael Georgia Watch regularly travels to the same protection from predatory Calhoun, President of the Center military bases to conduct workshops lenders as her boy in the Navy? What for Responsible Lending, released a on predatory lending with Army about the thousands of working parents statement praising the Talent-Nelson Financial Services. We hear firsthand fighting every day to feed, clothe and Amendment. from financial counselors and soldiers provide health care for their children, 4 CONTINUES ON PAGE 7

Name of Senator City Party Vote to decrease District 2007 LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW interest 42 David Adelman D Decatur Y BY DANNY ORROCK to get a Senate vote on interest rates, 9 Don Balfour R Snellville N and this year we hope to have more As families across Georgia gather together 26 Robert Brown D Macon Y success. You can see how your state to celebrate the holidays, legislators 11 John Bulloch R Ochlocknee N senator voted on a bill to lower car title and the crowd at the state Capitol 55 Gloria Butler D Stone Mt. X loan interest rates in the vote chart. are eagerly eying the start of the 2007 49 Casey Cagle R Chestnut Mt. N Georgia General Assembly. Health care is an important issue for 13 Joseph Carter R Tifton N everyone, and Georgia Watch is looking Compared to past years, there was 16 Ronnie Chance R Tyrone N forward to pushing ideas to improve the relatively little turnover in the state 3 Jeff Chapman R Brunswick N quality of care delivered in Georgia’s House and Senate this election cycle. 17 John Douglas R Covington N hospitals, nursing homes and doctors’ Republicans maintained their 34-22 39 Vincent Fort D Atlanta E offices. According to the Midwest majority in the Senate, while increasing 7 Greg Goggans R Douglas N Business Group on Health, medical their majority in the House to 106-74, 8 Tim Golden D Valdosta Y errors account for 30 percent of the $2 as a handful of Democratic incumbents trillion spent on U.S. medical care. 25 Johnny Grant R Milledgeville N switched parties. 30 Bill Hamrick R Carrollton N Last year Rep. Mike Keown (R- What will this mean for the upcoming 15 D Columbus N Coolidge) introduced a bill to give legislative session? What sort of 29 Seth Harp R Midland N injured patients and their families an legislation can we expect in 2007 and 41 Steve Henson D Tucker N opportunity to testify at disciplinary which proposed bills will most seriously 31 R Bremen N hearings of the state medical board. impact consumers? 4 Jack Hill R Reidsville N This year he will introduce the same One issue that will certainly come bill, in addition to a bill that would add 32 Judson Hill R Marietta N up again is identity theft, a problem three non-doctors to the medical board 14 George Hooks D Americus E that affected approximately 263,000 to give consumers a greater voice on 47 Ralph Hudgens R Comer N Georgians in 2005, and cost the state’s that panel. 1 Eric Johnson R Savannah N businesses at least $2.5 billion. Last Reducing the amount of hospital 10 D Decatur Y year, two bills introduced would have acquired infections will also be a 46 Brian Kemp R Athens N given consumers the option to “freeze” priority next year. The cost of treating 12 M Meyer V Bremen D Albany N their credit, providing bulletproof “Methicillin resistant staphylococcus 43 Steen Miles D Decatur N protection of their personal information aureus” infections, commonly called 56 Dan Moody R Alpharetta N from thieves. Even though 26 states MRSA, is $3.2 billion to $4.2 billion 53 R Chickamauga N have already enacted this powerful tool, annually. And according to the U.S. 51 Chip Pearson R Dawsonville N both bills were defeated and Georgia Centers for Disease Control and 23 J.B. Powell D Blythe Y consumers remain vulnerable to the Prevention, one in 20 patients, or fastest growing crime in the nation. 35 Kasim Reed D Atlanta Y about two million a year, contracts an 21 Chip Rogers R Woodstock N infection in the hospital. About 90,000 Yet another issue that is getting more 50 Nancy Schaefer R Turnerville N patients die as a result. and more attention is car title loan 28 Mitch Seabaugh R Sharpsburg Y reform. Car title loans are difficult for Several pieces of legislation have been 34 Valencia Seay D Riverdale X many families to pay off and often introduced in the past to address this 48 David Shafer R Duluth N leave borrowers in significantly worse health care crisis, including proposals to 52 Preston Smith R Rome Y financial shape. Currently, lenders can study the problem for the next year, and 44 Terrell Starr D Jonesboro Y legally charge 300 percent interest on proposals to mandate comprehensive these loans, in exchange for a car title reporting of infections and to make 18 Cecil Staton R Macon N and a set of keys. If a person’s vehicle the information available to the public. 27 Bill Stephens R Canton Y is repossessed because he or she Georgia Watch will work to see that this 6 Doug Stoner D Smyrna Y could not keep up with the payments issue gets the attention it deserves in 22 Ed Tarver D Augusta N on a car title loan, that vehicle can be next year’s legislative session. 38 D Atlanta N sold and the lender can pocket every 54 Don Thomas R Dalton N We encourage you to make your voice single penny – with none of the surplus heard in 2007. You have a Senator and 2 Regina Thomas D Savannah Y funds returned to the borrower. Representative who represent you in 5 D Norcross Y Georgia Watch will continue to push state government and who need to 33 Steve Thompson D Marietta N for a substantive reduction in the hear the concerns of their constituents. 20 Ross Tolleson R Perry N triple-digit interest rates on these Please feel free to contact Georgia 45 Rene Unterman R Buford N loans transactions, and advocate for Watch if you need help finding or 40 Dan Weber R Dunwoody E changes that refund surplus funds to contacting your elected officials. We 24 Jim Whitehead R Evans N folks whose cars are repossessed and look forward to seeing you under the 37 John Wiles R Marietta N sold. Last year, Georgia Watch worked Gold Dome next year! 19 Tommie Williams R Lyons N 36 Sam Zamarripa D Atlanta Y ESTABLISHING Some politicians are eager to hear our Rotary or neighborhood association, stories. Others would prefer a steak just to name a few. Contact us now OUR ROOTS dinner. That’s where you come in. to schedule a Georgia Watch staffer to talk about any or all of our issues, BY MAGGIE WHITE Having you at the Capitol to share your including: Lobbyists are not like you and me. Many concerns face-to-face with your elected are working overtime to justify six-figure leaders is the most powerful tool in our 1) Personal finance – how can you salaries, pushing policies that will arsenal. Remember, public policy is repair and build credit? open to the public, and it’s impacted protect and benefit the bottom lines of 2) Identity theft – how can you prevent the most by dedicated people who are their clients – regardless of the cost to the nation’s fastest growing crime from willing to get involved. others. happening to you? Can’t make it to the Capitol? Give us a At Georgia Watch, the only special 3) Health care – What are your rights call and tell us your story so that we can interests that we represent are those as a patient, and what homework can write about it for our website. Speaking of every Georgia family. We don’t buy you do before a medical procedure to of our website, did we mention that it is steak dinners for elected officials. Nor better guarantee success? do we take them on hunting trips or fly currently undergoing a makeover? We them to the beach on our private jet. expect to launch a new site in time for 4) Predatory loans and tax season – the new year. The new site will feature what are the hidden facts about loans Instead, we tell our elected officials a streamlined layout as well as new such as car title loans and fast tax about the problems facing consumers in content, including member profiles and refunds? our state and about possible remedies. photos and a predatory lending blog. We tell them about the people that At Georgia Watch, our challenge is to we’ve met on our travels around the As always, we won’t just wait for you make consumer education easy, and state – about people who have been to come to us. Are you part of a club to help you make choices that will plunged into debt by a triple-digit car or organization that would like to have benefit you and your family. There are title loan or who have been victimized Georgia Watch as a guest speaker? It so many ways we’d love to work with by an identity thief. could be your church, Kiwanis, PTA, you. Suggest a new one to us!

NEW WEB SITE GIVES CONSUMERS A CHANCE TO BE HEARD BY COLEY WARD When the 2007 Georgia General Assembly kicks off January 8th, Georgia Watch will be down at the State Capitol, educating state legislators about laws that will enhance patient safety and protect consumers from identity theft and predatory lenders. But we’ll need your help. If your consumer rights have been violated, come down to the gold dome and share your story. Nothing influences politicians more than hearing from the people who are directly affected by the laws that they craft. Maybe you wznt to get involved, but you’re too busy with work and family to talk in person about your consumer horror story? There’s still a way. Georgia’s senate leadership has launched GeorgiaSpeaks.com, a Web site that encourages all citizens to share their ideas about what will make Georgia better. Each week, Georgia Speaks features a “Creative Idea of the Week.” For example, a recent selection submitted by Rob Lange suggested, “Public schools should be limited to kids who speak English as their first language and whose parents speak English as their first language.” Whether you agree or disagree, the time is now to vote on proposals like this, and post your own plans for success. Georgia Speaks touts the Senate leaders’ commitment to the following five principles. According to the website, only those suggestions that meet these guidelines will be considered during the legislative session. Will it reduce the size of government? Will it strengthen our traditional family structure? Will it reduce the tax burden for our citizens? Will it increase personal responsibility? Do you have any ideas for pro-consumer legislation that you think meet those criteria? Maybe there’s something you simply need to get off your chest, even if it won’t reduce the tax burden, or the size of government. Post your thoughts on GeorgiaSpeaks.com and let the senators you elected know what you think.

THE NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 hospitals commit 400,000 preventable annually, according to the CDC. preventable and most errors could drug errors each year, that’s $3.5 billion be avoided if more prescriptions were THE SOLUTIONS - not counting lost productivity and written electronically. The Institute other costs - from hospitals alone, the To better serve and protect Georgia recommends that all prescriptions be report concluded. patients, the first order of business written electronically by 2010, and should be restoring accountability to former Speaker of the House Newt What’s more, hospital-acquired the health care industry. According Gingrich has been a staunch advocate infections account for an estimated to the IOM, at least a quarter of of exactly this type of health care $4.5 billion in excess health care costs all medication-related injuries are modernization. 6 GEORGIA WATCH SUPPORTS according to the IRS Form 990 filed by MCCG. That’s not counting the $39 AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE million that MCCG’s parent company – BY ALLISON WALL Medicare. Nobody negotiates a discount Central Georgia Health Systems – keeps for the uninsured, so these families get safe for them. MCCG’s CEO reported Medical bills are the leading cause of stuck with the highest bills. $664,839 in compensation that year, personal bankruptcies. When uninsured plus $179,332 in retirement benefits. people become seriously ill or injured, Expensive hospital charges for the they are faced with enormous hospital uninsured affect all of us, in fact. The MCCG and Phoebe Putney Memorial bills. When patients can’t pay the higher the hospital bills, the more we Hospital in Albany are together holding large bills, hospitals send aggressive all need insurance – and the more we assets nearing three-quarters of a collection agencies after them. are willing to pay for insurance, if we billion dollars. The Albany Herald can. It is a vicious cycle that is driving revealed that nonprofit Phoebe Putney Currently, at least 45 million Americans up health care costs more and more reimbursed hospital executives $156 in are living without health insurance. each year. cigars and hundreds more on cocktails Between 2003 and 2004, the majority for a single evening at a fancy London of the newly uninsured – over 750,000 “Nonprofit” hospitals are cash cows bar in 2003. people – were working adults. In As indicated by IRS filings from 2002, 2005, over 1.7 million Georgians were Hospitals & politics 34 nonprofit hospitals in the state held uninsured, an increase of 200,000 over approximately $2.6 billion in untaxed Nonprofit hospitals have shown that the previous year. cash and securities, and total hospital they will guard their tax exemptions Most people who don’t have health profit for 2002 was over $500 million. at all costs, even at the expense of insurance go without it because they Not too shabby. improving care for the communities simply can’t afford it, or because their they serve – even the citizens who Floyd Medical Center, located in Rome, employers have stopped offering need reduced-cost or charity care. was named “Large Hospital of the coverage. As the problem grows, it is Year” in 2005 by the Georgia Hospital In 2006 the Georgia General Assembly becoming more and more important Association (GHA). According to the passed House Bill 1272, which would that we take steps to make health Rome News-Tribune, the nonprofit have extended tax-exempt status to insurance and health care more hospital’s net revenue “is expected to free clinics that serve the neediest affordable. We also need to ensure increase by 10.8 percent in fiscal year among us. These clinics help curb that nonprofit hospitals, which are 2007... projected to total roughly $234.8 rising health care costs by providing charged with the task of caring for the million.” Next year’s estimated pure profit treatment for common conditions uninsured, are fulfilling their mission. is expected to top off at $6.4 million. And like asthma, high blood pressure and As it is, the system isn’t working. according to the hospital’s own press diabetes before they lead to expensive Why are uninsured families charged more? release, “the completion of a multi-million hospital emergency room visits. dollar renovation to the facility” was one The only people who do not get a reason for the GHA recognition. But when hospital lobbyists realized the discount off their hospital charges are bill would also require the legislature the uninsured. Hospitals charge the In 2004 Macon’s nonprofit Medical to re-authorize, and re-examine, their uninsured as much as ten times more Center of Central Georgia (MCCG) held tax exemption in a few years, they than HMO’s, insurance companies over $535 million in total net assets, pressured Governor Perdue to veto and government programs such as up from $468 million the year before, the bill. MILITARY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 taking on multiple low-paying jobs just past the corner where her husband’s lets car title lenders operate in the dark, to stay afloat? truck sits with a “For Sale” sign in the without oversight, and charge five times window. She is currently working with a the interest that all other lenders in the In March, Conyers resident Alicia lawyer to get it back. state can charge. Not only is that unfair Lummus, who cares for her young for all other lending businesses, credit son and disabled husband, lost her Alicia’s story is evidence that military unions and banks, but these customers husband’s 2001 Chevy Silverado - members are not the only people are at risk of losing everything. valued at $14,000 - over a $520 car who need protection from predatory title loan. For most of a year, she made lenders. If we shield our troops, but Most folks want to pay off their debt. monthly payment of $132, totaling not other consumers, then loan sharks They want to keep their cars. And when almost $1,000, but that just wasn’t will just intensify their focus on poorer, they lose their cars, they can’t get to enough for the lender. Early one urban areas. work, can’t get to the doctor, can’t keep morning, a loan shark repossessed This January, Georgia Watch will work their jobs, can’t get their kids to school, the Lummus’s truck, claiming she still with state lawmakers to pass legislation can’t get to church or the grocery store. hadn’t paid the principal on her loan. that will protect all Georgia families Car title lenders are not just profiting off Today, on her way to work the night from triple-digit interest rates and of a person’s bad situation - they are shift, Alicia drives her mother’s car repossessions. Right now, Georgia law making a bad situation dangerous. 7

toll-free at at toll-free 1-866-33-WATCH!

engagement by calling Georgia Watch Watch Georgia calling by engagement

COORDINATOR GEORGIAWATCH.COM

You too can book Allison for a speaking speaking a for Allison book can too You

COMMUNICATIONS COMMUNICATIONS GEORGIAWATCH@

• Creative Loafing’s Political Party. Political Loafing’s Creative • COLEY WARD COLEY

OR BY EMAIL AT EMAIL BY OR

Elderly (CO-AGE) Elderly

COORDINATOR

• Coalition of Advocates for Georgia’s Georgia’s for Advocates of Coalition • 1-866-33-WATCH

GRASSROOTS GRASSROOTS

• Vidalia Kiwanis Club Kiwanis Vidalia •

PHONE AT PHONE

MAGGIE WHITE MAGGIE

• Pilot Club of Carrolton of Club Pilot • CONTACT US BY BY US CONTACT

COORDINATOR • West Georgia Bankers Association Bankers Georgia West •

LEGISLATIVE LEGISLATIVE

presentations to: to: presentations

DANNY ORROCK DANNY Director Allison Wall made lunch or dinner dinner or lunch made Wall Allison Director

In 2006, Georgia Watch Executive Executive Watch Georgia 2006, In

REGARDING REGARDING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EXECUTIVE

is OUTSPOKEN is

FOR QUESTIONS QUESTIONS FOR ALLISON WALL ALLISON

already posted. already

of this opportunity as well and give voice to your thoughts by commenting on the blog – or on other comments comments other on or – blog the on commenting by thoughts your to voice give and well as opportunity this of

Major Institute estimates that over 10,000 people per month read our posts. We encourage you to take advantage advantage take to you encourage We posts. our read month per people 10,000 over that estimates Institute Major

Some of you have already been reading and commenting on our blog posts. And you’re not alone. The Drum Drum The alone. not you’re And posts. blog our on commenting and reading been already have you of Some

consumer battles that we are fighting here in Georgia. in here fighting are we that battles consumer

unique opportunity to share opinions, personal experiences, facts and statistics about one of the important important the of one about statistics and facts experiences, personal opinions, share to opportunity unique

contributor to their blog on tort reform, called “Tort Deform.” We at Georgia Watch believe that this blog is a a is blog this that believe Watch Georgia at We Deform.” “Tort called reform, tort on blog their to contributor was recently invited by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy to be a regular regular a be to Policy Public for Institute Major Drum the by invited recently was

55 MARIETTA ST SUITE 903 ATLANTA, GA 30303