AHA Leader Blows Up and Sends 'Nasty, Vile, Vicious' Email to Advocacy Group

AHA Leader Blows Up and Sends 'Nasty, Vile, Vicious' Email to Advocacy Group

Embattled Trade Association's Senior VP Writes Angry Email to Consejo's Executive Director After 60 Minutes Expose

LOS ANGELES, March 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Rick Wade, Senior Vice President of Communications of the embattled American Hospital Association (AHA), dispatched an angry email to K.B. Forbes, Executive Director of the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national advocacy group that educates and assists the uninsured, on the heels of an expose on the highly rated 60 Minutes news magazine on Sunday that showed how hospitals charge uninsured people four or five times more than what they would accept as payment in full from an insurance company for the exact same care.

Controversy erupted after an AHA leader twice denied on 60 Minutes that hospitals overcharge uninsured patients saying that everybody is charged the same. The AHA leader also called the abuse accusations by a powerful U.S. Senator "nothing of the sort" on the program. Forbes and the work of the Consejo were also featured in the segment.

In his email to Forbes, Wade wrote: "My, my Gordito [Spanish for Fatso]... we're embattled? You've got to be kidding ... urgent ... no such thing ...controversy has swelled? Between your ears, perhaps ... and you repeat again the fallacy that we denied anything ... we never have denied the problem ... And you deny taking insurance company money? You're on the record taking Rooney's money and since you won't reveal your other sources of money, one can only assume you need to hide it. So much for transparency. And don't trot out that old line about protecting them from retaliation."

Forbes called Wade's email "nasty, vile, and vicious and an absolute disgrace for the members of the association. We have always known that the AHA leadership has had credibility issues with many of its members. The issue of hospital price gouging of the uninsured continues because AHA leaders have fumbled, failed, and flunked."

Forbes' email response to Wade was simple: "Anger is the enemy of logic. Have a happy day."

The Consejo de Latinos Unidos receives no money from insurance companies, labor unions, or political parties and the single largest donation to the Consejo to date came out of Illinois from a hospital-related entity. The Consejo, however, does receive intellectual help from hospital executives, insurance operators, and other health care experts.

The Consejo has received many threats and racist hate letters and shields its donors from possible criminal or violent acts. The right to shield and protect the identities of an organization's donors was instituted originally by the courts during the Civil Rights movement when NAACP's donors faced the possibility of legal harassment during the trial of a racist Sheriff.

Source: Consejo de Latinos Unidos

CONTACT: Audrey Mullen, +1-703-548-1160, for Consejo de Latinos Unidos

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