Report: Cancer Center Chief funneled millions to Freedom Works : Talking Points Memo
Last edited Fri Dec 28, 2012, 01:43 PM - Edit history (1)
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/richard_stephenson_freedomworks.php?ref=fpbadditional information from: The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/freedomworks-tea-party-group-nearly-falls-apart-in-fight-between-old-and-new-guard/2012/12/25/dd095b68-4545-11e2-8061-253bccfc7532_story.html
Eric Lach-December 27, 2012, 11:03 AM3639
The Washington Posts story of former House Majority Leader Dick Armeys attempted coup of the tea party group FreedomWorks had the political press buzzing on Wednesday. But in the background, behind the dramatic account of a high-stakes D.C. power struggle, Amy Gardners story also supplied some answers to one of the abiding money mysteries of 2012 election.
In early November, several news outlets ran stories about a Knoxville, Tenn. man named William S. Rose III. Over six weeks that began in late September, using two newly formed companies with no other apparent purpose, Rose gave more than $12 million to FreedomWorks. The donations made Roses companies among the biggest corporate donors of the election cycle. In response to the press interest over his motivations, Rose released a six-page statement, denying that he or his companies were shadowy but insisting that the business of one of the companies, Specialty Group, was a family secret that would be kept secret as allowed by applicable law for at least another 50 years.
The Posts story this week reported that the money given by Roses companies actually came from Richard Stephenson, a reclusive Illinois millionaire and the founder and chairman of the board of the for-profit Cancer Treatment Centers of America. From the Post:
Rose, who could not be reached for comment, has said publicly he would not answer questions about the donations. But according to three current and former FreedomWorks employees with knowledge of the donations, the money originated with Stephenson and his family, who arranged for the contributions from the Tennessee firms to the super PAC. Brandon, Freedom Works executive vice told colleagues starting in August that Stephenson would be giving between $10 million and $12 million, these sources said. Brandon also met repeatedly with members of Stephensons family who were involved in arranging the donations, the sources said.
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Money made from Cancer Treatment Centers of America, ultimately goes to Freedomworks...something to think about..when watching all their ads.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Freedom Works, etc., is only about providing anything to the well-off, who can pay for it, and the rest can FOAD. Those who have no other chance for employment than this man's clinic, I hold harmless. Since they didn't create this immoral system of health care in this country.
But FreedomWorks is where the money being made off from those dying of cancer is going to be used. Obviously the man has made too much profit off of their suffering that he has money to buy off Dick Armey and keep this gang of villains working to destroy democracy.
patrice
(47,992 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)patrice
(47,992 posts)tartan2
(314 posts)A billion dollar industry within a trillion dollar health care industry!! Even if we had a cure they wouldn't dare release it after all what would happen to the "Cancer Industry"?
freshwest
(53,661 posts)I don't ascribe to all the various cures, alternative or otherwise, but I don't mock those who have it and respect their right to make their choices.
But I still say -- there should be NO profit in this. NONE. Life should not be equated with money. Period.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)just........jeeeeeeezus h christ.
Stuart G
(38,359 posts)So now we know where some of the profits go. Guess who ultimately pays for much of that cancer treatment for people over 65???
think about it..
....Medicare, helps fund organization which sends profits to Koch front group to destroy medicare...
SunSeeker
(51,368 posts)lark
(23,003 posts)He had a totally horrible experience, was end stage, spent a lot of money on immediate plane trip, motels, car rental etc. then got there and they dismissed him the same day they admitted him. Said the treatments he'd been getting were state of the art (NOT at all what they told him repeatedly over the phone), nothing more could be done, go home.
Now I hear this about them, well just F them to hell and back. I just hope they need help some day and get treated the same way dad was, with lies, half truths, and no caring at all.
azurnoir
(45,850 posts)be very selective of which patients you chose to treat, happens more than you might know too
thank you for sharing this and hoping for healing for you and your family
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)I don't watch a whole lot of teeveee. Sometimes when I visit friends we do hang out and watch smell-o-vision, though....and just the other night that's what I did.
Of course, there were the "Cancer Centers of America" ads. They were really sucking me in. I was responding to the seductive message---*here* you will get good care. *here* you will be treated as a human being and *here* we understand your fears in ways that no one else does...........
It really had me going: feelings of relief and safety. (No I don't have cancer. I just fear it. Like everyone else.)
I've always hated the lies of advertising, ever since I was a kid. This is just unconscionable. (oh yeah....repukes=corporatists=sociopaths=no conscience)
patrice
(47,992 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)patrice
(47,992 posts)a mortgage on our home & he wouldn't do that.
My second husband didn't try Cancer Co. He relied on Medicare and, though I've seen several cases up close and personal, he got some of the best care I have seen. So very very very much depends upon who INDIVIDUAL persons are and what their relationship is to what is happening.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)She was glad he had those extra years and then passed from other causes with good hospital care and treated with dignity, as was her sister for many years at home, with emergency care. It prevented the families from going into poverty. Yet Perry found money to give his pals and still resists any money to help the poor.
My disdain for Republicans comes not from the character of the individuals, although some are outright scoundrels. It comes from their entire philosophy of governance, like the Libertarian and Tea Parties, that those who find themselves in temporary or long-term need should FOAD.
This is a wasteful way of thinking, to grind a person down to nothing, to poverty and death, for the profit of others. It is not a philosophy of governance but a destruction of society as a whole to be reduced to feudalism. It's sick.
patrice
(47,992 posts)she had a decent house, which they never asked her to mortgage btw, she was practically indigent.
We figure KU, that's University of Kansas Medical Center/School, added about 2 years to her life.
My first husband had 3 months. My second husband got about 2 years (and died on our 8th wedding anniversary).
There have been others & my biggest critique has to do, once again, with the nature of machines and systemic mechanics, including, I'm sorry to say, some rather robot like people, probably stressed out to be honest, but at least in some cases, prompting one to ask what some people's motives for being in the medical field might be.
Chorophyll
(5,179 posts)something's weird about this. I had a feeling there were some Christian-fundy roots or something. Very interesting.
geardaddy
(24,924 posts)It just didn't feel right, when I saw those ads.
otohara
(24,135 posts)They promise way too much to desperate people. Cha Ching
Ugly.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)Pachamama
(16,874 posts)Wow....the image is disgusting.....
Stuart G
(38,359 posts)look down the page to "Contoversy"
Cancer Treatment Centers of America was the subject of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint in 1993. The FTC alleged that CTCA made false claims regarding the success rates of certain cancer treatments in their promotional materials. This claim was settled in March 1996, requiring CTCA to discontinue use of any unsubstantiated claims in their advertising.[8] CTCA is also required to have proven, scientific evidence for all statements regarding the safety, success rates, endorsements, and benefits of their cancer treatments. CTCA was also required to follow various steps in order to report compliance to the FTC per the settlement.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Then funnel the money into a group that says, "Fuck those people!"
When are people going to wake up and realize the Republicans are just plain EVIL?
I mean,...this is the kind of thing you would attribute to the fictitious Christian Devil.
bluedigger
(17,077 posts)Use profits from treating cancer victims to fund group which is for deregulation of industry, thereby allowing more carcinogens into the environment, which leads to more profits.
xxqqqzme
(14,887 posts)if it is Patricia Clarkson doing the voice over for the ads? It sure sounds like her. I have tried several times to find it but haven't been successful.
catbyte
(34,170 posts)with local doctors, not those scumsuckers.
judesedit
(4,437 posts)Stuart G
(38,359 posts)In my original post I identified this wrong. I am sorry. In addition to this apology,....
.... I have looked at "Cancer Centers of America"..in a couple of searches...Cancer Centers of America does not appear to exist ..
.every link to that title ...takes me to a story about " Cancer Treatment Centers of America"..so..I assume..there is no place with that name..........................Stuart G.
judesedit
(4,437 posts)april
(1,148 posts)libodem
(19,288 posts)Should be illegal. I think they invite patients with hopeless cases and rook them for exams, X-rays scans, and bloodwork, just to start. Evil. Someone had a piece here at DU citing very crooked practices and extremely aggressive bill collection. They go after the surviving family for payments.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)as usual.
byeya
(2,842 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)Unethical and should be criminal.
glowing
(12,233 posts)Project? It has the scammy sounding music and country stars shilling for it. It comes off to me like another funneling organization making money off of Vets.
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)EC
(12,287 posts)made me believe they were some kind of scam to begin with and I decided long ago that if I got cancer I did not want them treating me. It's like the store front kidney dialysis places...they are there for the money.
0rganism
(23,855 posts)I don't know, but it sure as shit wouldn't surprise me. Fuckers like this enjoy making money on both sides of an illness, ethics be damned.
polly7
(20,582 posts)I believe I read something about them getting into hot water for misleading advertising quite a few years ago.
BigDemVoter
(4,149 posts)This just confirms the fact that they're a bogus organization, and they very probably have poorer outcomes than any run-of-the-mill regional medical center.
From the way they brag, one would think they're a second MD Anderson or Sloan Kettering. What bullshit.
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)Based on their commercials, they come across as the place the 1% go for cancer treatment.
blueclown
(1,869 posts)I wonder how many sick, sick patients they send from their 5 hospitals to a nearby hospital that has emergency services? I would guess quite a few. Why don't they have an emergency room in any of their hospitals? Because it's a money-loser.
They also do not take Medicaid and require an arm and a leg if your primary insurance is Medicare.
libodem
(19,288 posts)911 and ship the patients when they turn critical. Then they don't have to count that death in their outcomes. Skews the data.
blueclown
(1,869 posts)Also, emergency care has several statutory requirements that can make it extremely expensive. By not having an emergency room, they can avoid incurring those costs, which are unavoidable by other hospitals.