foundya1.4m - saw your posts on a couple of articles. One question: What are you trying to say?

As for this article. I'd put on heels and interview people for $75 an hour.

The entire idea that you should pay someone to be a doner is wrong. The use of models to capture the audience is a deceptive practice. Should the "state" be required to legislate ethics because in this case the use of models to induce people to be a part of a this is unethical. The billing charges by the lab for the work should be investigated as abusive and someone should be charged with a crime against the individual, the insurance company and the people. Such a good cause allowed to become abused. Who in good conscience could do such things!

yeah nothing wrong with the health care system in america. Insurance providers really care about you and no one in the medical profession would ever take advantage of you

I don't want to be a donor, but I'd let one of those models swab my mouth.

Does anyone else see the point that this medical proceedure has such an amazing profit margin that after paying all the lab tech's and for all the supplies and equipment they can pay models $75 an hour and what ever else the modeling agencies are taking.

This is not charity this is Bunco, at the expense of seriously ill and good hearted.

Shame on you UMass!

Who in the Hell, when approached by a stranger in a Mall, would provide their DNA? What are they thinking?

This is Republican "health care" at its finest!

(1) It ensures that the people who actually can afford a "health care" policy in Massachusetts and New Hampshire continue to pay thousands of dollars per month, even though most of them are healthy and probably see a doctor only once every two years for a wellness exam . . .

(2) It creates "jobs" for attractive young women whose primary goal in life is to "look hot" . . .

(3) It probably provides "dating" opportunities for geeky doctors who due to just beginning their medical careers at present do not have quite enough income to be able to support attractive young women whose primary goal in life is to "look hot" . . .

(4) It creates full-employment for private and government attorneys and investigators, as well as a virtual festival of court workers, who represent and adjudicate "health insurance" companies, recently graduated geeky medical doctors, attractive young women whose primary goal in life is to "look hot", and men who actually can afford "health insurance" and enjoy being "entertained" by attractive young women whose primary goal in life is to "look hot", all of whom no doubt will be suing each other silly over the next few years . . .

(5) It provides a handsome income for yet another group of sneaky weasels who overall contribute nothing to society and focus entirely on enriching themselves at the expense of others while inflicting as much pain and suffering on their victims as possible as they work diligently to extract every penny from their victims' purses and wallets . . .

(6) And it might provide a real benefit for a few patients who need a bone marrow transplant . . .

What difference does it make that the same amount of money spent on this "model health care" program likely would be more than sufficient to provide basic health care for everyone in the great states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire who currently cannot afford a bottle of aspirin?

And for reference, while the last item in the list actually makes a bit of sense, I think that someone with a brain who additionally was not a sneaky weasel could have connected a few dots and contacted the fine folks at Hooters® Restaurant toward the goal of doing a bit of creative marketing and charity work, where for example there could be a "Donate Your DNA to a Hooters' Girl" day every so often, where happy DNA donors might get "supersized" for free, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous! :)

This is the wrong approach to get people to donate, and is absurd that the modeling agency was paid 40,000 a week, and the models paid $75 an hour, what the hell. This money could be used for research or to help those families already battling the cancer disease. If they want to wear blue wigs and harrase people then go work at a circus. there is nothing wrong with donating just not this crazy money scheming way

Unbelievable. I saw this blue haired person at a Bruins game and was very put off. I'm already registered as a Bone Marrow Donor, but it was so gimmicky if I wasn't one, I wouldn't want to be. What a waste of money. Why can't you just hire regular people to promote this - do you really need models? A better representative might be someone who actually supports this activity on a regular basis.

The local coverage in the Union Leader and WMUR has more details. This was a for-profit scam company that used the UMass name to lend itself credibility. They are NOT part of the health care system nor are they affiliated with any insurance company or hospital. They are a non-medical, unaccredited and unregulated business that charges insurance companies for a 'service' and pays a lab to do the test. They are like the boutiques that offer 3D ultrasounds to pregnant women in the mall. They don't offer medical care of any kind; they offer a para-medical service for grossly inflated prices to gullible consumers. In this case, the consumers were merely tools used to charge insurance companies. The current system of payment is hopelessly corrupt, obscure and broken. The answer is not to give control to the people who gave us the corrupt, obscure and massively inefficient IRS. It is to return to fee-for-service and have government regulated price controls within the free market system.

I am one of the potential donors in this scam. They took my and my husband's cheek swabs, billed our insurance $4300 each and billed us $330 out of pocket each. I called my insurance company Aetna, this morning to complain and Aetna told me that they viewed this as a legitimate claim. They have no interest in going after the registry for money back.

The kicker is, earlier this year my kids had a rabies expose and Aetna WOULD NOT cover the $2000 rabies vaccine series! But this- this is totally legitimate....

If I was the donor I don't think I would be paying anyone. I would be the one getting paid. Either in money or models.

Healthcare industry scams??? Tell me it ain't so!!!

A good 60% of all money spent on healthcare is a total waste or fraud.

Just when I think I have heard everything - the scammers in his article take the cake!

I was lured into their booth for a cheek swab while at the Head of the Charles. They never told me that my insurance company would be charged at all. They were charged over $1,000 which I'm sure will come back to get me in the end. Why would they charge ANYTHING for me to volunteer giving up DNA in order to be a donor and try to save a life? Total fraud.

TaoMokoda,  i think you're the only one offended by this so called "sexual innuendo" maybe it's time to take your mind out of the gutter, and get on the same page as everyone else.

If this was the model healthcare that is referred to in the HCRA I might have to change my stance on it.

If a blued-haired gal approaches me, no matter how pretty, I'd think she wasn't too serious about the cause she's representing.

I

www.nmdp.org

Anyone that is really serious about being a bone marrow donor, go to the link posted.

I'm a white male and just over 50, I signed up about 7 years ago through a blood drive at work. I was called to donate about three years ago, and again in October. You can sign up here http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_Now/join_now.html or contact your local blood bank or if you work for the DoD contact your local Military treatment facility.

You can donate up till the age of 60. there was no charge and no billing of insurance for the any of the registration samples.