So-Called "Charitable" Hospitals Often Ain't

[Joanne98]

If President Obama wants to squeeze billions of dollars from (healthcare) spending, as Associated Press reports(July 1), he could begin by administering a dose of fiscal reality to for-profit hospitals masquerading as charitable institutions.




Such hospitals are getting tax exemptions because they are providing charitable care---free care or deeply discounted care---for those who cant pay, writes law school dean Lawrence Velvel. The problem, though, is that theyre not providing very much charitable care.



Velvel points to Chicagos Northwestern Memorial Hospital as a case in point. It is exempt from about $50-million in property and sales taxes and exempt from taxes on the gains of its cash and investments of $1.82-billion. But the percentage of charitable care Northwestern provides is less than two percent of its revenues, writes Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover. Indeed, the $21 million Northwestern spends on charitable care is, according to the Wall Street Journal, but a fraction of what it received in tax breaks.



Another example: BJC Healthcare, a 14-hospital, St. Louis-based enterprise, claimed $1.8 billion in community benefits to various towns in 2004, Velvel writes, but over one-half of that, or $937 million, was compensation paid its employees, including $1.8 million to its CEO, while only $35 million was charitable care. Velvel said BJC is contending that as the jobs it produces have a beneficial impact on its communities it is proper to call the salaries a community benefit.



The Journal reports BJC wont count its payroll as a community benefit in the future because of new IRS standards that wont require the hospitals to provide any minimum amount of charity care. Of this development, Velvel asks, Whats that all about? These are at least supposed to be charity hospitals after all. Can these hospitals nonetheless provide no charity care since there will be no minimum amount required?



The huge tax breaks received by wealthy, supposedly charitable hospitals are raising eyebrows in Congress and elsewhere because of the dearth of true charitable care, Velvel continues, in an essay published in his new book America 2008 from Doukathsan Press.



The vast sums these institutions take in are going elsewhere than to such care. As is typical of tax free nonprofits of many types, they put their money into fabulous buildingsand, as always, large salaries for administrators, Velvel points out. At Northwestern Memorial, the Chief Executive Officer recently received a $16.4 million payout one would not ordinarily associate with a charitable institution.

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/So-Called-Charitable-Hos-by-Sherwood-Ross-090707-168.html

[Eric J in MN]

1. Paying the CEO millions is a "community benefit"!

(sarcasm)

[Warpy]

2. Non profit, community hospitals

and county hospitals both need to get paid as much as they can whenever they can. No, they're not charitable. They will put liens on businesses or property and garnish wages. Never, ever expect treatment to be free unless you expect to leave the state quickly and use an assumed name for part of the process. Trust me, they will track you down eventually and you will have a fraud charge to face as well as their bill. People who move frequently are harder to track down and hospitals often lose interest after a few years (and that's where the charitable care comes in) but trying to return to that hospital under the same name will put you into a world of hurt.

CEOs are generally in the six figures. However, it takes a for profit, private hospital that accepts few of the deserving poor to put him into the seven figure category.

The inclusion of labor costs into their "charitable care" budget is a real eye opener. They need to cut that shit out right now.

[quidam56]

3. politician$ & profit machine$

As a former health care giver, I am shocked to see what is called quality health care now in Tennessee and Virginia. http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=62 Clearly profit care is more important than patient care.

[ProgrezivIndie]

4. just a side note (or two)

1. people who have lost their job/health ins. coverage/etc. and can NOT afford to PAY for needed medical care... should research MEDICAL (including dental and mental health) facilities near them, which are REQUIRED to render care (because they are gov't subsidized)... regardless of the person's ability to pay. One can locate such facilities by going to http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/ and simply doing a search using one's ZIP CODE (there's no need to enter any other info on the search form). note: I've compiled links to this information, and much more besides, on one of my personal web pages, at http://services-a2z.biz/karlsgoodies/help-4-needy.htm

2. I personally know someone (in my family) who spent nearly FOUR MONTHS in an "induced coma" (following an accident). At the time of the accident... he had NO health insurance, NO job, NO savings, and NO other assets. The hospital knew this... going in. He eventually recovered and is now sitting in front of a PILE of bills (the hospital bill alone is over $400,000.00 ... and that does not include LABs, Pharmacy, various attending physicians... which amount to many 10s of 1000s more)! He'll likely end up filing bankruptcy, just to silence the "bill collection agencies" who are beginning to hound him (he is now "disabled" and can not work...). I'll not mention the names of the hospitals (there were two of them) where he spent more than four months... but I will tell you they are in central Florida.

Bottom-line? The system we now have actually WORKS (at least some of the time)... if only it worked 100% of the time, for the sake of those "in need". And, that brings me back to item #1 ... please pass this information along to anyone who is in need of medical care, but can NOT afford to pay for it? Thanks!

[liberalhistorian]

5. They may be "required" to provide care, but that doesn't at all

mean that they won't charge you up the wazoo (they charge the uninsured more since they negotiate steep group discounts with insurance companies) and then hound you ceaselessly and take every asset you have, putting liens on any property, garnishing wages, etc., etc. They will not hesitate to ruin you financially and ruin your credit for ages to come. They don't care how sick you are or how little you have.

As for your friend, if the only income he has is disability, he should tell those collectrolls to take a hike and/or get a job that doesn't involve hassling desperate, sick people for money they don't have to pay debts that they did not voluntarily incur. Legally, social security and disability income CANNOT be garnished or taken from accounts or taken in any other way for unsecured debt. The ONLY debts subject to garnishment or seizure are child support, student loans and taxes. Period.