Last November, Dr. Prem Reddy flew to Shasta County in Northern California carrying the same bag of promises to save the nearly bankrupt Shasta Regional Medical Center as he presented two weeks ago to the people of San Leandro. In this interview, Reddy says all hospitals are different, “There is no one cookie-cutter plan we can implement,” he told KRCR TV, “Health care is local. You need to understand the local community.”
Reddy, who runs a burgeoning billion dollar health care empire in the state, says “making money is not our first priority, or, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing this job. It’s a long commitment to the health care needs of the community.”
The local broadcaster in Redding hemmed Reddy on the question of the company’s unwillingness to work with managed care providers (Video of the response starts at the 9:15 mark). The reply appears to be a clever populist move to shift responsibility from providers like Prime Healthcare to Wall Street fat cats with a little garnish of pro-business Republican ethos.
“We believe managed care is not reimbursing the hospitals and providers in general–hospitals and doctors–the rates that meet the costs of health care. The costs are going up and managed care is making a lot of profits. They are increasing the premiums, but they are making profits for Wall Street, themselves and hiking the premiums to the public…Where is that premium going? It’s not going to the hospitals and doctors, it’s going in the pockets of executives of the health plans, the middle bureaucracy, which is an enormous amount of bureaucracy and wasting the premium dollars rather than in patient care. The patient is really not benefiting from the premium dollars they are paying. I want managed care to pay the providers their fair share.”
Reddy also said Prime Healthcare does not have contracts with Medicare, but will still treat those with the benefit including those who are uninsured, but at what cost, he does not say.
ebcitizen.com 
This is yet another attempt to take things out of context for reasons which can only be personal. Still beating a dead horse with this argument regarding insurance companies. The real issue here is NOT Dr. Reddy and Prime Healthcare. This issue here is the BIG BAD BLUE WOLF has had its cage rattled publicly and they are mad as hell. It seems this issue will never die and the only way the Blues can cope is by pointing the finger at the guy who told them their negotiated rates were lousy and unacceptable. Now what? Oh yeah, I know! Let's start throwing mud at THAT guy because he had the courage, right and the wherewithal to tell Goliath that David demanded restitution! I am sick to death of receiving rising insurance premiums with diminishing coverage. I wonder who is behind all this. Could it be the providers? No, they are in the steely vice-grips of the insurance companies who only answer to the profit margins which are dictated by Wall Street. Wait! It must be the hospitals and their management companies, right? Wrong. They are at the mercy of providing care for the public, regardless of coverage (it's the law, people, no negotiating). So who is left? Right you are! Insurance Companies who base their entire existence on what the bean counters tell them as to who is a high risk for them to PAY out for and who isn't. But, hey, that's honest right? Blame the guys who actually give the service and operate establishments that actually treat the sick and coincidentally need to pay for their electric and water bills! Don't blame the people who can arbitrarily stop your healthcare coverage by virtue of your statistical profile! Why fight it, people? Do like the rest. Lie down and accept a perpetually losing offer from insurance companies like the Blues.
Let's move on to the real issue at hand here that has been spun by the folks up here in Alameda County. It's not insurance. It's not Dr. Reddy. It's not Prime Healthcare. It's competition. Close the ED at San Leandro Hospital and convert the 24/7 ER to an urgent care that is only open 12 hours a day. Turn the place into a rehab facility. Great plan! Especially when you are building a full service hospital up the street! Wait, let's give the county (I mean pay them off) a check for 6.5 million dollars and walk away in exchange for living up to basically closing the hospital as it is today. The community demands that something must be done about this blatant corruption. Does anyone see the peculiarity in Rajendra Ratnesar abstaining or better still, EVEN BEING PRESENT for any of these council meetings? Talk about conflict of interest on EVERY level! If you think he is being a stand-up guy for abstaining, YOU’RE WRONG! His Sutter-employed butt doesn’t belong in the same galaxy where the council is convening to decide on anything related to Sutter! So, are we clear here?
Pseudo-journalists like the ones who represent themselves with these blogs have only one agenda: to make news out of nothing at all. The people who suffer the most in this festival of lambasting are the ones who live, breath and sleep in this community. They are the ones who will be hurting when they lose their hospital. I am sure diverting to Highland is a great choice for some, but not if you are a stone’s throw from SLH! Over 11,000 patients were seen last year in SLH’s ED. Do you think that kind of volume can be handled at Highland or elsewhere efficiently? Would you like to wait hours to be seen when you are hurting or your kids are? Not me.
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