The Massachusetts Nurses Association announced that it has collected what it says are "more than 100,000 signatures" for a ballot initiative that has to be read to be believed. As the Nurses Association summarizes it:
1. If in any fiscal year a facility that accepts funds from the Commonwealth, and whose patient mix is less than 60% government payer, reports to the Center for Health Information and Analysis an annual operating margin, including amortization and depreciation that exceeds 8%, that facility shall be subject to a civil penalty equal to the amount by which the annual operating margin exceeds 8%.
2. If a hospital that receives taxpayer money should compensate its CEO annually more than 100 times the annual compensation of the lowest paid full-time employee of that hospital, the hospital will be fined an amount equal to the amount that the CEO's compensation is over 100 times the compensation of the lowest paid full-time employee, and that fine will also be deposited into the Medicaid Reimbursement Enhancement Fund.
