You can hear the squeals all the way from
Raleigh. The free lunchers are throwing
tantrums throughout the state. So-called
“non-profit” organizations are screaming about reductions in state tax refunds,
and the possibility of actually having to collect taxes for services
rendered. One of the biggest non-profits in the state are
hospitals.
Carolinas HealthCare System CEO
Michael Tarwater warned Tuesday that state legislative proposals to tax
hospitals and decrease reimbursement could “disrupt the delicate balance that
exists between mission and margin.”
“It’s still pretty gloomy,” Tarwater
told board members at their quarterly meeting.
Tarwater, who leads the region’s
largest hospital system with $7 billion in revenues and about 40 hospitals
across the Carolinas, said he and his staff are monitoring state and federal
legislative proposals. Some of them “would have a very negative impact on what
we are able to do for our patients,” he said.
For example, under a bill
co-sponsored by N.C. State Sen. Bob Rucho (R-Matthews), nonprofit hospitals
would be required to pay sales taxes.
State and local governments now pay
more than $400 million in annual sales tax refunds to nonprofits, and most of
the money goes to hospitals. Under Rucho’s bill, sales tax refunds would be
capped at $100,000 per year starting in 2016.
We all know what N.C. hospitals’
mission is, and that is to procure outrageous profits. Everyone complains about Big Oil. Hell, they’re pikers compared to Big Hospital. Their profit margins double that of the integrated
oil and gas industry.I have a mission for anyone who’d like to take a challenge. Get a quote from a hospital on the cost of stitching a finger. Now that’s a mission!
And let’s disabuse ourselves that
these "non-profit" hospitals are concerned about the general welfare of our
citizens. They are just as concerned
about profit as any other business, and will use any means to help their bottom
line.
For years, the state hospital
industry had been accustomed to getting its way in Raleigh. With a squad of
lobbyists and generous donations to elected officials, it has long been one of
the most powerful interest groups in state politics.
Now it’s facing an array of
financial threats, including the rejection of expanded Medicaid funding by the
state legislature.
Leaders in both North Carolina and
South Carolina chose not to accept Medicaid expansion, which was intended to
provide health insurance to more low-income people as part of the Affordable
Care Act.
By rejecting the money, North
Carolina will deprive state hospitals of $440 million a year, the hospital
association estimated.
Tarwater added that cutbacks to
hospitals will make it harder for Carolinas HealthCare to give free care to
needy patients and to provide other “community benefits.”
The nonprofit system said it
provided $284 million in financial assistance and discounts to uninsured
patients last year.
And I'm sure they made it up it by overcharging the insured and those who paid cash. But even after the state rejected “free money” from the federal government, Carolinas HealthCare’s financials aren’t hurting. Hell, they’re expanding:
In other business at Tuesday’s
quarterly board meeting, Carolinas HealthCare reported first-quarter profits of
$160 million, a decrease from $229 million during the same period in 2012. Most
of the profit resulted from investment income of $130 million, which was down
from $169 million in last year’s first quarter.
The system also reported operating
income of $18 million from net operating revenue of $1.9 billion, compared to
the first quarter of 2012 when it had $37 million in operating income from $1.6
billion net operating revenue.
Chief Operating Officer Joe Piemont
blamed the decrease on “impacts of changes in funding,” such as Medicaid cuts
and the loss of county reimbursement for indigent care. “And our costs are not
going down.”
Still, Piemont called it “a solid
quarter.”
Capital expenditures for the system
totaled $185 million in the first quarter. That included the start of
construction on a behavioral health center in Davidson and a new rehabilitation
center at Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast in Concord.
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