HMO Provides Health Care
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PITTSBURGH -- Mega-HMO of Pennsylvania pleaded guilty today to accidentally providing healthcare to one of its members.

The HMO, one of the largest in the known galaxy, admitted it had quickly approved treatment of an unidentified 58-year-old man who had suffered an unknown medical emergency that required undisclosed immediate treatment.

"We're sorry," said Mega-HMO President Arnold Ziffle. "It was an oversight. We realize a slip-up like this instills a false sense of hope in our clients."

As the Democrats and Republicans in Congress battled for right to see how much money they could stuff into the pockets of the HMO's, the event had a sobering effect on all but Ted Kennedy who, as it turns out, still has enough alcohol in his bloodstream to be legally drunk until the year 2036.

"Of course we're worried," said Senator Thurston Howell, "because this strays from the medical model that the American people have a right to accept from an HMO."

The concerns in Congress center around the fear that the health industry might slip back toward outdated economic models which include house calls, doctors knowing patients by their name, the ability for insurance companies to cover treatment by any doctor at any time and suckers for children (and adults) who were brave.

"Those times are gone," Howell said. "When I was a child, we got little toys on each visit, not just stickers on a roll that say, "I love my HMO."

Howell's committee had drawn up specific guidelines for HMO treatment and these include:

bulletSee lots of patients too quickly
bulletHand out samples from that little closet rather than actually prescribe more effective medication
bulletRefer to a specialist only when a portion of the patient's body has fallen off and is lying on the office floor
bulletReturn all after-hours calls on a monthly basis
bulletSee lots more patients more quickly by having them undress in waiting room
bulletInstall state of the art voice mail routing systems for the telephone which will transfer the caller no fewer than 34 times before speaking to a human
bulletPost large, menacing people from New Jersey next to the sign that says payment is due upon entry into the examining room

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