Last night, an executive MBA student in health care administration came to the desk looking for information, including lawsuits that have gone to court recently, regarding allegations that hospitals charge uninsured patients full price while accepting tax exemptions as a nonprofit organization. Thus, patient care, health care costs, and the tax-exempt status of the hospital is at issue. And, since many hospitals have outstanding bonds, that have tax-exempt status, it is a really big issue. The student said that there are a number of class action suits being brought in different states.
Nanette found a Pennsylvania state case for the student, which I don't have the citation for. There is web site, http://www.nfplitigation.com/, which has information about the pending lawsuits. (I think this is oriented toward plaintiffs.) The American Hospital Association, www.aha.org, and HealthCareFinance.com might be other sources of information. According to a Health Care Finance news release, 49 lawsuits have been filed involving 370 hospitals as of Oct. 8.
This is probably an issue that we'll be getting more questions about in the future. One of the main plaintiffs' lawyers is named Scruggs. He was a leading plaintiffs' lawyer in the tobacco cases of a few years ago.
Rita
(With information from Nanette and Stewart.)
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