A PROFILE IN GREED - Air Evac Lifeteam Charges College Student $17,000 For a Ride in a Helicopter

This isn't just David vs. Goliath, this is Erin vs. Air Evac Lifeteam, an American college student returning home from a mission of mercy vs. a mercenary helicopter service that charges insanely outrageous fees for the privilege of ferrying helpless accident victims to a hospital, and later, to a lifeteam of crushing debt.

THIS IS AN UPDATE TO THIS BLOG POST MADE SEVERAL YEARS AGO. THE AVERAGE COST FOR A 30 MINUTE TO 60 MINUTE MEDICAL HELICOPTER RIDE, REGARDLESS OF INJURY OR NON-INJURY, HAS RISEN TO $39,0000 - $50,000+ PER TRIP, AND THE RISE IN COST SHOWS NO SIGNS OF SLOWING. THIS IS A LUCRATIVE BUSINESS FOR RUTHLESS SOCIOPATHS WHO KNOW THAT INSURANCE WILL NOT PAY EVEN HALF OF THIS BILL IN MOST CASES. 

Now, I support capitalism, but what Air Evac Lifeteam does to unfortunate people unable to compete in a fair marketplace for air ambulance services is unconscionable unless one is a confirmed corporate sociopath, the Enron likes of which intentionally cut the electricity in California to drive up prices.

Now comes the victim, Erin Neff (daughter to the editor of Web del Sol)--returning home from a long trip, organized by her school to help Katrina casualties. Her van spun out of control and Erin was thrown from the vehicle and onto the highway. Miraculously, she did not break anything, but authorities on the scene thought it best to evac her to the nearest hospital for tests. And guess who arrives? AIR EVAC LIFETEAM with a transport price tag that would make even millionaires pause--I mean, who in their right mind would pay $17,000+ for a 30 minute helicopter ride? No one, of course.

Erin didn't mind getting picked up and flown to the hospital. It was fun, in a way. Little did she know that this angel-of-mercy company was going to send her a bill that would potentially burden her with bills at high interest rates for years to come (on top of her student loans!). A copy of that bill can be found here. Note they charged her a whopping ten grand just to step on the copter! The rest of it is a per mile fee that adds up to close to seven more thousand.

Erin Neff cannot pay this bill. She is working with her college to pay some of it. Insurance is covering zip. But even as around-the-block as I am, this kind of story floors me!
Okay, so what is really responsible for the dizzying rise of health care costs in America? One word ... GREED.

Just pure f**king GREED!
Thank you, Air Evac Lifeteam.
_________

Lobbyist Ronald Klain Chosen for Top Post in Obama's New Ethical Administration

After a strong and repeated campaign pledge to “wrest the federal government out of the hands of lobbyists” our upcoming PRESIDENT OF CHANGE, Barack Obama, has just appointed Ronald A. Klain, a former lobbyist for various corrupt organizations, as CHIEF OF STAFF to future Vice President Joe Biden.

Isn't this how it always begins? They claim they will change things, then later deny that business as usual is business as usual. Excuses are made. Negative no-go-with-flow types are fired or ignored. Deluded followers pretend things are still different and refuse to see the truth.

According to the NY Times:

"[Ronald Klain] worked until 2005 as a lobbyist at the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers, where he lobbied for clients including the failed mortgage giant Fannie Mae; an industry group seeking help with asbestos lawsuits; a drug maker under federal investigation ..."

Fannie Mae? Drug makers? Yeah, this guy's got moral backbone, I can feel it driving a sharp knife into my backbone even as I type this.

Course, the new "rules" supposedly prohibit Klain from "directly" "working" on any "matter" related to his "employers" over the previous two years. Do we have loopholes here? Is there a potential for lying? Zero application of the new "rules" and so forth? And who the hell is going to enforce these rules, some lower level White House ethics attorney? Sure, sure. He or she will just get on the phone and scold Biden's chief of staff whenever the need arises.

But the bigger question remains: why hire the LOBBYIST in the first place? Are we naive enough to believe that so-called ethics rules will prevent the corrutpion that lobbyists bring with them from job to job rather like pigs slopping bacteria from pen to pen?

Comic Relief - Letter From Red States to Blue States

Though sworn to centrism, and disliking both major political candidates running for president, I find the note below (now circulating on Internet) to be definitely worth a look and a laugh:

Dear Red States:

If you manage to steal this election too we've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly:

You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.We get stem cell research and the best beaches.

We get the Statue of Liberty.You get Dollywood.

We get Intel and Microsoft.You get WorldCom.

We get Harvard.You get Ole' Miss.

We get 85% of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs.You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families.You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq , and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of all cheese, 90% of the high tech industry, 95% of the corn and soybeans (thanks Iowa!), most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% believe that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico

Peace out,
Blue States