Consejo de Latinos Unidos

CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST RAKES IN RECORD PROFITS AS PRICE GOUGING OF UNINSURED CONTINUES
LOS ANGELES, CA—Accused of and sued for price gouging uninsured patients, embattled not-for-profit hospital giant Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) made a whopping $597 million in profits the last two fiscal years according to their own financial statements while generating $245 million in investment income alone those same fiscal years. The not-for-profit hospital chain sits on a staggering $3.3 billion pile of cash and investments while paying no federal, state, or local taxes.
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JUDGE BLOCKS CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST’S PROPOSED SETTLEMENT
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Not-for-profit hospital giant Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) suffered a huge setback today when a California court denied the preliminary approval of a class-action settlement of a lawsuit on hospital price gouging. The settlement was attacked as “grossly unfair and nothing more than a price gouging protection act” by advocates of the uninsured.
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LATINOS PROTEST CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST’S PRICE GOUGING
LOS ANGELES, CA— Security officers at Catholic Healthcare West’s (CHW) California Hospital Medical Center in downtown Los Angeles blocked access to the main entrance of the hospital last Thursday afternoon as dozens of Latino protesters marched in front of the embattled hospital shouting “Hey, hey! Ho, Ho! Price gouging has got to go!” while others blew whistles and held banners accusing CHW of price gouging uninsured patients.
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CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST’S AMENDED SETTLEMENT “GOES AGAINST CATHOLIC POLICIES”
Hospital Giant Establishes Pseudo Borders to Price Gouge
SAN FRANCISCO, CA— A few days after the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national advocacy group that educates and assists the uninsured, lambasted not-for-profit hospital giant Catholic Healthcare West’s (CHW) proposed settlement of a lawsuit on hospital price gouging, the embattled hospital chain filed an amended settlement last month, according to California state court documents.
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CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST SETTLEMENT OPPOSED
SAN FRANCISCO, CA— A day after not-for-profit hospital giant Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) announced a proposed settlement of a lawsuit on hospital price gouging, the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national advocacy group that educates and assists the uninsured, vowed to oppose the proposed settlement and work to insure that the brokered deal “utterly collapses” if changes are not made.
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CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST LOSES
GAG-ORDER REQUEST AGAINST
LATINO ADVOCACY GROUP
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Embattled not-for-profit hospital giant Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) attempted to have a gag order placed against Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national advocacy group that educates and assists the uninsured, requesting that the court case of hospital price gouging not be “tried in the press” at a court hearing last Thursday. The judge unequivocally rejected CHW’s motion citing constitutional and first amendment concerns.
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LATINO ADVOCACY GROUP BLASTS CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST’S “ZIP CODE LIST”
EXCLUDES LATINOS IN EAST L.A. FROM UNINSURED PLAN
EAST LOS ANGELES, CA—Embattled not-for-profit hospital giant Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) was accused of “codifying economic racism and blatantly discriminating against uninsured Latinos” after it was uncovered that CHW will only offer discounted pricing to uninsured patients who live in specific Zip codes in California, Arizona and Nevada while excluding residents of East Los Angeles of the 90022 and 90023 Zip Codes, according to public documents filed in California state court.
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CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST’S DISCOUNT PLAN FOR THE UNINSURED EXCLUDES 99% OF THE UNINSURED
Congressional Investigators Alerted About Embattled Hospital Giant’s “Price-Gouging Protection Policy”
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—In a stinging rebuke of three Congressional probes, embattled not-for-profit hospital giant Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) filed a proposed discount program for the uninsured that would exclude anyone who had had or could have qualified for health insurance 24 months prior to when emergency hospital services were rendered, according to public documents filed in California state court.
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IN THE BLAGOJEVICH CODE:
“CK10” FOR STATE JOBS AND $250,000 TO STONEWALL AND TURN A BLIND EYE TO ECONOMIC RACISM
Vice-Chair of Provena Covenant Board Funneled $10,000 to Blagojevich’s Campaign
SPRINGFIELD, IL—As Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is under fire for handing out high-paying state jobs to his well-connected and best political friends, the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national advocacy organization that educates and assists uninsured Latinos and others, blasted the Governor “for turning a blind eye to economic racism and accepting $250,000 from the Illinois Hospital Association (IHA) in what appears to be an attempt to stonewall and to modify or reverse a hospital tax-exempt decision coming from the Illinois Department of Revenue.”
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Consejo Blasts "Small-Minded, Easily Spun, Sloppy Magazine Columnist"
False Allegations and Bogus Conspiracies Peddled by Columnist Todd Sloane
CHICAGO, IL—In a scathing letter to the editor to be published in this week’s editions of Modern Healthcare News, K.B. Forbes, Executive Director of the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, the nation’s leading advocacy group against hospital price gouging of the uninsured, ripped columnist Todd Sloane for having “never bothered to pick up his telephone to investigate and verify the false allegations he peddles.”
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AHA Rebuked by 60 Minutes
American Hospital Association Accusations Against Champion for the Uninsured Dismissed
NEW YORK, NY—In a letter posted on CBS’ 60 Minutes webpage yesterday afternoon, the accusations by the American Hospital Association (AHA) against a leading advocate for the uninsured, K.B. Forbes, Executive Director of the Consejo de Latinos Unidos or Council of United Latinos, were rebuked and dismissed by a producer with the award-winning news magazine.
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SPOTLIGHT RETURNS ON PRICE-GOUGING, PROFIT-MAKING RELIGIOUS HOSPITALS
Advocacy Group Launches New Website and Places Two-Page Ad in Influential “American Spectator” Magazine
WASHINGTON, DC—On the eve of hearings on hospital price transparency by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national advocacy group that educates and assists the uninsured, launched a new website today ChurchHospitalTruth.com after placing a two-page advertisement touting the site in the influential American Spectator magazine, widely read by policy wonks in the Bush Administration and on Capitol Hill.
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AHA SILENT AFTER RECEIVING POLITE SCOLDING FROM GRASSLEY
Senator “Troubled” by Reaction of Some Hospitals; Grassley Reaffirms Commitment to “Fair Hospital Payment Policy”
WASHINGTON, DC—In a polite but stern letter sent to Dick Davidson, president of the embattled American Hospital Association, Senator Chuck Grassley, the powerful Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, noted that his “request to the nonprofit hospital community went unanswered for months” in regards to pricing charges to the uninsured and related issues. The Senator bluntly suggested that the AHA “should take a more active and serious role in this discussion.”
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IN THE HILL: AHA “LIES AND DECEIVES AGAIN”
Aftermath of Critical Report on 60 Minutes about Hospital Price Gouging Puts Spotlight on Embattled American Hospital Association
WASHINGTON, DC—In a provocative story in today’s editions of The Hill, a widely read and influential newspaper read in the halls of the U.S. Capitol, the American Hospital Association’s bitterness towards a leading advocacy group for the uninsured led the beleaguered hospital association to “lie and deceive once again,” according to the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national non-profit organization that educates and assists the uninsured.
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AHA LEADER BLOWS UP AND SENDS “NASTY, VILE, VICIOUS” EMAIL TO ADVOCACY GROUP Embattled Trade Association’s Senior VP Writes Angry Email to Consejo’s Executive Director after 60 Minutes Expose
LOS ANGELES, CA—Rick Wade, Senior Vice President of Communications of the embattled American Hospital Association (AHA), dispatched an angry email to K.B. Forbes, Executive Director of the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national advocacy group that educates and assists the uninsured, on the heels of an expose on the highly rated 60 Minutes news magazine on Sunday that showed how hospitals charge uninsured people four or five times more than what they would accept as payment in full from an insurance company for the exact same care...
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IS THE AHA DELIBERATELY TRYING TO DECEIVE THE PUBLIC?
60 Minutes Segment Exposes American Hospital Association’s “State of Denial” as Embattled Trade Association Challenges Powerful Senator
LOS ANGELES, CA— Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national advocacy group that educates and assists the uninsured, accused leaders of the American Hospital Association (AHA) of “doing a great disservice to their members while creating serious public and political setbacks for the hospital industry” after an AHA senior vice president twice denied that hospitals overcharge uninsured patients and called the abuse accusations by a powerful U.S. Senator “nothing of the sort” on a segment last night on CBS’ news magazine, 60 Minutes.
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AHA HITS PANIC BUTTON AFTER 60 MINUTES FALL-OUT
Embattled Trade Association Dispatches Letter to CBS; Attacks Leader of Hispanic Advocacy Group

LOS ANGELES, CA—Dick Davidson, President of the embattled American Hospital Association (AHA), dispatched an urgent letter to Dan Rather of CBS’ 60 Minutes yesterday after the fall-out from a segment that ran on the highly rated news magazine on Sunday. Controversy has swelled after an AHA senior vice president twice denied that hospitals overcharge uninsured patients and called the abuse accusations by a powerful U.S. Senator “nothing of the sort” on the program...
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	60 MINUTES EXCLUSIVE THIS SUNDAY: UNINSURED MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES OVERCHARGED BY HOSPITALS News Magazine Segment Has Embattled Hospital Industry Abuzz
	CINTRON CRISIS RESOLVED ORMC’S Appropriate Intervention Could Save Ruby Cintron’s Eye and Vision
	CONSEJO APPLAUDS CONTROVERSIAL CATHOLIC TV ADS Civil Rights Champion Takes on Billion-Dollar Profits and Excessive Executive Pay by Catholic “Not-for-Profit” Hospitals
	HISPANIC ADVOCACY GROUP TO LAUNCH FACT-FINDING INVESTIGATION OF HOSPITAL CARE THAT ENDED WITH QUADRUPLE AMPUTATION Group Asks Claudia Mejia’s Lawyers to Release Medical Records and Give Orlando Regional Medical Center Written Authorization to Discuss Mejia’s Treatment and Hospital Care
	HISPANIC ADVOCACY GROUP HELPS ESTABLISH FIRST “FAIR PRICING FOR THE UNINSURED” MEDICAL CLINIC IN MIAMI Clinic to Offer Primary Care Medical Services to All Uninsured Patients at Medicare Rates Plus 25%