Posted on 01/28/2005 8:42:44 PM PST by crushelits
TUPELO, Miss. -- When Tim Gardner was born at the hospital here 53 years ago, it was just "one little building on the hill" in a town best known as Elvis Presley's birthplace.
From those humble beginnings, North Mississippi Medical Center has grown into the largest non-metropolitan hospital in the country, a booming enterprise with a complex of glass and marble buildings and 40 satellite clinics stretching into Alabama and Tennessee. The company, incorporated in Delaware, has nearly $300 million in the bank and "exceptional profitability," according to one Wall Street rating agency.
And it pays no taxes. As one of 4,800 nonprofit U.S. hospitals, North Mississippi Medical Center is exempt from federal, state and local taxes in return for providing care to "charity patients."
But when Gardner, who is uninsured and suffers from heart trouble, asked for more time to pay off a $4,500 bill, the response came in the form of a summons. The hospital sued him for the balance plus $1,100 in legal fees.
Now Gardner and hundreds like him are at the center of a nationwide battle over whether nonprofit hospitals -- often flush with cash, opulent buildings and high-paid executives -- are fulfilling their mission as charitable institutions. Since last spring, a phalanx of trial lawyers who made millions suing asbestos makers and tobacco companies have been targeting tax-exempt hospitals, accusing them of gouging the poor.
"I was paying the best I could," said Gardner, who on his $18,000-a-year cook's salary had managed to pay $1,000. "I'm not trying to run. At the end of that week I was going to pay them some more."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"I was paying the best I could," said Gardner, who on his $18,000-a-year cook's salary had managed to pay $1,000. "I'm not trying to run. At the end of that week I was going to pay them some more."
I am familiar with this scenario. In a 30 day window of "no coverage", I figured I was safe. I was healthy, 28 years old...... no problems. I had just quit one job, and started another. Insurance is for things you don't expect..... an auto accident, a housefire, an emergency appendectomy......
There is some merit to this claim. Hospitals charge one rate for people with health insurance, and charge a higher rate for those who don't have insurance.
I'm familiar with the scenario too. I was the Patient Accounts Manager in a supposedly not-for-profit hospital and it made me sick.
We sued a guy who worked as a dishwasher at the local truck stop and had three kids but when one of the city "elite" would call in and opine that their bill was too high we wrote it off.
As to Charity, that was a joke. Basically, we didn't do up-front charity. Just before people were going to go to collections we LET (not suggested) people fill out charity applications. If they met the poverty guidelines we would write it off to charity. Of course, you might be surprised how many of the "Elite's" college-aged kids fell into that category.
It ended up OK, as I was leaving I turned them in for Medicare fraud and they had to make a settlement.
Unbelieveable.
IMO The term 'Non Profit' is a scam, yet another way of obtaining favorable tax treatment (AKA transferring costs to taxpayers) as a means of reducing costs and rewarding the insiders.
Vote for Hiliary 2008. She'll put an end to all of this health care stuff. Totally.
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