NONPROFIT HOSPITALS IN ILLINOIS

Bill Brady, a Republican candidate for Governor of Illinois, said on Monday that he opposes a bill that would require many nonprofit hospitals to step up the amount of free care they provide, calling it a “backdoor tax increase on business,” reports the Associated Press. Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, has suggested that tax-exempt hospitals be required to spend 8 percent of their annual operating costs on free or discounted health care for the poor or uninsured. The Illinois Hospital Association has said that the state’s approximately 200 hospitals, most of which are nonprofit institutions, cannot afford to meet that requirement. Under the state’s current law, hospitals are expected to provide charity care, but no specific spending amount is required.