The South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations Is Not On Your Side

Again I could not keep myself from calling in to Paul Guggenheimer's wonderful Dakota Midday program on SDPB.

The program is here:

Dakota Midday
Air Date: 12/22/2009
With health care overhaul legislation on the verge of being enacted, Paul Guggenheimer talks with Dave Hewitt, President and CEO of the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations, to see what he thinks about the changes that are coming.

Hewitt's organization represents hospitals and medical equipment companies. It was clear that from Hewitt's comments that his organization works for the providers, NOT people. For example, the issue with Medicare reimbursement was brought up again. Ezra Klein of the WaPo has pointed out that the issue is not that rural hospitals get paid more than urban hospitals with respect to costs, but these rural health care organizations want more than they get now.

It's worth a listen. If you want to skip to what I had to say (as a Federal employee), my call comes in at about 16:15.