The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Costs" ...
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Playing with Fire
“Playing with Fire” focuses on a public board well out of the public eye, but one that could cost New Orleans taxpayers millions of dollars every year. After a month of digging through thousands of pages of records at the New Orleans Firefighters Pension Fund, WVUE-TV and Lee Zurik revealed questionable salaries, spending, and management.
Tags: broadcast; taxes; taxpayers; firefighters; salaries
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C-HIT: Pharma Perks
The Affordable Care Act requires pharmaceutical companies to publicly report all payments to physicians by September 2013. Some drug companies have already compiled, but few consumers know that the information is available or how to access it. What this story did is disclose for the first time for CT consumers: 1) how many doctors in Connecticut are high-prescribers of certain psychotropic and pain medications, (108) 2) the cost of written prescriptions (hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases) 3) how many of these doctors received payments from drug companies (at least 43) 4) and the amounts that the doctors received from the drug companies ($30,000 - $99,000) It also reported that only 3 doctors on the high-prescribing drug list have been disciplined by the state Medical Examining Board.
Tags: Affordable Care Act; pharmacy; physicians; prescriptions; drugs; Medical Examining Board
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Methadone, a Costly Fix
A News Tribune investigation found that methadone treatment in Minnesota is widely abused, has led to overdoses and deaths, sees few complete the treatment, has dealers selling the drug on the streets, and costs taxpayers millions each year.
Tags: Methadone; methadone overdoses; methadone treatmentl; drugs; drug dealers; taxpayers
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The Price of Protection
The first in-depth report about a troubled and secretive civil-commitment program for dangerous sex offenders in Washington state. It revealed waste of taxpayer money, unconstrained legal costs, profiteering by expert witnesses, and chronic problems with staff at the high-security facility for the offenders.
Tags: Sex offenders; taxes; taxpayers; facility staff
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Grandma can’t accept your call: Inmates disconnected by phone costs
This series of stories started with a simple question. Why does it cost so much for inmates to make calls from the Cook County Jail? In the course of my reporting on criminal and legal affairs for WBEZ, the public radio station in Chicago, I had heard numerous people complain about the high cost of phone calls. Some digging confirmed that the price could be as high as $15.00 for 15 minute calls. Three or four calls a week at that price gets expensive even for financially stable middle class folks, but the people paying these fees were mostly the poorest residents in Chicago. That’s because most of the people in the Cook County Jail are there because they and their families couldn’t afford to post bond of a couple thousand, or sometimes even just hundreds of dollars to secure their freedom while awaiting trial. They are the people who are least able to afford such expensive phone calls. A few FOIA requests revealed the scheme (and scheme is the right word… I just looked it up: a crafty or secret plan of action). Cook County gave an exclusive phone contract to a company called Securus Technologies. Securus charged inflated phone rates and their exclusive deal in the jail meant inmates wanting to talk to their families or arrange their defense had no choice but to pay the rates. Securus then paid back to the county 57½ percent of the revenue from the calls. It netted the county about $4 million a year. Securus wouldn’t tell us their take but I imagine they did alright too. All of the money was coming out of the pockets of the poorest residents in Cook County, people who couldn’t even afford to post bond for their freedom. (As an aside, this isn’t just an issue in Cook County. According to its website Securus provides the phone systems for 850,000 inmates in 2,200 jails and prisons across the country.) Our reporting shed public light on a hugely profitable contract that no one was paying attention to. We documented the lives of the impoverished people getting hammered by the policy and then turned the hammer on the local elected officials to ask them to explain how this was a good policy. The public officials responded in a way that once again proved the genius of democracy. Our efforts and the results are detailed in subsequent answers below.
Tags: prison inmates; phone calls; fees
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Playing with Fire
“Playing with Fire” focuses on a public board well out of the public eye, but one that could cost New Orleans taxpayers millions of dollars every year. After a month of digging through thousands of pages of records at the New Orleans Firefighters Pension Fund, WVUE-TV and Lee Zurik revealed questionable salaries, spending, and management. Among the notable discoveries: a $70,000 raise and $90,000 lump sum payout for the board Secretary-Treasurer/CEO; tens of thousands of dollars in questionable credit card charges by the board; and tens of millions of dollars in questionable investments. This last element is perhaps the most egregious for the citizens of New Orleans who are left to foot the bill for any pension fund shortfalls. This multi part series launched an investigation by the city’s inspector general, forced the board to change polices and led to charges filed by the state ethics board against two of the principals in our series.
Tags: New Orleans; taxes; taxpayers; credit cards
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Prognosis: Profits
In their quest for growth and profits, large nonprofit hospitals in North Carolina have pushed up healthcare costs, paid executives millions and left thousands with bills they struggle to pay. In a joint investigation, the Charlotte Observer and the News & Observer of Raleigh found that urban hospitals in North Carolina have generated some of the nation’s largest profit margins and have amassed billions of dollars in reserves. Hospitals in the Charlotte area have sued thousands of needy patients they could afford to help, frequently putting liens on their homes and damaging their credit. Raleigh-Durham hospitals, meanwhile, have sent collection agencies after thousands of patients, ruining the credit ratings of many in the process.
Tags: Healthcare; nonprofit hospitals; patients
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Cracking the Codes
The story documents how thousands of medical professionals have steadily billed Medicare for more complex and costly health acre over the psat decade -- adding $11 billion or more to their fees -- despite little evidence elderly patients required more treatment.
Tags: elderly; medicine; healthcare
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Code Green: Bleeding Dollars
Code Green: Bleeding Dollars is a yearlong investigation by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review into the major underlying causes behind skyrocketing health care costs in the United States.
Tags: code green; health care costs; hospitals
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Earmarks To Nowhere
Just when you thought you had read every outrageous story about congressional pork, last year USA TODAY revealed $13 billion in "orphan earmarks"- highway spending directed to pet projects but never spent. For states, this uncooked pork came at a tremendous cost: almost $7.5 billion of the earmarked money was taken directly out of the state's direct highway funding- meaning states literally lost billions they could have spent to improve or build bridges and highways.
Tags: pork barreling; earmarks; highway; money; orphan earmarks