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Chicago Sun-Times: Hospitals fall short on charity: study BY LORI RACKL Health Reporter Chicago area not-for-profit hospitals get three times as much money in tax breaks compared with what they dole out in free health care to poor and uninsured people, an analysis to be unveiled today shows. As a nationwide debate rages over whether nonprofit hospitals do enough to justify their tax-exempt status, the study by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability quantifies for the first time what most Cook County hospitals would pay if they were on the tax rolls. Their finding -- an estimated $326 million in tax breaks -- is too out of whack with the $105 million in free or deeply discounted "charity care" provided by the 21 hospital networks studied, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said. It's a huge discrepancy," said Madigan, who wants to force most Illinois hospitals to fork over more free care to low-income, uninsured patients if they want to stay tax-exempt. Her proposed legislation stalled this year in Springfield. But she plans to resume her push next year, using the new report as ammunition. |
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