by William Hughes
On Aug. 30, 2009, Delegate Karen Montgomery (D-Montgomery County), a vigorous advocate of a single-payer healthcare system, spoke at a picnic event in Wheaton, Maryland sponsored by the Progressive Democrats of Montgomery County. Mike Hersh, its chair, served as the moderator of the affair. Del. Montgomery said that a new law, HB 487, a.k.a. "The Stealth Bill," was recently enacted in Maryland. She said it will reveal to the citizens some shocking details about the hidden costs of the current healthcare scheme. For example, she charged that it will help to expose the excessive compensation packages, some as high as "nine and ten million a year," paid to the CEOs of some of the not-for-profit healthcare providers along with how some of these institutions purchase expensive yachts, belong to luxurious country clubs, and retain lobbyists to work to kill real healthcare reform in this state and in the country. Del. Montgomery underscored how these excessive, mostly hidden costs, not truly related to the dispensing of healthcare services, have been routinely passed on by healthcare providers and insurance companies to consumers.

"In about two months look on your computers. Look under the State Health Services Cost Review Commission--Healthcare Facilities. Look under part seven, and with each hospital that you know about you will learn what the CEO makes, what the top five earners make, how much they pay their lobbyists," she said.