It would certainly be a shame if Obamacare put an end to all of this. A story in the Indianapolis Star by Daniel Lee reports on the financial impact medical care has on patients in Indianapolis. About half of patients surveyed going to the major hospitals which are tax-exempt, “non-profits” have to go into debt to pay their bills.
The survey by the Citizen’s Action Coalition wasn’t scientific, which is a shame, since I suspect the issues it raises are valid, but renders it worthless to those who don’t think there is a problem worth addressing.
Federal and state laws require that nonprofit hospitals provide a community benefit in return for their tax-exempt status. Because of that status, hospitals save tens of millions of dollars each year by not having to pay local, state and federal taxes.
However, the law does not require any set amount of charity-care services. In Indiana, tax-exempt hospitals are required to file a community benefit report, but hospitals often define benefits they provide in different ways.
As a guy who has obtained thousands of judgments for medical providers against debtors, I’m part of the system. I don’t make any apologies for it; that’s the system we’re in, and I would be doing my clients a disservice if I didn’t take the system as I found it. But, I’d be blind if I suggested that the system was working well or treating people fairly.
I have some respect for those who suggest that the forthcoming solutions, anemic as they probably are, will be worse than the problem. That’s at least rational in that the effect of the solutions have yet to be seen. But those who suggest that the current system in the United States for financing healthcare is the best in the world are borderline delusional.
“But those who suggest that the current system in the United States for financing healthcare is the best in the world are borderline delusional.”
Isn’t that a straw man? I’ve hear lots of people insist that our healthcare system is the best, but I don’t recall hearing anyone insist that our financing system for healthcare is the best.
Oh, maybe. But I don’t think you can separate the healthcare system from its financing. So, about the best I can do to shore up the strawman is to suggest that the former necessarily includes the latter.
Fair? I find tax-exempt hospitals working the same as with tax-exempt churches. Thieves. Period.
They profit don’t they? Any business that profits should be taxed.
In your profession, you’re a debt collector. If I have an infection that is affecting my body organs, gawd forbid, I see you. (blood from a turnip).
Medicare-for-All. That’s all I’m going to say.