WASHINGTON, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- In a provocative story in today's editions of The Hill, a widely read and influential newspaper read in the halls of the U.S. Capitol, the American Hospital Association's bitterness towards a leading advocacy group for the uninsured led the beleaguered hospital association to "lie and deceive once again," according to the Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a national non-profit organization that educates and assists the uninsured.

Jeffrey Young of The Hill writes, "The acrimony between a hospital- industry lobbying group and a gadfly who has been pressuring hospitals over their treatment of the uninsured degenerated into name-calling Tuesday. The American Hospital Association (AHA) and K.B. Forbes, who ... heads the Consejo de Latinos Unidos ... have been butting heads for several years. But in the aftermath of a critical report on hospitals that ran on CBS News's '60 Minutes' on Sunday, [Rick] Wade, the AHA's vice president for communications fired off an e-mail to Forbes calling him 'Gordito' (Spanish for 'fatso') and accusing him of carrying water for the insurance industry."

The hospital association attempted to save face telling The Hill: "AHA spokeswoman Alicia Mitchell described Wade's e-mail as 'part of their back- and-forth.' Wade and Forbes have a 'unique relationship' and 'talk all the time,' she said."

Forbes called Mitchell's comments "blatant falsehoods" stating, "Before Monday, the last time I received an email or any form of communication from Rick Wade was on August 2, 2005. How shameful that the AHA has to lie and deceive once again and fabricate a 'unique' excuse for Wade's nasty, vile and vicious email."

Controversy first 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.

The entire article in The Hill can be viewed at: www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/030906/hospital.html