Check this out. More interesting than the 6.7 million paid to the head of Kaiser (this name always cracks me up as HMO’s were invented in pre-fascist Germany!) are the salaries on the 9th and 10th pages of this report. Charge nurses are making in excess of $275,000. Where did these “not for profit” hospitals get this money? We have gone over this before. Not sure what wine to recommend when reading this. Maybe it should be a scotch. Oh well. Think they have overdone the cost-shifting thing a bit? Think their price for a hernia repair would have to be higher than that at my facility? Think their administrator has a closet full of suits nicer than anything I have? Think that the Kaiser administrator flies coach to his “meetings?” Think the administrator of Kaiser is a libertarian and will vote for Ron Paul? Sorry, I’ve made you sick, haven’t I?
G. Keith Smith, M.D.
