June 26, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has criticized nonprofit hospitals that have an “upfront-collection policy” or demand cash payments from people with inadequate or no insurance before treating them. At a Congressional hearing on ways to fix the country’s health-care system, the Iowa senator cited a news report about a leukemia patient who had trouble getting care at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, because her insurance did not cover all of her treatment.
“The troubling thing about her story is that these were actions taken by a hospital that is funded through taxpayer dollars and charitable gifts,” Mr. Grassley said.
The senator said that nonprofit hospitals receive $40-billion in benefits through their exemptions from income, sales, and property taxes; tax-deductible contributions; and tax-exempt bonds.
“The current environment is no different than where we were over 100 years ago,” Mr. Grassley said. “Back then, people with money had private physicians who made home visits. The poor received treatment at alms houses supported by philanthropy. The only difference now is that many of those former ‘alms houses’ have become rich institutions that believe they no longer need to serve the poor to reap all the benefits of their tax-exempt status.”
M.D. Anderson said that it started the upfront-collection system in 2005 after its unpaid patient bills jumped by $18-million, to $52-million, threatening its mission to cure cancer.
