This weekend we celebrate our nation's birthday and its proud heritage of freedom and justice. It seems that the most important freedom left in America is the freedom to push the limits of laws, especially those designed to protect the interests of investors and taxpayers. In the last couple of decades, and especially the last five years, corporations and other powerful interest groups have re-written countless laws and influenced several government agencies to ignore or change the application of regulations. Now the healthcare industry provides the best example of freedom: a corporation can break the law, defraud taxpayers and investors, and still stay in business. And best of all if you run such a corporation you can now use the same excuse that has failed schoolboys the world over -- "It wasn't me, sir!". Not a strategy I'd recommend, but it seems to work if your name is Scrushy. Perhaps Thomas Jefferson needs to revisit those lines about "all men being created equal."
Note: FierceHealthcare will not publish Monday, July 4, because of the Independence Day holiday here in the US. We'll return Tuesday, July 5. Have a great holiday weekend! - Matthew