BloggeRhythms

A likely little read article from Robert King at washingtonexaminer.com via Drudge reports that, “Experts say too many patients are being prescribed opioid painkillers by emergency room doctors, and a program created by Obamacare could be enabling the problem.

 

“A new study released this week found 17 percent of nearly 20,000 patients were discharged from emergency rooms with an opioid prescription. Experts and lawmakers say a push under Obamacare for hospitals to get good patient satisfaction scores is one cause of the problem.”

 

The crux of the issue illustrates what happens when government gets itself involved in situations where it doesn’t belong. And particularly points out the negative ramifications of attempting to manage a critical service which politically motivated bureaucrats know absolutely nothing about.

 

In this case, Oxycodone, the active ingredient in Oxycontin, was the most prescribed, 52 percent of the time. And here’s why: “Doctors may feel pressured by hospital administrators to prescribe opioids because it may lead to a better score on a patient satisfaction survey, experts said.

 

“A program created by Obamacare tied extra funding to high scores on the survey.

 

"Their reimbursement and quality ratings are linked to ways patients rate them on categories," said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, president of the doctor advocacy group Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing.” Which means that, in order to obtain high ratings, doctors realize that patients don’t really care if they’re cured or not, so long as the drugs they get keep them happy enough. 

 

Which brings us to today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife.

 

Once again, Rush made some points that are really worth thinking about, saying, “Ron Fournier today, Ruth Marcus, I mean, all these former Clinton defenders, no matter what, are openly expressing their concern.  And Real Clear Politics, Ruth Marcus here "Bill Clinton's Damaging Self-Defense." (imitating Clinton)  "You know, somebody's gotta pay the bills.  We left the White House broke and never gonna go through that again." They're just not willing to look the other way here because, let's face it, the Clintons are older now, and it may not be as natural and they may not be as facile at it as they used to be.”

 

And in this case, with a year and a half still to go before the coming presidential election, Bill seems to have taken an approach that even the leftist media is having trouble keeping a lid on. Because he’s making a lot of defensive noise about a touchy subject for liberals: money.

 

As far as “leaving the White House broke,” is concerned, according to ipl.org/div/f, “The retirement benefits received by former Presidents include a pension, Secret Service protection, and reimbursements for staff, travel, mail, and office expenses. The Presidential pension is not a fixed amount, rather it matches the current salary of Cabinet members (or Executive Level I personnel), which is $191,300/year as of March, 2008.

 

An update from Bill McMorris,staff writer for the Washington Free Beacon, states, “Clinton will collect a $201,000 pension in 2014, a figure four times larger than the median family income in the United States. The Clintons have received a total of $15,938,000 in federal money since 2001.

 

Furthermore, “An April Congressional Research Service (CRS) report shows that the Government Services Administration (GSA), which is in charge of supporting federal disbursements, budgeted $950,000 for former president Bill Clinton in the 2014 budget.”

 

And what’s more, the $201,000 pension Clinton will collect in 2014, is four times larger than the median family income in the United States.

 

As far as Bill’s wife is concerned, FactCheck.org notes“ When she left the Senate in January 2009 after eight years of service, Clinton was eligible to receive a pension credit of 1.7 percent for each of those years. Her pension would thus be 13.6 percent — but only of the average of the highest three years of salary.”

 

Additionally, while pension figures for the post a secretary of state could not be found, her salary in that job was $186,600 a year. Which means there's likely another source of annual income for the rest f her life. 

 

On the other hand, while Bill’s worried about making enough to support his lifestyle, CNN Money reports that “median household income fell slightly to $51,017 a year in 2012, down from $51,100 in 2011 -- a change the Census Bureau does not consider statistically significant.’

 

At the same time, last reported in 2013, “46.5 million Americans are still living in poverty, according to a Census Bureau report.”

 

And then, to top it off for today in what has to be one of the absolutely greatest examples of hypocrisy, poor Bill’s wife who’s now sitting on millions was reported by FoxNews.com as follows, “[J]ust three weeks after blasting 'unaccountable money' and calling for a campaign finance overhaul, reportedly meets with potential donors to a super PAC backing her White House campaign Wednesday — the first such face-to-face meetings held by a Democratic presidential candidate.”

 

And that’s because it’s estimated that her presidential campaign might cost as much as $2 billion. Not too shabby for folks as broke as the Clinton’s claim they are, is it?

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios