Thursday, March 25, 2010

Post Obamacare Hospital takeovers, including Catholic ones, are popping like popcorn



The "prolife" abortion contract signing Cardinal, Sean O'Malley, was johnny on the spot selling Caritas employees and patients into the bondage of sin


Not to worry though, they're reportedly "keeping the Catholic identity":

"If [Cerberus’] money is green, and the deal that was negotiated between management and Cerberus is as was represented, I think it’s a very square, fair deal," he said.

Right up Cardinal Sean O'Malley's Alley. You can be sure it will all be as Catholic as the Pope. No doubt they're rounding up the National Catholic Bioethics Center for another dog and pony show as we speak.

By the way, for those of you for whom Greek Mythology is a faint memory, Cerberus is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades to be sure nobody escapes. He's the centurion of hell. His mother was a half-woman/half serpent.

I am not making this up.

As a last ditch effort to wake up the wizards in the Chancery, Christ has ceased being subtle.

I was going to post on this story early this morning but I couldn't do it without swimming in the river of the multitude of sins.

Martha Coakley, of "Catholics shouldn't be working in emergency rooms" fame is going to bless the deal.

"We have several criteria we look at, including whether this will be in the best interest of the public," Coakley said. "I anticipate it will take several months. It's fairly complicated. There are a lot of individuals involved, even within the Caritas chain, and a lot of money involved.


Cerebus who previously acquired Chrysler and GMAC is positioning themselves, they say, to start buying up hospitals but Boston will remain the hub, no matter how many other hospitals they purchase.

Caritas is inching closer to buying Landmark as we speak.

In fact, post Obamacare, several other hospital takeovers, including Catholic Hospitals, have started popping like popcorn.

It certainly does look like a trend now. In fact, today a Wall Street Journal blogger suggested that this trend may be an immediate, although perhaps unintended result of the health care (insurance) reform legislation that just passed in the US Congress:

Cerberus is planning to turn the Caritas Christi Health Care chain into a for-profit corporation in what it is likely the first sizable M&A bet on the newly minted Obama health-care overhaul law. [seemingly ignoring the Detroit Medical Center/ Vanguard Health/ Blackstone deal - ed]

Hospitals that serve the poor and previously uninsured are expected to benefit from Obama’s plan, which is expected to extend insurance to 32 million previously uninsured Americans. That means such hospitals are likely to have more patients who can actually pay their bills. It is hard not to see how that new cash-flow stream wouldn’t have private equity licking its chops.

That’s funny, I did not think that a major reason to pass the bill was to benefit private equity. Also, somehow the image of private equity honchos licking their chops over cash flow does not seem to fit with the breathless pronouncements above about improving quality, serving poor patients, etc

The gobbling up of hospitals wouldn't come before the big "ta da" of government controlled socialized medicine, would it?

The Catholic Bishops handing the country over to communism makes me all warm and fuzzy.

And, just when you think the Bishops couldn't possibly get any stupider or craven, they prove you wrong.

"We are apprehensive as we look to the future, even as we applaud much of the increased care that will be available," Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago told Catholic News Service March 23, shortly after U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"So we will watch basically and try to continue to enter into conversations as a moral voice -- never as a political voice; we've been very careful to insist upon the moral principles that everybody should be cared for and no one should be deliberately killed," he added.

Cardinal George acknowledged in the interview that "the unity of the church has been wounded" in various political actions and conversations surrounding the health reform debate. The USCCB opposed the Senate bill that passed the House March 21, while some Catholic groups and members of Congress supported it.

"We are certainly concerned about division in the church, because bishops have to be the people who are concerned about its unity, about keeping people together around Christ," he said.

"The bishops know that they don't speak for every one of the 61 million Catholics in the country, but what we do is we speak for the Catholic faith itself," he said. "And those who share the faith will gather around."


With the numerous threats to life, liberty and the sovereignty of our nation, Cardinal George is clapping and hoping nobody gets deliberately killed.

Shoot for the stars dude.

You know what I think????

I think the Light is Going to be On for Me next Wednesday.

See you there.

8 comments:

CharlieOnTheMTA said...

Carol - your comment "I was going to post on this story early this morning but I couldn't do it without swimming in the river of the multitude of sins" rang true with me. I went to post on it and then just shook my head.
It's no surprise that this move was coming, given the track record of those involved.
I'd rather see institutions that are CINO - Catholic In Name Only - cease to be called Catholic than perpetrate a lie, endanger people's souls and scandalize Christ's Church.
What a tragedy for us, though, and for those who worked to build up the Catholic hospital system.

Anonymous said...

Can I ask you, Carol, and others reading as well, how you are managing to keep your faith intact and your allegiance to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church true?

How bad can a Church get?

I'm reminded, though, of a reoccurring line in a few prophecies I have read concerning the Church. Apparently, things will get so bad that She will look like a real goner, at which point Our Saviour will step in.

Hope it's soon. Don't think I can take much more scandal. It's wearing me out. And my poor husband is ashamed to tell anyone he's Catholic.

Veronica

Ava Marie said...

Veronica,
I separate my faith in Christ's Church from my very, very low opinion of some of its current shepherds.
We have the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. We have sanctifying and sacramental grace available to us. We have the gift of belonging to the Church that has the fullness of faith.
That's what we need to focus on.

Anonymous said...

God reward you, Ave Maria, for your kind and true answer. Thanks for redirecting my focus! Say a prayer for me please.

Veronica

Anonymous said...

In John 6:66, the Jews had refused to believe Jesus when he had told them they must eat His Body and drink His blood in order to have (spiritual) life in them. They simply walked away from Him, nevermore to return. Jesus asked His disciples if they wished to go away also in the next verse. To which Simon Peter answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

Maria said...

Anonymous--I keep my faith and hope in Christ through the Eucharist on daily basis. We are transformed and strengthened though the Eucharist. If it weren't for the Sacraments I would have long ago given up. We are called to reparation for the sins of the Church. Remember he is with us always, until the consummation of the world-- as Matthew tells us.

Anonymous said...

Some commentary on the secular aspects of Cerebrus' takeover of Caritas Christi are bearish in the matter (Read the complete items for all the gory details):

1. Concerns on Caritas deal
By Steven Syre
Globe Columnist / March 26, 2010

http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2010/03/26/lots_for_ag_to_ponder_on_caritas_deal/

What are the possible exit strategies? Private equity firms don’t stay forever, though Cerberus executives consider themselves long-term investors. I bet Caritas would eventually be sold to a bigger hospital company but a public stock exit is possible. The long-term ownership implications for Caritas are up in the air.

What happens if the Caritas investment doesn’t work out? No one will give you a straight answer on this question. But I think Caritas would be broken into pieces if the Cerberus acquisition turns out to be a mistake. A few hospitals would attract interested bidders; others would not. A breakup would probably raise the most money.

2. Will private equity firm Cerberus do for Caritas Christi Health Care what it did for Chrysler?

Sat, 03/27/2010 lambert's blog

http://www.correntewire.com/will_private_equity_firm_cerberus_do_caritas_christi_health_care_what_it_did_chrysler

That is, turn the company into a smoking crater, and jetting off with big salaries and bonuses for the insiders? I'm guessing yes.

Anonymous said...

Have the skids for the AG's approval already been greased?

Caritas chief donated to Coakley
Boston Globe
March 26, 2010

http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2010/03/27/caritas_chief_donated_to_coakley/

Excerpt:
Ralph de la Torre, other executives of Caritas Christi Health Care, and their relatives gave at least $34,300 to Coakley during her US Senate campaign last year. That is about double the amount contributed to her by people affiliated with other major health care companies, according to donation records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

De la Torre himself gave the maximum of two $2,400 contributions, as did his wife, Wing.

The $34,300 total probably understates the amount de la Torre and others connected to Caritas raised or donated to Coakley. For example, that sum doesn’t include donations from members of Caritas’s various hospital boards who used their employer names or another affiliation to identify themselves in campaign records, nor does it include those who attended the fund-raiser at de la Torre’s house who had no affiliation with Caritas.