Obamacare punishes charity hospitals

[Clementine]

Even though Obama and his merry band of liars claimed that the whole reason behind Obamacare was to take care of the uninsured, there will be about the same number of uninsured people now that they illegally passed this shell bill. .

The house did not pass this revenue raising bill, which is required by the constitution. I hope the Republicans defund this piece of shit before it goes any further. The only changes will be higher costs all the way around and government bureaucrats in our most personal business.

It's bad by design. The first goal was to give government more control over us and to confiscate more wealth. The end game here is single payer and Reid admitted as much.

Some hospitals treat the uninsured and do not charge them. Well, under Obamacare, they will face big fines if they try to help people. WTF? I guess the Obama administration has decided that if they don't provide healthcare for someone, then no one can. They'd rather people go without than to go to a hospital that provides free healthcare for the needy. If, and that is a big if, Obama cared about helping the needy, wouldn't he praise these hospitals for doing this instead of punishing them?

I hate Obamacare and the people who shoved it through in an unconstitutional manner. They simply want control over our lives and they knew the best way to go about it. They convinced the fucking losers who sit with their hands out that another big freebie was coming their way. Once everyone finds out that nothing is free and that health care will cost more than we can afford and we are giving up a lot of freedom and handing over a lot more money to government, they will regret their blind support.

The government will have access to our bank accounts. Welcome to the new Banana Republic.

Congress is exempt from this bullshit and the IRS soon will be. The rest of us are seen by the administration as a bunch of mindless sheep and they could care less what hardships we endure because of their stupid quest for power. Fuck 'em all. By the time even the flunkies realize we've been screwed, it will be too late. The only ones for this are those who are exempt and gaining more power from this and those who are complete idiots who believe that the world owes them something for nothing.

Obamacare Will Drop the Hammer on Charitable Hospitals That Treat the Uninsured | Independent Journal Review

 

[Grandma]

Would you be so kind as to quote the provisions of the actual ACA that creates fines for charity hospitals? Also, could you show us where in the ACA it says that the government will have access to our bank accounts?

 

[Plasmaball]

Your evidence is a blog..okie dokie....blogs are not credible sources...

 

[Annie]

Actually all that was sited was bomb.

Not that it matters with those so closed minded and partisan, to know when the hen is cooked.

Obamacare installs new fines for charitable hospitals | The Daily Caller

More substantiaton of that they wish to deny.

 

[Agit8r]

The house did not pass this revenue raising bill

that is incorrect:

Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Geaux4it]

And the Catholic Church

I stand with the Bishops

We will not comply

-Geaux

 

[Geaux4it]

Your evidence is a blog..okie dokie....blogs are not credible sources...

And neither is Obama, so your point?

-Geaux

 

[PredFan]

The hospital that I work at is suffering drastic losses since obamacare took as much as 40% away from the reimbursement it gave hospitals for taking care of the uninsured. This hospital is not a charitable hospital, it is a not-for-profit. We do the bulk of the uninsured and medicare/medicaid in this area. The multi-mega-hospital corporations that have hospitals here are doing just fine.

Yup, obama and the dems sure are looking after the little guy.

 

[Greenbeard]

The problem: a slew of indications that many tax privileged hospitals weren't justifying their special status. GAO reports, CBO analyses, Congressional hearings, consumer lawsuits, oh my!

While many nonprofit hospitals provide substantial community benefit (often as part of a formal quality improvement process), there was concern that some either did not or did not keep records in such a way that the amount of community benefit provided could be easily determined. Around 2005, a number of federal agencies and officials began questioning whether the existing system to determine which hospitals deserve nonprofit status was in need of reform. The key problem these officials identified was a lack of standards, accountability and transparency that made it difficult to distinguish hospitals that were providing substantial community benefits from those that were not.23

In 2005, the GAO reported that many of the nonprofit hospitals it surveyed in five states were not operated significantly differently than for-profit hospitals in those states.24 The IRS Commissioner, testifying before a Senate committee, shared similar concerns.25 The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) noted that some nonprofit hospitals issued tax-exempt bonds to finance capital investment even when the hospital held assets sufficient to cover the costs for which the bonds were issued and that many nonprofit hospitals were not located in areas with the highest needs.26

The House Committee on Ways and Means held hearings in 2005 at which the IRS Commissioner testified about problems with the then-existing system for determining which hospitals deserve nonprofit status.27 Senator Grassley (R-Iowa), then ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, also questioned the nonprofit status of some hospitals in a series of well-publicized hearings.28 That Committee subsequently proposed a number of reforms, including some that would later appear in the Affordable Care Act.29 Uninsured consumers also filed a number of lawsuits against nonprofit hospitals,30 and some state and local officials also challenged hospital charitable behavior and tax-exempt status.31

The solution: trust but verify.

The IRS in 2008 introduced a new form, Schedule H, in an attempt to “combat the lack of transparency surrounding the activities of tax-exempt organizations that provide hospital or medical care” and “quantify, in an objective manner, the community benefit standard applicable to tax-exempt hospitals.”36

The ACA contains additional requirements that nonprofit hospitals must meet and report on Schedule H as a condition of retaining their tax-exempt status.37 The ACA also authorizes, for the first time, tax penalties for failing to comply with one of the new requirements.38

Beginning in tax years after March 23, 2010, nonprofit hospitals are required to have a written financial assistance policy that includes eligibility criteria, whether free or discounted care is available to low-income individuals, how charges to patients are calculated, the process for applying for financial assistance and an explanation of how the policy will be widely publicized.39 Also beginning in 2010, charges to patients who are eligible for financial assistance are limited to “amounts generally billed” to patients who have insurance coverage, and gross charges are prohibited.40 Additionally, nonprofit hospitals are prohibited from engaging in “extraordinary collection actions” unless and until they have made “reasonable efforts” to determine whether the patient is eligible for financial assistance.41 Nonprofit hospitals must also have a written policy to provide emergency medical care regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.42

Notably, the ACA also requires that nonprofit hospitals conduct a community health needs assessment (CHNA) every three tax years. This assessment must reflect input from persons who “represent the broad interests of the community served” by the hospital facility, “including those with special knowledge of or expertise in public health,” and be made “widely available” to the public. The hospital must have an implementation strategy for meeting the needs identified in the assessment, report how it is addressing those needs and describe any needs that are not being addressed together with the reasons they are not being acted on.43 Any nonprofit hospital organization that does not meet these requirements must be assessed a tax of $50,000 per year per non-compliant facility.44 Hospitals must report that they have completed the CHNA requirements beginning in tax years after March 23, 2012.45

No, these hospitals don't get punished for doing good things, but I'm sure some posters' children appreciate the OP's attempt to dumb down the situation to a 2nd grade level.

 

[Greenbeard]

Also, could you show us where in the ACA it says that the government will have access to our bank accounts?

Now that one I'd like to see, too.

The hospital that I work at is suffering drastic losses since obamacare took as much as 40% away from the reimbursement it gave hospitals for taking care of the uninsured. This hospital is not a charitable hospital, it is a not-for-profit. We do the bulk of the uninsured and medicare/medicaid in this area. The multi-mega-hospital corporations that have hospitals here are doing just fine.

Yup, obama and the dems sure are looking after the little guy.

DSH payments dial down as the coverage expansions ramp up (i.e. as formerly uninsured people then have a payer source). Since the coverage expansions don't start until next year, DSH allotments haven't changed yet.