Hospital Expense

According to the newspaper, http://www.jsonline.com/news/wauk/may05/327423.asp, Aurora Hospital ("We're On Every Corner No Matter What the Cost") has now requested the videotape archives from the Waukesha County Courthouse from January 1, 2005 through April.

The buzz is that Aurora will be viewing the replays with an eye toward suing Waukesha County over the County Board's decision not to accomodate their foot-stomping, rattle-waving, hold-my-breath-until-I'm-blue-in-the-face request for re-zoning near Pabst Farms.

Some local broadcast pundits have chanted the "Free Enterprise" mantra about the decision, ranting on about how the benighted and parochial Waukesha County Board has protected the local team (ProHealthCare) in their decision. Those ranters (even the one which doesn't scream and chop up dissenters) seem to have bought into "Free Enterprise" at any cost, forgetting that there is such a thing as public policy--which happens to be the raison d'etre for elected bodies such as the County Board.

Perhaps the Free Enterprise Gang has looked at the line-item expenses of Aurora for lobbyists, legal representation, and advertising, and have determined that those expenses SHOULD be paid by patients (and taxpayers.) But that doesn't sound like "Free Enterprise" to me--nor to anyone else who has priced health-insurance plans in the last few years.

So somebody's going to settle back in front of the TV with popcorn, pencils, and legal pads to watch movies. Free enterprise, my....ahhhh.....foot.